Social assistance and mental health: evidence from longitudinal administrative data on pharmaceutical consumption

Figures & data

Figure 1. Timeline of variables in model. BG is an acronym for general Background variables.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics.

	Women		Men		Women//Men
	mean	sd	mean	sd	min	max
psychopharmaca(t)	0.29	0.45	0.16	0.37	0	1
N06A(t)	0.15	0.36	0.08	0.27	0	1
N05B(t)	0.10	0.30	0.05	0.23	0	1
N05C(t)	0.17	0.38	0.10	0.29	0	1
psychopharmaca(t-1)	0.28	0.45	0.15	0.36	0	1
SAB(t-1)	0.02	0.14	0.02	0.15	0	1
SAB(t-6)	0.05	0.22	0.05	0.22	0	1
unempl. benefit(t-6)	0.11	0.32	0.11	0.31	0	1
old-age pension(t-2)	0.47	0.50	0.43	0.50	0	1
parental benefit (t-2)	0.09	0.29	0.08	0.27	0	1
log disp. income(t-2)	7.98	0.71	8.11	0.74	0	14.92//14.26
disp income(t-2)	3741	8313	4173	5888	0	3,017,164//1,563,376
primary educ(t-1)	0.29	0.45	0.28	0.45	0	1
secondary educ(t-1)	0.42	0.49	0.44	0.50	0	1
tertiary educ(t-1)	0.29	0.45	0.27	0.44	0	1
hospital depression(t-12)	0.00	0.05	0.00	0.04	0	1
sickness benefit(t-12)	0.08	0.28	0.06	0.23	0	1
disability benefit(t-12)	0.09	0.29	0.06	0.23	0	1
hospital depression(t-10)	0.01	0.11	0.01	0.09	0	1
sickness benefit(t-6)	0.27	0.44	0.20	0.40	0	1
disability benefit(t-2)	0.10	0.30	0.06	0.24	0	1
age(t-1)	60.59	16.68	58.62	16.31	16	106//104
single household(t-2)	0.50	0.50	0.41	0.49	0	1
children 0–17 yrs (t-2)	0.34	0.78	0.36	0.80	0	11//9
foreign born(t-1)	0.13	0.33	0.12	0.33	0	1
parents non-Swed. citizens(t-1)	0.02	0.15	0.02	0.15	0	1
metropolitan area(t-1)	0.31	0.46	0.31	0.46	0	1
N	839,593		708,646

Note: Variables with t-6 and t-10, respectively, refer to conditions appearing in at least one year in the 6-year or 10-year period before t.

Table 2. Psychopharmaceutic use and SAB. Women.

	OLS	OLS	Individual FE
	(1)	(2)	(3)
Panel A. Use of any psychopharmaceutic drug
SAB(t-1)	0.0693***	0.0619***	0.0049
	−0.0062	−0.0054	−0.0037
constant	0.2940***	0.1521***	0.2983***
	−0.0011	−0.0124	−0.0113
R-squared	0.000463	0.130702	0.009438
N	839,593	839,593	839,593
	Individual FE
	(1)	(2)	(3)
	N06A	N05B	N05C
Panel B. Use of separate drug types
SAB(t-1)	0.0048	0.0029	0.0053*
	−0.0034	−0.0031	−0.0031
Constant	0.1431***	0.1282***	0.2073***
	−0.0096	−0.0081	−0.0087
R-squared	0.007862	0.003797	0.004672
N	839,593	839,593	839,593

Note: The outcome variable in Panel A, Psychopharmaca use, indicates individuals who used any of the following drug types in period t: N06A (antidepressants), N05B (anxiolytics) or N05C (hypnotics and sedatives). The outcome variables in Panel B indicate individuals who used N06A (antidepressants), N05B (anxiolytics) or N05C (hypnotics and sedatives) in period t. The independent variable of main interest, SAB(t-1), indicates individuals who received Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) in period t-1. Column 1 shows regression results of the OLS baseline model, column 2 the full OLS model including covariates and column 3 the results of the FE model with covariates. Age and year fixed effects are included in both models of columns 2 and 3 but supressed in the table. All models in Panel B include covariates and individual fixed effects. Age and year fixed effects are included in all models in Panel B but suppressed in the table. Standard errors clustered by individual in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

Table 3. Psychopharmaceutic use and SAB. Men.

	OLS	OLS	Individual FE
	(1)	(2)	(3)
Panel A. Use of psychopharmaca
SAB(t-1)	0.1060***	0.0728***	0.0145***
	−0.0061	−0.0053	−0.0037
constant	0.1669***	0.0821***	0.1989***
	−0.001	−0.0096	−0.0092
R-squared	0.001696	0.108794	0.011553
N	708,646	708,646	708,646
	Individual FE
	(1)	(2)	(3)
	N06A	N05B	N05C
Panel B. Use of separate drug types
SAB(t-1)	0.0085***	0.0003	0.0057*
	−0.0031	−0.0029	−0.0031
constant	0.0818***	0.0802***	0.1265***
	−0.0073	−0.0066	−0.0072
R-squared	0.007965	0.004154	0.006429
N	708,646	708,646	708,646

Note: The outcome variable in Panel A, Psychopharmaca use, indicates individuals who used any of the following drug types in period t: N06A (antidepressants), N05B (anxiolytics) or N05C (hypnotics and sedatives). The outcome variables in Panel B indicate individuals who used N06A (antidepressants), N05B (anxiolytics) or N05C (hypnotics and sedatives) in period t. The independent variable of main interest, SAB(t-1), indicates individuals who received Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) in period t-1. Column 1 shows regression results of the OLS baseline model, column 2 the full OLS model including covariates and column 3 the results of the FE model with covariates. Age and year fixed effects are included in both models of columns 2 and 3 but supressed in the table. All models in Panel B include covariates and individual fixed effects. Age and year fixed effects are included in all models in Panel B but suppressed in the table. Standard errors clustered by individual in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

Table 4. Proportional selection required to nullify result (Oster 2019).

	Women	Men
delta	−.0748624	−.4332613
R^2max	.2798369	.3018242

Note: The table shows the estimated delta, i.e., the degree of proportional selection required to establish that main result is completely driven by selection (Oster 2019). The delta is derived under the assumption that the highest attainable R² (R²max) equals 1 minus the total variation in psychopharmaca use explained by individual fixed effects.

Table 5. Psychopharmaceutic use and SAB. Test for non-linearity in income.

	Women	Men
	(1)	(2)
Panel A. Interaction w. dummy for disposable income in the lowest decile.
SAB(t-1)	0.0041	0.0152***
	(−0.0038)	(−0.0039)
SAB(t-1)*d10	0.0052	−0.0028
	(−0.0088)	(−0.0076)
d10	0.0031	0.0017
	(−0.0019)	(−0.0022)
constant	0.2937***	0.1898***
	(−0.0083)	(−0.0066)
R-squared	0.009445	0.01155
N	839,593	708,646
Panel B. Interaction w. dummy for disposable income in the 5th percentile or lower.
SAB(t-1)	0.0037	0.0143***
	(−0.0038)	(−0.0038)
SAB(t-1)*d5	0.0126	0.0023
	(−0.0105)	(−0.0084)
d5	0.0038	−0.004
	(−0.0023)	(−0.0026)
constant	0.2939***	0.1900***
	(−0.0083)	(−0.0066)
R-squared	0.009448	0.011553
N	839,593	708,646

Note: FE models with covariates. The outcome variable, Psychopharmaca use, indicates individuals who used any of the following drug types in period t: N06A (antidepressants), N05B (anxiolytics) or N05C (hypnotics and sedatives). The independent variable of main interest, SAB(t-1), indicates individuals who received Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) in period t-1. Panel A (Panel B) shows the estimation results of the specification where SAB(t-1) is interacted with the variable d10 (d5), an indicator taking the value 1 if individual disposable income at t-1 is at or below the 10th (5th) percentile of the income distribution, otherwise 0. Column 1 shows regression results for women, column 2 for men. Age and year fixed effects are included in all models but suppressed in the table. Standard errors clustered by individual in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

Table 6. Psychopharmaceutic use and SAB, by highest educational attainment and by working age.

	Prim. educ.	Sec. educ.	Tert. educ.	Working age
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Panel A. Women.
SAB(t-1)	0.0045	0.0001	0.0134	0.0066
	(0.0069)	(0.0053)	(0.0086)	(0.0043)
R-squared	0.013780	0.008046	0.007509	0.005311
N	251,264	350,720	237,609	445,979
Panel B. Men.
SAB(t-1)	0.0096	0.0142***	0.0231***	0.0158***
	(0.0068)	(0.0053)	(0.0080)	(0.0043)
R-squared	0.018331	0.009581	0.008081	0.004444
N	205,395	312,472	190,779	401,847

Note: The table shows the estimates from individual fixed effects regressions for women (Panel A) and men (Panel B). All models include the full set of covariates, including age and year fixed effects. The outcome variable, Psychopharmaca use, indicates individuals who used any of the following drug types in period t: N06A (antidepressants), N05B (anxiolytics) or N05C (hypnotics and sedatives). The independent variable of main interest, SAB(t-1), indicates individuals who received Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) in period t-1. The regression results are shown for women/men with at most primary education (column 1), secondary education (column 2), and tertiary education (column 3) and for individuals of working age, restricted to ages 25–64 (column 4). Standard errors clustered by individual in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

Table 7. Psychopharmaceutic use and SAB, restricted sample.

	Psychopharmaca use	N06A	N05B	N05C
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Panel A. Women.
SAB(t-1)	0.0101	0.0041	0.0078*	−0.0002
	−0.0064	−0.0048	−0.0043	−0.0042
R-squared	0.026629	0.014516	0.008602	0.013672
N	572,668	572,668	572,668	572,668
Panel B. Men.
SAB(t-1)	0.0218***	0.0147***	0.0037	0.0088**
	−0.0056	−0.0041	−0.0034	−0.004
R-squared	0.022986	0.011887	0.007953	0.01298
N	574,307	574,307	574,307	574,307

Note: The restricted sample contains individuals with no use of psychopharmaca or SAB in the two previous years. Full covariates models, with individual fixed effects. The outcome variable Psychopharmaca use (column 1) indicates individuals who used any of the following drug types in period t: N06A (antidepressants), N05B (anxiolytics) or N05C (hypnotics and sedatives). The outcome variables N06A, N05B and N05C (columns 2–4) indicate individuals who used each drug type in period t. The independent variable SAB(t-1) indicates individuals who received Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) in period t-1. Panel A shows regression results for women, Panel B for men. Age and year fixed effects are included in all models but suppressed in the table. Standard errors clustered by individual in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

Oster, E. 2019. “Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence.” Journal of Business & Economic Statistics 37 (2): 187–204. doi:10.1080/07350015.2016.1227711.

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