Becoming a parent comes with lots of bills. For new mothers, being able to afford the rent may help stave off postpartum depression. “Housing unaffordability has serious implications for mental health,” said Katherine Marcal, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work and author of a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research. “For mothers who rent their homes, the ability to make monthly payments appears to have a correlation to well-being.”
Housing hardship – missing rent or mortgage payments, moving in with others, being evicted or experiencing homelessness – has been associated with increased risk for depression. Yet little is understood about unique manifestations of housing hardship among postpartum mothers in renter households, said Marcal. To read the full story.