Associations between individual housing cost burden and depressive symptoms by relative income: A 13-wave panel study

This study examined the association between individual housing cost burden and depressive symptoms, hypothesizing stronger associations particularly in primary breadwinner men who may bear disproportionate financial responsibility. Unlike previous studies that applied uniform household-level housing cost burden measures to all household members, we introduced an individual-level analysis approach to address the potentially unequal distribution of financial stress within households.

This panel study analyzed 13 waves of a longitudinal survey in Japan (2007-2019), with a sample of 5011 individuals aged 21-53 (47,384 observations).

Using the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) to measure depressive symptoms as the dependent variable, we examined individual housing cost-to-income ratio as the exposure variable, categorized into two (<30 % vs ≥ 30 %), with an interaction term to examine how this association differed by relative income among married individuals (≥60 % vs <60 % of household income). Gender-stratified fixed-effects models were employed with multiple imputations for missing data.

Significant associations were observed exclusively among men. Specifically, when individual housing cost burden was ≥30 % compared to <30 %, MHI-5 scores were 1.25 points lower (95 % CI: -2.16, -0.34), with associations observed exclusively in married men with relative income <60 %, who were non-breadwinners (-1.83; 95 % CI: -3.56, -0.10).

The relationship between individual housing cost burden and mental health could be influenced by gender role context, and contrary to our hypothesis, vulnerability was observed in men deviating from traditional breadwinner roles. Effective interventions should address both housing affordability and the psychological consequences of gender role expectations through targeted preventive measures and social norm modification.