Working Paper: NBER ID: w29867
Authors: Katherine Meckel; Katherine P. Rittenhouse
Abstract: This paper aims to identify the causal effects of smoking on mental health using data from the Lung Health Study, a randomized trial of smoking cessation treatment with five years of follow-up interviews. In the short-run, distress increases, likely reflecting the effects of nicotine withdrawal. Long-run effects on mental health are small overall, but mask heterogeneity by gender. For women, the cessation program leads to improved mental health, driven by decreases in insomnia and nervousness. Men do not experience these improvements, due in part to a small increase in severe disturbances.
Keywords: Smoking; Mental Health; Randomized Trial; Causal Effects; Smoking Cessation
JEL Codes: I1; I12; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| assignment to the smoking cessation program (I19) | sustained quitting (C41) |
| smoking cessation (I12) | distress scale (short-term) (I31) |
| smoking cessation (I12) | distress scale (long-term) (I31) |
| smoking cessation (I12) | prescription drug indicators (long-term) (I11) |
| smoking cessation (for women) (I12) | distress scale (H84) |
| smoking cessation (for men) (I12) | distress scale (H84) |
| smoking (L66) | mental health decline (I12) |