We use population-wide administrative data from Denmark and an event-study design spanning nearly two decades to examine the impact of parental dementia on adult children’s labor market, physical health, and mental health outcomes. We find no meaningful effects on labor supply, earnings, or physical-health-related care. In contrast, mental health care use increases substantially, especially among daughters, beginning years before a parent’s death, peaking around the time of death, and converging to the counterfactual trend over about seven years. Results suggest that robust long-term care and leave policies can largely insulate adult children from economic disruptions of ADRD, while mental health spillovers remain significant.
Chair: Andrea Tilstra