Antidepressants and age: A new form of evidence for U-shaped well-being through life

Abstract

A growing literature argues that mental well-being follows an approximate U-shape through life. Yet in the eyes of some scholars this evidence remains controversial. The reason is that it relies on people's answers to 'happiness' surveys. The present paper explores a different approach. It examines modern data on the use of antidepressant pills (as an implicit signal of mental distress) in 27 European nations. The regression-adjusted probability of using antidepressants reaches a peak in people's late 40s. This pattern --one that does not rely on well-being survey answers --is thus consistent with the claim that human beings experience a midlife low.

Mental Health over the Life Course: Evidence for a U-Shape?

“…One possible reason for the difference in results is that two of the four studies (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2016;Le Bon & Le Bon, 2014) use some form of mental healthcare use as proxies for mental health. The underlying assumption is that if the age profile of mental healthcare use consists of an inverse U-shape, the age profile of mental health must also be U-shaped.…”

“…Perhaps the simplest method to circumvent the APC problem is by simply assuming that either period, or cohort effects are negligible and can thus be ignored. Multiple studies have assumed that cohort effects are irrelevant (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2016Graham & Pozuelo, 2017;Laaksonen, 2018;Le Bon & Le Bon, 2014;Lang et al, 2011) and all of these studies report U-shaped age profiles of mental health, life satisfaction or well-being. Others have instead assumed that period effects are irrelevant, which makes it possible to estimate age effects using fixed effects approaches (FitzRoy et al, 2014;Frijters & Beatton, 2012;Kassenboehmer & Haisken-DeNew, 2012;Piper, 2015).…”

“…All except one of these studies reporting U-shapes use cross-sectional evidence (i.e., Blanchflower & Oswald, 2016;Le Bon & Le Bon, 2014;Lang et al, 2011). However, investigating mental health trajectories over the life course is not without its caveats.…”

“…Unfortunately, these different approaches often lead to conflicting results. For example, studies assuming cohort effects are negligible consistently report U-shapes in mental health, life satisfaction or well-being (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2016Graham & Pozuelo, 2017;Laaksonen, 2018;Le Bon & Le Bon, 2014;Lang et al, 2011), whereas studies on well-being assuming that period effects are negligible consistently report no U-shapes (FitzRoy, Nolan, Steinhardt, & Ulph, 2014;Frijters & Beatton, 2012;Kassenboehmer & Haisken-DeNew, 2012). Since the nature of the Age, Period and Cohort (APC) problem prevents formal testing of many of these assumptions the true age-profile remains unknown.…”

Antidepressants for Economists and Business-School Researchers: An Introduction and Review

“…Moncrieff (2008) Using Eurobarometer data from the year 2010, Blanchflower and Oswald (2016) show that, after adjusting for other characteristics, the probability of taking an antidepressant is greatest among those middle-aged, female, unemployed, poorly educated, and divorced or separated. A strong hill-shaped age pattern is found --for males and females and in Western and Eastern Europe --that peaks in people's late 40s.…”