title: The Great Recession and Mother's Health.
abstract: We use longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study to investigate the impacts of the Great Recession on the health of mothers. We focus on a wide range of physical and mental health outcomes, as well as health behaviors. We find that increases in the unemployment rate decrease self-reported health status and increase smoking and drug use. We also find evidence of heterogeneous impacts. Disadvantaged mothers-African-American, Hispanic, less educated, and unmarried-experience greater deterioration in their health than advantaged mothers-those who are white, married, and college educated.
authors.affiliation: Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Director of the Center for Health and Well-Being, Princeton University 316 Wallace Hall Princeton, NJ 08544 and NBER.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Currie
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York City, 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, NY 10027.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Duque
authors.affiliation: Mitchell I. Ginsberg Professor of Contemporary Urban Problems, Co-director of the Columbia Population Research Center, School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York City, 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, NY 10027.
authors.forename: Irwin
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Garfinkel