Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun;57(6):1157-1165.
doi: 10.1007/s00127-021-02192-9. Epub 2021 Nov 16.

Dynamic residential movement and depression among the World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees

Sungwoo Lim  1 , Sze Yan Liu  2 , Jennifer Brite  3   4 , Aldo Crossa  5 , Sean Locke  4 , Cristina Pollari  4 , María Baquero  5
Affiliations

Dynamic residential movement and depression among the World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees

Sungwoo Lim et al. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: Residential instability is associated with poor mental health, but its causal inference is challenging due to time-varying exposure and confounding, and the role of changing social environments. We tested the association between frequent residential moving and depression risk among adults exposed to the 9/11 disaster.

Methods: We used four waves of survey data from the World Trade Center Health Registry. We measured residential movement and depression using geocoded annual address records and the Personal Health Questionnaire Depression Scale, respectively, for a prospective cohort of 38,495 adults. We used the longitudinal Targeted Maximum Likelihood Method to estimate depression risk by frequent residential moving and conducted causal mediation analysis to evaluate a mediating role of social environments.

Results: Most enrollees (68%) did not move in 2007-2014, and 6% moved at least once every 4 years. The remaining 26% moved less frequently (e.g., only moving in 2007-2010). Frequent moving versus no moving was associated with risk of depression in 2015-16 (RR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.37). Frequent residential moving-depression pathway was mediated by high social integration (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.90, 0.97).

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the importance of social networks in understanding increased risk of depression associated with housing instability.

Keywords: Depression; Housing; Social environment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Crude Prevalence of Depression by Residential Moving Patterns Among World Trade Center Health Registry Survey Participants, New York, 2003–2016
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Directed Acyclic Grapha. aSimplified for the illustration purpose
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Price C, Dalman C, Zammit S, Kirkbride JB. Association of residential mobility over the life course with nonaffective psychosis in 14 million young people in Sweden. JAMA Psychiat. 2018;75(11):1128–1136. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.2233. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Simoni ZR, Bauldry S. Moving during adolescence and depressive symptoms: the role of social support. Youth Soc. 2020;52(4):639–660. doi: 10.1177/0044118X18757149. - DOI
    1. Davey-Rothwell MA, German D, Latkin CA. Residential transience and depression: does the relationship exist for men and women? J Urban Health. 2008;85(5):707–716. doi: 10.1007/s11524-008-9294-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Burgard SA, Seefeldt KS, Zelner S. Housing instability and health: findings from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study. Soc Sci Med. 2012;75(12):2215–2224. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.08.020. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Morris T, Manley D, Sabel CE. Residential mobility: Towards progress in mobility health research. Prog Hum Geogr. 2018;42(1):112–133. doi: 10.1177/0309132516649454. - DOI - PMC - PubMed