Evaluating the effects of maternity, paternity and parental leave policy changes on parental mental health using quasi-experimental methods

背景：常见的精神疾病是造成全球疾病负担的主要因素。政策制定者也对最大化心理健康感兴趣。过渡到为人父母可能是未来心理健康和幸福的重要时期。支持带薪产假、陪产假或育儿假的社会政策可能会通过对收入和物质福利的影响、对劳动力市场的参与以及父母双方参与育儿，在短期和长期内影响父母的精神健康。大多数高收入国家都采取了带薪育儿假政策，目的是改善经济或健康结果。然而，很少有研究研究不同的休假政策对母亲和父亲的心理健康和福祉的因果影响。在英国，没有一家公司做到了这一点，因为英国享受高薪产假工资的时间非常短。目的和目标：该项目旨在利用准实验方法解决现有证据基础中的不足。它将采取跨学科的方法，通过评估英国一系列不同育儿假政策变化对父母心理健康的影响来建立量化的证据基础。它们是：1)2011年将带薪产假扩大到几乎全民享有的权利)20073延长低薪产假的期限)2011年和2015年实行将育儿假从母亲转移给父亲的权利将审查这些政策变化对母亲和父亲在不同时间点的心理健康和幸福感得分的影响，并将比较单亲父母和有伴侣的人之间的影响。方法：该项目将使用准实验方法来分析来自英国家庭纵向研究的数据，该调查从2009年开始对4万个具有代表性的英国家庭进行了调查。根据可行性和有效性检查，两个产假案例研究将采用回归不连续设计。他们将比较那些享有不同产假和工资，但在孩子出生时其他方面相似的人的长期结果。育儿假案例研究将使用两个阶段的工具变量方法。它将调查新政策是否以及在多大程度上改变了新父亲离开工作的时间，然后调查任何变化对父母双方的心理健康和幸福结果的影响。如果检查表明计划的方法不可行，将确定替代的准实验方法。技能：该项目将通过应用计量经济学方法来研究来自社会流行病学的问题，从而提高量化技能和跨学科工作。它将使用一个大型数据集，通过将政策变化视为自然实验，对复杂的干预措施进行量化评估。战略协调：该项目的重点是MRC战略计划的目标5.1和5.2。它着眼于心理健康、幸福、疾病预防和性别之间的健康不平等，将社会政策的影响作为健康的更广泛决定因素之一。

Background: Common mental illness is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. Policymakers are also interested in maximising mental wellbeing. Transition to parenthood may be an important time for future mental health and wellbeing. Social policies supporting paid maternity, paternity or parental leave may affect the mental health of parents in the short and long term through effects on income and material wellbeing, engagement with the labour market, and the participation of both parents in childcare. Most high-income countries have adopted policies for paid parental leave with goals of improving economic or health outcomes. However, few studies have examined the causal effects of different leave policies on maternal and paternal mental health and wellbeing. None have done so in the UK, which has an unusually short period of entitlement to high-rate maternity pay. Aims and objectives: This project aims to address shortcomings in the existing evidence base using quasi-experimental methods. Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, it will build the quantitative evidence base by evaluating the mental health impacts for parents of a series of different parental leave policy changes in the UK. They are:1) Expansion of paid maternity leave to a near-universal entitlement in 19942) Lengthening duration of low-paid maternity leave in 20073) Introduction of entitlements to transfer parental leave from mothers to fathers in 2011 and 2015 It will examine the effects of these policy changes on mental health and wellbeing scores for mothers and fathers at different time points and will also compare effects between those who are single parents and those who have a partner. Methods: The project will use quasi-experimental methods to analyse data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, a survey which interviewed residents of a representative sample of 40,000 UK households from 2009 onwards. Subject to feasibility and validity checks, the two maternity leave case studies will use regression discontinuity designs. They will compare long-term outcomes for people who had different entitlements to maternity leave and pay but were otherwise similar at the time their children were born. The parental leave case study will use a two-stage instrumental variable approach. It will examine whether and how much the new policy changed the time new fathers took away from work, then the subsequent effect of any change on mental health and wellbeing outcomes for both parents among those who took more time. Alternative quasi-experimental methods will be identified if checks indicate that the planned approaches are not feasible. Skills: the project will enhance quantitative skills and interdisciplinary working through the application of econometric methods to research questions from social epidemiology. It will use a large data set to produce quantitative evaluations of complex interventions by treating policy changes as natural experiments. Strategic alignment: the project is focused on objectives 5.1 and 5.2 of the MRC Strategic Plan. It targets mental health, wellbeing, prevention of disease and health inequity between genders by examining the impact of social policy as one of the wider determinants of health.