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Primary Submission Category: Place/Communities
Longitudinal Effects of Housing Instability and Economic Well-Being on Mental and Physical Health of Mothers: A Nationally Representative Analysis
Authors: Olumayowa Idowu,
Presenting Author: Olumayowa Idowu*
Abstract
Background: Housing instability and low economic well-being can hurt health. Moving often can break social ties, interrupt care, and raise stress. Poverty can also limit access to safe housing and resources. Many studies look at these problems at one point in time, but few follow the same families over many years.
Objective: This study tests how housing instability (how often mothers move) and economic well-being (poverty ratio) relate to mental health (depression) and physical health (self-rated health) of mothers in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) from when their child is 3 years old to 15 years old.
Data and Methods: We used mothers followed across Waves 2–5 for national-weight analyses, and Waves 2–4 for replicate-weight analyses. We estimated survey-weighted longitudinal models. For depression, we fit logistic regression using national weights (Waves 2–5) and a replicate-weight design (Waves 2–4). Models adjusted for wave, race/ethnicity, education, age, poverty ratio, rent, moving frequency, and marital status.
Results: Across both longitudinal models, moving 3+ times was strongly linked to higher odds of depression compared with moving once. The effect was large and statistically significant in both the national-weight model and the replicate-weight model. In the replicate-weight model, Hispanic mothers had lower odds of depression than White mothers, and mothers with a college degree had higher odds of depression than mothers with less than high school.
Conclusions: Frequent residential moves are a clear risk factor for worse mental health. Policies that reduce forced moves (such as eviction prevention, rent support, and stable affordable housing) may help improve population mental health.
Keywords: housing instability; residential mobility; depression; self-rated health; poverty; survey weights; FFCWS.