Timing of Housing Instability: Impact on Maternal Depression

Background: Housing problems affect thousands of families. Few studies have examined the impact of housing crises on maternal mental health, which has crucial implications for future housing stability, family functioning, and child well-being; Furthermore, recent versus long-term mental health effects of housing crises are unknown. The present study leveraged five waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (FFCW) to investigate the following research questions: (1) What are the effects of recent housing crises on maternal depression when children are in early and middle childhood? (2) Do distal housing crises have enduring effects on maternal depression? Methods: FFCW utilized a clustered stratified sampling strategy to select 4,898 births in 20 large American cities between 1998 and 2000. The analytic sample included mothers with primary custody of children for all five waves (baseline and 1-, 3-, 5-, and 9-year follow-ups; N = 2,674). Data were weighted using the jackknife method of variance estimation to be representative of sampled cities. A housing crisis was defined as skipping rent or mortgage payments, being evicted, moving at least twice, or spending at least one night homeless in the past year. Maternal depression was measured using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Short Form (CIDI-SF). Covariates included age, race, education, income, parenting stress, marital status, and domestic violence exposure. Univariate and bivariate statistics described the sample. Binary logistic regressions estimated the likelihood of depression among mothers who had experienced a recent versus a distal housing crisis. Results: Over one-third of mothers experienced a housing crisis within the first year postpartum, and 30% experienced a recent housing crisis when children were in middle childhood; nearly half (48.6%) of mothers had ever experienced a housing crisis at any point across all five waves. Twelve-month prevalence rates of depression ranged from 12% to 17%, while one-third of mothers had ever been depressed at any point throughout the study period. Mothers who had ever been unstably housed displayed significantly higher rates of depression (Χ² = 9.34, p < 0.001). Regression results revealed a housing crisis in the past 12 months significantly increased the risk for depression among mothers regardless of child age; at the 1- and 9-year follow-up interviews, mothers who had experienced a recent housing crisis were 64% and 53% more likely to be depressed respectively, compared to stably housed mothers. A distal housing crisis, however, had no effect of rates of depression; mothers who reported a housing crisis in the first year postpartum were no more likely to be depressed eight years later compared to their stably housed counterparts, in the absence of enduring housing instability (OR = 1.00; CI = 0.10-9.77). Conclusions and Implications: A housing crisis is an extreme stressor that may trigger a depressive episode among at-risk mothers, but effects do not endure over time. Long-term, intensive mental health services are likely not needed for most mothers who experience an episode of housing instability. Mental health services should be brief and solutions-focused, while long-term efforts should focus on stabilizing housing.