Housing insecurity in childhood linked to anxiety and depression in later life: JAMA

This Original Investigation on Adolescent Mental Health is published on June 20, 2023 entitled “Prospective Associations of Childhood Housing Insecurity With Anxiety and Depression Symptoms During Childhood and Adulthood” by lead author Dr Ryan Keen.

This study of 1339 participants experiencing housing insecurity during childhood are more likely to have higher anxiety and depression symptom scores during later childhood and higher depression symptom scores during adulthood.

The study has highlighted an important consideration that efforts to increase housing security may be protective for mental health.

In recent decades, Childhood housing insecurity has increased in the US. There needs to be more data available further to clarify its association with adverse mental health outcomes. This context was studied in the present study.

The study participants were aged 9, 11, and 13 years at baseline from the Great Smoky Mountains Study in western North Carolina and were assessed up to 11 times from January 1993 to December 2015.

A comprehensive measure of childhood housing insecurity was constructed based on frequent residential moves, reduced standard of living, forced separation from home, and foster care status.

The key results are:

• There were 1339 participants of mean age, 11.3 years), 739 were male and 1203 individuals assessed up to 30 years of age were included in the adulthood outcome analyses.
• The baseline anxiety and depression symptom scores were higher among children experiencing housing insecurity compared to those never experiencing it.
• Individuals experiencing childhood housing insecurity had higher anxiety symptom scores and higher depression symptom scores during childhood.
• In adulthood, childhood housing insecurity was associated with higher depression symptom scores.

Concluding further, they wrote, housing insecurity is related to anxiety and depression during childhood and with depression during adulthood.

Housing insecurity is modifiable, policy-relevant factor associated with psychopathology, they noted.

They said that social policies supporting secure housing may be an important prevention strategy.

Further reading:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2806299