Children of families that move frequently before age 15 may be at increased risk for later depression, according to a report in JAMA Psychiatry.
The study also found that individuals who lived in neighborhoods during childhood that were more income deprived were more likely to develop depression in adulthood, but the experience of moving during childhood—regardless of income—was associated with significantly higher rates of depression compared with those who did not move.
“Rather than solely low neighborhood income deprivation in childhood being associated with onset of depression during adulthood, a settled home environment in childhood may have a protective association,” wrote Clive E. Sabel, Ph.D., of Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues.
The researchers used data from the Danish Civil Registration system to examine the association between neighborhood income and relocation frequency during childhood and later depression for 1,096,916 people born in Denmark from January 1, 1982, to December 31, 2003. The system uses a unique personal identification number for each resident, providing data on sex, birthdate, and continuously updated information on vital status and residential address.
Individuals were followed from age 15 until either death, emigration, depression diagnosis, or December 31, 2018. The researchers used a statistical measure of neighborhood income deprivation for each year at a place of residence to calculate a cumulative income deprivation score for everyone over their first 15 years. Individuals who lived in the same neighborhood during their entire childhood were defined as “stayers,” while those who did not were defined as “movers.”
A total of 35,098 individuals received a diagnosis of depression during follow-up. After adjusting for possible confounding factors, the researchers found that each successive increase in the income deprivation index increased one’s risk of depression by 2%. However, those who moved once or more than once as children between the ages of 10 and 15 years—regardless of income—had 1.40 times and 1.61 times greater risk of depression, respectively, than those who did not move.
The researchers suggested that frequent relocation may be an indicator of family instability. “Children of a family that is unstable, perhaps with relationship breakups or loss of employment, are more likely to need to move,” they wrote. “The move itself could sever social ties and contribute to the breakdown of informal and formal social support services, including schooling.”
For related information see the Psychiatric News article “Study Delves Deeper Into Mental Health Effects of Childhood Trauma.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/Chris Ryan)
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