IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v149y2016icp76-83.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Corman, Hope
  • Curtis, Marah A.
  • Noonan, Kelly
  • Reichman, Nancy E.

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Corman, Hope & Curtis, Marah A. & Noonan, Kelly & Reichman, Nancy E., 2016. "Maternal depression as a risk factor for children's inadequate housing conditions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 76-83.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:149:y:2016:i:c:p:76-83
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.054
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615302598
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.054?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krieger, J. & Higgins, D.L., 2002. "Housing and health: Time again for public health action," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(5), pages 758-768.
    2. Bhattacharya, J. & DeLeire, T. & Haider, S. & Currie, J., 2003. "Heat or Eat? Cold-Weather Shocks and Nutrition in Poor American Families," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(7), pages 1149-1154.
    3. Anthony G. Murray & Bradford F. Mills, 2014. "The Impact Of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program Participation On Household Energy Insecurity," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(4), pages 811-825, October.
    4. Curtis, M.A. & Corman, H. & Noonan, K. & Reichman, N.E., 2014. "Maternal depression as a risk factor for family homelessness," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(9), pages 1664-1670.
    5. Liddell, Christine & Morris, Chris, 2010. "Fuel poverty and human health: A review of recent evidence," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2987-2997, June.
    6. Perry, Cynthia D., 2008. "Does treating maternal depression improve child health management The case of pediatric asthma," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 157-173, January.
    7. Curtis, Marah A. & Corman, Hope & Noonan, Kelly & Reichman, Nancy E., 2010. "Effects of child health on housing in the urban U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2049-2056, December.
    8. Reichman, Nancy E. & Teitler, Julien O. & Garfinkel, Irwin & McLanahan, Sara S., 2001. "Fragile Families: sample and design," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4-5), pages 303-326.
    9. Kelly Noonan & Hope Corman & Nancy E. Reichman, 2014. "Effects of Maternal Depression on Family Food Insecurity," NBER Working Papers 20113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Marah Curtis & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Nancy Reichman, 2013. "Life Shocks and Homelessness," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(6), pages 2227-2253, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christian King, 2018. "Food insecurity and housing instability in vulnerable families," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 255-273, June.
    2. McGovern, Mark E. & Rokicki, Slawa & Reichman, Nancy E., 2022. "Maternal depression and economic well-being: A quasi-experimental approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    3. Demetrio Carmona-Derqui & Jonathan Torres-Tellez & Alberto Montero-Soler, 2023. "Effects of Housing Deprivation on Health: Empirical Evidence from Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Wenjie Gong & Xin Jin & Kar Keung Cheng & Eric D. Caine & Richard Lehman & Dong (Roman) Xu, 2020. "Chinese Women’s Acceptance and Uptake of Referral after Screening for Perinatal Depression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-11, November.
    5. Wu, Qiong & Harwood, Robin L. & Feng, Xin, 2018. "Family socioeconomic status and maternal depressive symptoms: Mediation through household food insecurity across five years," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 1-6.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Corman, Hope & Noonan, Kelly & Reichman, Nancy E., 2014. "Effects of infant health on family food insecurity: Evidence from two U.S. birth cohort studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 18-25.
    2. Noonan, Kelly & Corman, Hope & Reichman, Nancy E., 2016. "Effects of maternal depression on family food insecurity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 201-215.
    3. Graff, Michelle & Pirog, Maureen, 2019. "Red tape is not so hot: Asset tests impact participation in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 749-764.
    4. Gold, Sarah & Wagner, Brandon, 2022. "Acute care utilization and housing hardships in American children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    5. McGovern, Mark E. & Rokicki, Slawa & Reichman, Nancy E., 2022. "Maternal depression and economic well-being: A quasi-experimental approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    6. Nancy Reichman & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan, 2015. "Effects of maternal depression on couple relationship status," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 929-973, December.
    7. Doremus, Jacqueline M. & Jacqz, Irene & Johnston, Sarah, 2022. "Sweating the energy bill: Extreme weather, poor households, and the energy spending gap," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    8. Janjala Chirakijja & Seema Jayachandran & Pinchuan Ong, 2024. "The Mortality Effects of Winter Heating Prices," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 402-417.
    9. Janjala Chirakijja & Seema Jayachandran & Pinchuan Ong, 2019. "Inexpensive Heating Reduces Winter Mortality," NBER Working Papers 25681, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. O'Flaherty, Brendan, 2019. "Homelessness research: A guide for economists (and friends)," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-25.
    11. O'Sullivan, Kimberley C. & Howden-Chapman, Philippa L. & Fougere, Geoff, 2011. "Making the connection: The relationship between fuel poverty, electricity disconnection, and prepayment metering," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 733-741, February.
    12. Marah A. Curtis & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Nancy E. Reichman, 2012. "Life Shocks and Homelessness," Working Papers 1374, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    13. Sehun Oh & Ian Zapcic & Michael G. Vaughn & Christopher P. Salas-Wright & Yeonwoo Kim, 2021. "Housing Instability and Depression among US Mothers Following a Nonmarital Birth," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-13, September.
    14. Karmaker, Shamal Chandra & Sen, Kanchan Kumar & Singha, Bipasha & Hosan, Shahadat & Chapman, Andrew J. & Saha, Bidyut Baran, 2022. "The mediating effect of energy poverty on child development: Empirical evidence from energy poor countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    15. Oh, Jihyun, 2023. "Prevalence and factors associated with multidimensional child deprivation: Findings from the Future of Families and Child Well-Being Study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    16. Susana Carolina Guzmán-Rosas, 2023. "Strategies Used by Rural Indigenous Populations to Cope with Energy Poverty, in San Luis Potosí, Mexico," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-23, June.
    17. Jason Reece, 2021. "More Than Shelter: Housing for Urban Maternal and Infant Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-17, March.
    18. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-03-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Jacques- Aviñó, Constanza & Peralta, Andrés & Carrere, Juli & Marí-Dell'Olmo, Marc & Benach, Joan & López, María-José, 2022. "Qualitative evaluation of an intervention to reduce energy poverty: Effects perceived by participants according to typologies of social vulnerability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    20. O'Sullivan, Kimberley C. & Howden-Chapman, Philippa L. & Fougere, Geoffrey M. & Hales, Simon & Stanley, James, 2013. "Empowered? Examining self-disconnection in a postal survey of electricity prepayment meter consumers in New Zealand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 277-287.
    21. Kamp Dush, Claire M. & Schmeer, Kammi K. & Taylor, Miles, 2013. "Chaos as a social determinant of child health: Reciprocal associations?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 69-76.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:149:y:2016:i:c:p:76-83. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.