Disaggregated housing tenure and depressive symptoms: A fixed-effects analysis across 13 waves

Objective: Housing tenure represents a key factor that influences mental health outcomes. Whereas traditional research has compared owned versus rented housing, this study investigates associations between disaggregated housing tenure and depressive symptoms. Methods: We analyzed data from waves 2–14 of the Japanese Life Course Panel Survey (2008–2020). The study comprised 4,634 participants aged 22–54 years (46,007 observations). Housing tenure was examined through aggregated (rented vs owned) and disaggregated models: rented, self-owned, spouse-owned, co-owned, parent-owned, in-law-owned, and other arrangements. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5). Fixed-effects modeling examined associations between housing tenure and depressive symptoms, with gender stratification. Results: The aggregated analysis indicated significantly greater depressive symptoms during owned versus rental periods (−0.64, 95% CI: −1.25, −0.03). The disaggregated model showed that self-owned (−0.98, 95% CI: −1.86, −0.11) and in-law-owned (−1.67, 95% CI: −2.93, −0.40) housing periods were associated with significantly lower MHI-5 scores relative to rental periods. Gender-stratified results suggested that the self-owned housing association may be primarily driven by men, while among women, in-law-owned housing remained significantly associated with greater depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Self-owned and in-law-owned housing periods were associated with greater depressive symptoms compared with rental housing. These patterns suggest mental health consequences of gender norms that limit women's housing choices while concentrating mortgage burdens primarily on men. Preventive strategies could consider measures such as women's economic empowerment, enabling shared mortgage responsibility and expanding women's housing options, to alleviate gendered constraints on housing choices and their associated mental health burdens.