Maternal depression as a risk factor for children's inadequate housing conditions

Abstract

Depression among mothers with young children is an important public health issue that not only has implications for their own well-being, but can also potentially affect their children’s health and developmental trajectories. This study explored the extent to which maternal depression is a risk factor for inadequate housing conditions related to utilities, a noteworthy risk factor for poor child health. Using data on 2965 mothers and children from a national urban cohort of U.S. births in 1998–2000, we estimated multivariate logistic regression models of associations between maternal depression during the postpartum year and a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) measure of severely inadequate housing due to heating issues, as well as a broader measure of energy insecurity that encompasses various types of utility problems. We also considered outcomes that incorporated housing instability and food insecurity in conjunction with housing inadequacy. Mothers who experienced depression had about 60% higher odds of experiencing severely inadequate housing due to heat (OR: 1.57) and 70% higher odds of experiencing energy insecurity (OR: 1.69) compared to mothers who did not experience depression. Maternal depression was even more strongly associated with multiple hardships in the forms of housing inadequacy plus housing instability and/or food insecurity than it was with housing inadequacy. This study provides robust evidence that maternal depression is a risk factor for inadequate housing and multiple hardships during a critical period of children’s development. The findings suggest that policy efforts should not occur in mental health, housing, and food security silos.

Psychological Distress Mediates the Association between Food Insecurity and Suboptimal Sleep Quality in Latinos with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

“…Our results suggest that HFI may predict distress and sleep uniquely, independent of more traditional socioeconomic indicators, including income. Worry over providing food, feeding children, and experiencing hunger may be uniquely distressing, contributing to why HFI is associated consistently with maternal depression, childrenÕs psychoemotional development, and adultsÕ mental health (44)(45)(46). To our knowledge, no previous study has examined the associations between household food insecurity, psychological distress and sleep quality in Latinos with T2DM.…”

Adverse Housing Conditions and Early‐Onset Delinquency

“…Household income (in quintiles) and parental education [from no formal education (1) to graduate or professional school (9)] were also included as covariates, due to associations between SES and delinquency (Wright, Caspi, Moffitt, Miech & Silva, ). Parental depression (which has been linked to housing conditions—Corman, Curtis, Noonan & Reichman, ) and parental incarceration were also included as covariates, due to their associations with offspring delinquency and problem behaviors (Foster, Garber & Durlak, ; Roettger & Swisher, ). In light of the connection between parenting and delinquency (Hay, ), three parenting variables were included as covariates in the analyses: early cognitive stimulation (e.g., parent frequently engaged in reading, singing, and playing with child as infant; α = .96), parental involvement (e.g., playing sports, watching TV, playing games, helping with homework, talking about child's day, talking about current events; items were summed and averaged to create the index; α = .71), and physical punishment (i.e., parents were asked to report whether they had spanked or hit the child during the 30 days prior to the survey).…”

Energy, Poverty, and Health in Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review of an Emerging Literature

“…Inadequate household energy has been linked to the following health outcomes for both adults and children: cardiovascular, pulmonary, and respiratory illnesses; cancer; arthritis; acute hospitalization; excess mortality in summer and winter; and anxiety, depression, and stress (9,13,22,25). Indirect health impacts, such as food insecurity, are also associated with energy insecurity (6,(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). It is important to highlight how indirect health problems contribute to and compound direct health impacts related to household energy insecurity.…”