Own depression, partner's depression, and childlessness: A nationwide register-based study

Abstract

Depression and other mental health disorders are increasing while childlessness is increasing. However, this relationship has rarely been studied. We examine how depression, as measured by antidepressant use, is related to childlessness. We add to the previous research by examining both the role of current partnership status and having a partner with depression as a mechanism.

We use Finnish total population register data for cohorts born in 1977–1980. We estimate discrete time event history models for the likelihood of having a child with average marginal effects separately for men and women. Depression was measured annually with a time-varying indicator of having at least one purchase of antidepressants in the preceding year.

We find a positive association between depression and childlessness; the annual probability of having a child was 2.7 percentage points lower for women with depression and 1.6 percentage points for men with depression in age-controlled models. When controlling for all background variables such as education, the likelihood of having a child was 1.9 percentage points lower for women with depression and 0.3 percentage points lower for men with depression. In total, 41% of men and 26% of women who had used antidepressant medication between ages 18–38 remained childless at age 39, compared to 30% of men and 22% of women who had not used antidepressant medication. We also find that a partner's depression increases the probability of being childless, and the likelihood of being childless is even higher if both an individual and their partner had depression.