14(30)
5
Main results
The results are presented from both a descriptive analysis and regression
models. We start by asking how common it is to have any absence due to
sickness among children whose parents have been absent due to sickness
in comparison with children whose parents who have not. Then we study
how the parent–child correlation in sickness absence varies depending on
the level of absence among parents and children, respectively, given that
both the parent and the child has at least one day absent due to sickness.
5.1
Descriptive analysis
Table 2 shows the share of parents and children, respectively, with sick
leave and the corresponding shares without. The rows in Table 2 show
the parents’ shares and the columns show the children’s shares. The cells
within the matrix present the share of the parents who have children with
the same outcome. The risk ratio is the share of children with sick leave
among parents with sick leave in relation to the corresponding share of
children with sick leave among parents without sick leave. The risk
difference is the difference between these two groups.
The most common outcome is that neither children nor parents have any
sick leave. Among daughters, the second most frequent outcome is that
the daughter has sick leave but not the parent. Among sons, it is the
opposite; namely that the parent has sick leave but not the son. This
gender difference could be explained by the fact that the children in our
study population are more of a child-bearing age than the parent
generation, which in turn affects daughters’ sickness absence rate more
than that of sons.
19
More interestingly, among sons, it is 35 per cent more common that the
son himself has sick leave if the parent has sick leave in comparison with if
the parent (irrespective of the parent’s gender) has not. Among daughters,
the corresponding difference is smaller: about 18 to 14 per cent depending
on the gender of the parent. The absolute differences in sick leave between
children who have and who have not a parent with his or her own sick
leave are about 8 percentage points in all the sub-groups.
To sum up, there is a clear overrepresentation of children with sick leave
among parents with sick leave, suggesting that there is a threshold effect.
If the parent has sick leave, there is a positive probability that the child
also has sick leave.
19
Giving birth is associated with a peak in sickness absence.
