Effects of Maternal Depression on Social Interactions

We estimate the effects of a shock in mental health — postpartum depression — on the mother’s social interactions 1–3 years after her child’s birth. We address the potential endogeneity of depression by establishing the temporal ordering of events, incorporating rich control variables, conducting falsification tests, and estimating two-stage models. We find no evidence that postpartum depression affects social interactions — as characterized by participation in various types of community organizations and regular religious attendance — during the child’s third year of life, although it may cause a short-lived decline in social interactions in the first year.