Title : Acute versus cumulative housing instability and maternal depression among urban mothers: Longitudinal evidence from the future of families and child wellbeing study

Housing instability is a critical social determinant of health that disproportionately affects economically vulnerable urban families, yet limited longitudinal research has distinguished between acute episodes of instability and cumulative residential mobility over time. Existing studies suggest that repeated residential moves may increase psychological distress and depression among mothers, but it remains unclear whether concentrated periods of instability are more harmful than long-term cumulative mobility. This study examines the longitudinal association between acute versus cumulative housing instability and maternal depression among urban mothers using data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a nationally representative birth cohort of families in large U.S. cities. This study pooled Waves 2–5 and Waves 2–6 of the FFCWS and employed survey-weighted longitudinal analyses using Wave 2 national weights and JK1 replicate weights to account for the complex sampling design. Maternal depression was measured using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) short-form depression indicators across waves. Acute housing instability was operationalized as the number of residential moves between interview periods and categorized as one move, two moves, and three or more moves. Cumulative instability was measured using total residential moves across waves and grouped cumulative mobility categories. Models adjusted for poverty ratio, race/ethnicity, education, age, marital status, monthly rent, self-rated health, and parenting stress. Across pooled Waves 2–5, approximately 15.4% of mothers met criteria for depression, while 84.6% did not. The sample was racially diverse, with approximately 42% identifying as Black, 32% Hispanic, and 22% White. Mothers experiencing three or more residential moves consistently reported the highest prevalence of depression across waves. In survey-weighted logistic regression models, mothers with three or more moves had more than twice the odds of depression compared with mothers experiencing one move (OR = 2.28; 95% CI: 1.23–4.22) in the Waves 2–5 models, with similar findings observed in the Waves 2–6 analyses (OR = 2.20; 95% CI: 1.45–3.35). In contrast, cumulative residential move counts and quadratic cumulative mobility terms were generally not statistically significant after adjusting for parenting stress and survey design effects. However, when parenting stress was excluded, moderate cumulative instability became statistically significant (OR = 2.55; 95% CI: 1.13–5.72), suggesting that psychosocial stress may partially mediate the relationship between long-term housing instability and maternal depression. Overall, the findings suggest that acute or concentrated episodes of residential instability may be more salient predictors of contemporaneous maternal depression than cumulative residential mobility over time. This study contributes to the housing and health literature by distinguishing acute from cumulative instability within a nationally representative urban birth cohort and by highlighting the importance of psychosocial stress pathways in shaping maternal mental health outcomes. The findings underscore the need for housing and public health policies that prevent frequent or forced residential moves and support housing stability among economically vulnerable urban families.

Olumayowa Idowu is a Ph.D. candidate in Policy Studies with a health policy concentration at Clemson University and holds a Master of Science in Quantitative Economics from the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on housing instability, social determinants of health, maternal mental health, and public policy using longitudinal and mixed-methods approaches. Prior to his doctoral studies, he worked for over a decade in housing finance, microfinance lending, audit, and risk management. His current scholarship examines how housing instability, neighborhood conditions, and economic vulnerability shape health outcomes among urban populations.