Moving Neighborhoods in Childhood May Increase Risk for Depression in Adulthood

Findings independent of neighborhood deprivation

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, July 19, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Moving during childhood may increase the risk for later depression, according to a study published online July 17 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Clive E. Sabel, Ph.D., from Aarhus University in Denmark, and colleagues evaluated whether changing neighborhood income deprivation and residential moves during childhood are associated with the risk for receiving a diagnosis of depression in adulthood. The analysis included 1.1 million people born in Denmark from 1982 through 2003 with follow-up for 15 years.

The researchers found that people living in deprived areas during childhood had an increased risk for depression (incidence rate ratio, 1.10). When fully adjusting for individual-level factors, the risk was lessened (incidence rate ratio, 1.02), yielding an increase of 2 percent in depression incidence for each one standard deviation increase in income deprivation. Independent of neighborhood deprivation status, moving during childhood was associated with significantly higher rates of depression in adulthood versus not moving (incidence rate ratio, 1.61 for two or more moves after full adjustment).

“This study suggests that rather than solely high neighborhood income deprivation in childhood being associated with onset of depression during adulthood, a settled home environment in childhood may have a protective association,” the authors write. “Policies that enable and support settled childhoods should be promoted.”