Women’s Bargaining Power and Children’s Mental Health: A Study of U.S. Households

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship between women’s bargaining power and chil-dren’s mental health in households across the United States. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we use the mother’s share of to-tal household labor income as a proxy for her bargaining power. We explore how this power affects children’s mental health, specifically focusing on doctor visits for mental health issues, behavioral problems, and depression. By applying fixed-effects models, we find that an increase in women’s bargaining power is associated with improved children’s mental health outcomes, accompanied by an increase in doctor visits. However, the benefits appear to decrease as bargaining power in-creases further, showing that children’s mental health is optimal when income is evenly distributed or only slightly skewed towards women’s within the household. Our findings remain robust when weights are applied and an alternative measure of bargaining power is used.