Association between household overcrowding and depressive mood among Chinese residents.

BACKGROUND: Recent household overcrowding has strongly affected households' mental health in China. The possible association of household overcrowding and depressive mood is not fully demonstrated in unique Chinese economic context. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the association of household overcrowding and depressive mood among Chinese adults and to evaluate whether the association varies across socio-demographic characteristics. METHODS: The relationship between household overcrowding and individual's depressive mood was examined using ordered logistic regression models. Stratified analysis was used to evaluate whether the association varies across socio-demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Ordered logistic regression models showed that the odds ratio for depressive mood among residents enduring housing overcrowding, as compared with residents without household overcrowding were 1.12 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.22), after controlling for important confounders. We secondarily examined the association across subgroups. Stratified analysis revealed that household overcrowding significantly affected depressive mood for the low household income subgroups, whereas has no significant effect on depressive mood for the high household income. LIMITATIONS: CFPS does not investigate the depression of people under 16, making it impossible for us to study the impacts of housing crowding on Chinese children's depression. Secondly, we did not adjust for other potential confounders, such as lifetime history of depression or depressive mood, medication use and anxiety disorders/symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This finding indicates that household overcrowding is harmful to residents' mental health, and appropriate protective measures should be taken to reduce the adverse effects of household overcrowding on residents' mental health.