The Opioid Epidemic and Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States, 2000-2016.

ABSTRACT: The United States has experienced a dramatic rise in opioid addiction and opioid overdose deaths in recent years. We investigate the effect of the opioid epidemic at the local level on nonmarital fertility using aggregate- and individual-level analyses. Opioid overdose death rates and prescriptions per capita are used as indicators of the intensity of the opioid epidemic. We estimate area fixed-effects models to test the effect of the opioid epidemic on nonmarital birth rates obtained from vital statistics for 2000-2016. We find an increase in nonmarital birth rates in communities that experienced a rise in opioid overdose deaths and higher prescription rates. Our analyses also show that the local effect of the opioid epidemic is not driven by a reduction in marriage rates and that marital

SUBMITTER: Caudillo ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8363233 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature