Rental housing woes are linked to new mothers’ mental health

Rutgers University researchers have found that support programs may help reduce depression in low-income mothers of young children.

Becoming a parent comes with a lot of expenses. For new mothers, being able to afford rent may help prevent postpartum depression.

“Lack of housing has a serious impact on mental health,” said Katherine Markal, assistant professor at Rutgers School of Social Work and author of the study published in the journal Psychiatry. “There is,” he said. She says, “For mothers who rent their homes, the ability to make monthly payments appears to be correlated with happiness.”

Housing hardships, such as falling behind on rent or mortgage payments, moving in with someone else, being evicted, or experiencing homelessness, are associated with an increased risk of depression. However, little is understood about the specific manifestations of housing hardship for postpartum mothers in renting households, Marcal said.

To address this gap, Marcal conducted the Family Futures and Child Well-Being Study, a multiyear study of nearly 5,000 children born in the United States between 1998 and 2000. data was used. As part of the study, mothers were interviewed at the hospital immediately after giving birth. , and five times over the next 15 years.

Marcal extracted data for 2,329 mothers who reported renting during the first year of the study. Participants were asked a series of questions regarding the housing crisis. For example, in the year after giving birth, did you fall behind on your rent or utility payments, move in with a friend or family member, or spend at least one night homeless?

Using latent class analysis, a modeling approach that allows data clustering and statistical inference, Marcal used responses from the Family Futures and Child Well-Being Survey to investigate signs of housing hardship. .

Four groups emerged from the data. This is a “stable” group with few housing difficulties. Her mother receives government housing assistance and is “rent subsidized”. ‘Cost-burdened’ mothers who skip regular rent and utility payments but manage to avoid the most severe housing consequences. and mothers in the “housing instability” group and high displacement rates.

Finally, these clustered data were analyzed using year 3 responses from the Family Futures and Child Well-Being Study, which asked participants whether they had experienced major depression or anxiety disorders. it was done.

What became clear was a clear relationship between housing hardship and depression. Mothers in the housing instability group were much more likely to be depressed than mothers in the stable group. Regarding anxiety risk, whether or not rent was paid every month was the biggest determining factor. In total, the prevalence of maternal depression was 21 percent and the prevalence of anxiety was 5 percent.

Marcal also identified a racial component to the findings. This means that black renters have lower costs than white renters.

The reason for this is counterintuitive, Marcal says.

“Black families are more likely to receive rental assistance, but Black families are also more likely to be evicted sooner than white people,” she says.

In other words, black tenants won’t continue to incur costs for long. “They’re either paying rent or they’re being evicted or moving,” Marcal said.

Taken together, the findings highlight the importance of government housing support for low-income households.

“Rent assistance is very effective at keeping people housed and reducing their risk of depression and anxiety,” Marcal said. “But what this study shows is that we need to do a better job of promoting equity in aid programs.”