An Analysis on Danish Micro Data - School of Economics and ...

ut on the other hand Marcotte et al.’s findings are based on the general population, while figure 5
depicts results for the sample population of MTX users.
Percentage
60,00
50,00
40,00
30,00
20,00
10,00
0,00
Basic Short Higher
Level of education
Non-antidep
<strong>An</strong>tidep
Figure 6 The average percentage with a basic, short and higher education among users and non-users of antidepressants.
From figure 6 there seems to be a positive correlation between depression and having a basic
education, while the correlation is negative between higher levels of education and depression. This
is confirmed from correlations between the usage of antidepressants and the education dummies.
For the basic level of education the correlation coefficient is significant at the 1 % significance
level, for the short level of education it is significant at 5 % and for the high level of education the
correlation coefficient is not significant. These findings are in correspondence with the literature.
For instance, Chevalier and Feinstein (2006) find that education has a positive effect on depression,
since it reduces the risk of depression. They notice that the effect is non-linear, which is in
agreement with figure 6. Also they mention that the risk of depression is reduced with increasing
levels of education, for women in particular. Chevalier and Feinstein (2006) mention that taking
into account the possible endogeneity of education enlarges the effects found.
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