Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/279299 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 10549
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
What is the impact of the oral contraceptive pill on the mental health of adolescent girls? Using administrative data from Denmark and exploiting the variation in the timing of pill initiation in an event study design, we find that the likelihood of a depression diagnosis and antidepressant use increases shortly after pill initiation. We then uncover substantial variation in primary care providers' tendency to prescribe the pill to adolescents, unrelated to patient characteristics. Being assigned to a high prescribing physician strongly predicts pill use by age 16 and leads to worse mental health outcomes between ages 16-18.
Subjects: 
contraceptive pill
mental health
adolescents
prescribing practices
JEL: 
I12
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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