Is having more children beneficial for mothers’ mental health in later life? Causal evidence from the national health and aging trends study

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics; means and percentages.

	All mothers	Two firstborn children of identical sex	Two firstborn children of different sexes
Number of children	3.1	3.2	2.9
(Standard deviation)	(1.3)	(1.4)	(1.2)
Suboptimal mental health (PHQ-4 > = 3)	29.0%	27.4%	30.5%
Age	75.3	75.5	75.1
(Standard deviation)	(7.1)	(7.2)	(7.0)
Number of observations	3,845	1,899	1,946
Number of respondents	2,854	1,413	1,441

Notes: Data are from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Wave 1 and Wave 5; weighted.

Table 2. Results of naïve probit and instrumental variable (IV) probit regression models predicting suboptimal mental health (PHQ-4 > =3).

	Naïve probit		IV probit
			First stage		Second stage
	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)
Number of children	0.001	(0.018)			−0.372*	(0.159)
Sex composition two firstborn children:
Identical			Ref.
Different			−0.217***	(0.045)
Constant	−0.557***	(0.060)	3.163***	(0.034)	0.652	(0.551)

Notes: Data are from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Wave 1 and Wave 5; n = 3,845; Weighted; Robust standard errors.

* p < .05,

** p < .01,

*** p < .001.

Figure 1. Risk of suboptimal mental health (PHQ-4 > =3) by number of children.

Table

	Two firstborn children of identical sex	Two firstborn children of different sexes	Group difference
Age	75.5	75.1	F( 1, 3843) = 1.78, p = .18
(Standard deviation)	(7.2)	(7.0)
Financial situation when growing up:			χ^2 (2, N = 3,842) = 1.42, p = .49
Above average	13.8%	12.5%
Average	53.8%	53.9%
Below average	32.3%	33.6%
Health when growing up:			χ^2 (2, N = 3,842) = 0.74, p = .69
Excellent	50.5%	50.7%
(Very) good	43.9%	43.0%
Less than good	5.6%	6.2%
Educational attainment:			χ^2 (3, N = 3,845) = 4.66, p = .20
Less than high school	13.4%	12.8%
High school	33.9%	32.2%
Vocational / associate	30.9%	34.6%
At least bachelor	21.9%	20.4%
Age at first birth < 20 years old	20.3%	19.5%	χ^2 (1, N = 3,845) = 0.27, p = .60
Currently not living with partner	50.6%	47.4%	χ^2 (1, N = 3,845) = 3.14, p = .08

Notes: Data are from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Wave 1 and Wave 5; weighted.

Table

	Naïve probit		IV probit
			First stage		Second stage
	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)
Number of children	0.014	(0.021)			−0.404*	(0.184)
Sex composition two firstborn children:
Identical			Ref.
Different			−0.203***	(0.051)
Constant	−0.592***	(0.070)	3.124***	(0.039)	0.759	(0.636)

Notes: Data are from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Wave 1 and Wave 5; n = 2,854; Weighted.

* p < .05,

** p < .01,

*** p < .001.

Table

	Naïve probit		IV probit
			First stage		Second stage
	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)
Number of children	−0.017	(0.016)			−0.349*	(0.152)
Sex composition two firstborn children:
Identical			Ref.
Different			−0.209***	(0.044)
Constant	−0.497***	(0.053)	3.245***	(0.033)	0.608	(0.536)

Notes: Data are from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Wave 1 and Wave 5; n = 3,845.

Not weighted; Robust standard errors.

* p < .05,

** p < .01,

*** p < .001.

Table

	Naïve probit		IV probit
			First stage		Second stage
	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)
Number of children	0.001	(0.018)			−0.406*	(0.167)
Sex composition two firstborn children:
Daughter and son			Ref.
Two sons			0.235***	(0.052)
Two daughters			0.187**	(0.064)
Constant	−0.557***	(0.060)	2.949***	(0.030)	0.772	(0.587)

Notes: Data are from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Wave 1 and Wave 5; n = 3,845; Weighted; Robust standard errors.

* p < .05,

** p < .01,

*** p < .001.

Table

	Naïve probit		IV probit
			First stage		Second stage
	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)	Coeff.	(SE)
Number of daughters	0.023	(0.022)			0.038	(0.048)
Sex firstborn child:
Son			Ref.
Daughter			0.988***	(0.034)
Constant	−0.589***	(0.042)	1.018***	(0.023)	−0.612***	(0.077)

Notes: Data are from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Wave 1 and Wave 5; n = 3,845; Weighted; Robust standard errors.

* p < .05,

** p < .01,

*** p < .001.