Early-life and Adulthood Eviction and Risk of Depressive Symptoms in Black Reproductive Age Women: Social Epidemiology to Combat Unjust Residential Evictions (SECURE) Study.

Residential evictions and chronic depression are worsening public health issues that disproportionately affect Black communities, though few studies have examined their association. Using qualitative and quantitative data from the (ANONYMIZED FOR REVIEW); 2021-2024; n = 1428). We used Poisson regression to estimate risk of high depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) score 16+; Cronbach's alpha: 0.91) associated with 5 measures of eviction, by type, recency, and life-stage. We also used a content analysis methodology to mix responses to an open-ended survey question about the impact of childhood eviction (n = 349) with quantitative data to provide a deeper contextual understanding of the findings. Fifty-four percent (n = 775) of participants had CESD scores indicating they were at risk for clinical depression. We observed between 14-17% higher risk of high depressive symptoms among those who reported childhood eviction and recent and lifetime court-ordered eviction, compared to those who did not, in adjusted models (95% confidence interval range: 1.01-1.28). Qualitative data suggests that childhood eviction may be associated with risk of clinical depression through 5 novel potential mechanisms. The 20-item depressive symptom scale completely aligned with the qualitative themes. Future research, mental health interventions and policy solutions are warranted to achieve health equity goals.