Housing unaffordability and adolescent depression in urban China

The current body of research on the connection between housing unaffordability and adolescent mental health is limited and predominantly centered on Western countries, with a notable absence of evidence from Asian economies, particularly China. Using the 2010–2020 waves of the China Family Panel Studies, we investigate the impact of housing unaffordability on depression among Chinese urban adolescents aged 8–17. Using fixed effects and instrumental variable estimations, we show that housing unaffordability leads to higher levels of depression, with more pronounced impacts for those living in very poor housing quality, residing in the Central region and provinces with high-Confucian influences. These results are robust to alternative housing unaffordability and depression measures, and various IV methods. Our mechanism analysis reveals that this housing unaffordability-depression relation is mediated by lower cognitive ability and adolescent-parent relationship. Policies that promote the development of affordable housing, particularly through public, low-rent, and subsidized housing initiatives, could serve as an effective means to enhance adolescent mental health.