Moving out and moving on. The triggering impact of mobility and union dissolutions on mental health.Evidence from Belgium

Background There is already a large contribution of the literature on how union dissolutions increase the risk of depression, but little is known about the underlying process of this relation and the impact of the residential changes on mental health, a fortiori in a context of union dissolution. Objective This research questions how depression risk varies during a period of separation and according to whether the individual moves or not at the moment and/or in the year following the separation. Data and method The dataset gathers information about 20 to 64-year-old individuals affiliated to Solidaris, the largest health assurance company in French-speaking Belgium, who lived in opposite-sex partnerships and observable from 2008 to 2018. We defined depression as an antidepressants intake of at least 90 Defined Daily Doses (DDD) over a calendar year. Random-effect and fixed-effect OLS models are conducted. Results After controlling for observed and unobserved individuals’ characteristics and compared to 2 years and more before the separation, we found results confirming an increase in the depression risk from the year prior to a separation and a peak in the year of the union dissolution. The depression level then decreases but remains high the year following a separation. Also, we notice a higher risk of depression on the whole separation period for women who move during their separation year. After controlling for selection effect by accounting for the period following the separation only, this result only persists for women who cumulate moves during the year of the separation and during the year after the separation. Conclusion This research indicates that the relation between depression and separation includes an anticipation effect and short-term consequences. Also, it reminds the material vulnerability of women during and after a separation, by showing that women who go through an unstable residential path during and following their separation face a noticeably high depression risk