Moving even once during childhood puts people at risk for developing depression later in life, a new study shows.
The research, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, confirmed prior findings that children who grow up in low-income neighborhoods are more likely to develop depression as adults. It also found that children who move at least once during childhood are at significantly higher risk of being diagnosed with depression later in life. That was true whether the children moved within their existing neighborhoods or between neighborhoods of different income levels.
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“We know there are a number of factors which lead to a person being diagnosed with a mental illness,” lead author Clive Sabel, a professor at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. “However, this is the first evidence to suggest that moving to a new neighbourhood during childhood is among them, and we believe the numbers we are seeing could be the tip of the iceberg.”
A collaboration between Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Plymouth and the University of Manchester in the U.K., the study included more than 1 million participants – all Danish people born between 1982 and 2003. About 35,000 of them were diagnosed with depression.
In 1997, the average Danish citizen had moved nine times by age 35, according to statistics published in The Copenhagen Post. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the average American moves approximately 11 times during their lifetime.
The research revealed that children who move once between ages 10 to 15 are 41% more likely to be diagnosed with depression than those who don’t, and that children who move twice or more between ages 10 to 15 are at a 61% higher risk of developing depression than those who don’t move at all.
Remaining settled during childhood in one place, even in a lower-income environment, may offer “protective factors” against depression, the researchers concluded.
“During those formative years, children are building their social networks through school, sports groups or other activities,” Sabel said. “Each time they have to adapt to something new it can be disruptive, so we potentially need to find new ways to help people overcome those challenges.”