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Home foreclosure and risk of psychiatric morbidity during the recent financial crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2011

K. A. McLaughlin ,
A. Nandi ,
K. M. Keyes ,
M. Uddin ,
A. E. Aiello ,
S. Galea  and
K. C. Koenen
K. A. McLaughlin*
Affiliation:
Division of General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
A. Nandi
Affiliation:
Institute for Health and Social Policy and Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
K. M. Keyes
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
M. Uddin
Affiliation:
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
A. E. Aiello
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
S. Galea
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
K. C. Koenen
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: K. A. McLaughlin, Ph.D.,Division of General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Boston, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

A defining feature of the US economic downturn of 2008–2010 was the alarming rate of home foreclosure. Although a substantial number of US households have experienced foreclosure since 2008, the effects of foreclosure on mental health are unknown. We examined the effects of foreclosure on psychiatric symptomatology in a prospective, population-based community survey.

Method

Data were drawn from the Detroit Neighborhoods and Health Study (DNHS), waves 1 and 2 (2008–2010). A probability sample of predominantly African-American adults in Detroit, Michigan participated (n=1547). We examined the association between home foreclosure between waves 1 and 2 and increases in symptoms of DSM-IV major depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Results

The most common reasons for foreclosure were an increase in monthly payments, an increase in non-medical expenses and a reduction in family income. Exposure to foreclosure between waves 1 and 2 predicted symptoms of major depression and GAD at wave 2, controlling for symptoms at wave 1. Even after adjusting for wave 1 symptoms, sociodemographics, lifetime history of psychiatric disorder at wave 1 and exposure to other financial stressors between waves 1 and 2, foreclosure was associated with an increased rate of symptoms of major depression [incidence density ratio (IDR) 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6–3.6] and GAD (IDR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4–2.6).

Conclusions

We provide the first prospective evidence linking foreclosure to the onset of mental health problems. These results, combined with the high rate of home foreclosure since 2008, suggest that the foreclosure crisis may have adverse effects on the mental health of the US population.

Keywords

Anxietydepressionfinancial crisisforeclosurestress
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 42 , Issue 7 , July 2012 , pp. 1441 - 1448
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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