High neighborhood eviction rate may harm Black moms’ mental health

High neighborhood eviction rate may harm Black moms’ mental health March 25, 2024 Editors’ notes This article has been reviewed according to Science X’s editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content’s credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread by Misti Crane, The Ohio State University Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Living in a neighborhood with high eviction rates over time is associated with higher rates of psychological distress among pregnant Black women compared to those who live in areas with lower eviction rates, a new study has found. The research highlights the impact of the housing crisis on pregnant women, even on those who haven’t personally been evicted, and the importance of neighborhood conditions to Black maternal health, said lead author Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, associate professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Public Health. “Black mothers are at least three times more likely than white mothers to die during or in the year after pregnancy, and we are not talking enough about the neighborhoods that people are living in as a predictor of poor maternal mental health,” Sealy-Jefferson said. She and her colleagues examined trajectories of neighborhood evictions over time and odds...