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.