Residential moving dramatically impacts children’s physical, mental well-being

Issue: July 2016

Residential moving can adversely impact the physical and mental health of children across all stages of childhood, according to numerous recent pediatrics studies. Research in Pediatrics found that children who move residence during their first year of life have a significantly increased risk for medical emergency-related hospitalizations.

“Our study, in which we examined the effect of moving home on emergency potential preventable hospitalizations within early childhood, demonstrated that even a small number of moves appear to have a detrimental effect on subsequent health,” Hayley A. Hutchings, PhD, of patient and population health and informatics research at the Swansea University Medical School in the United Kingdom, and colleagues wrote. “We showed that residential moves are associated with an increased risk of being admitted to hospital [for numerous conditions].”

The researchers studied a cohort of 237,842 children from the Welsh Electronic Cohort for Children, which included data on address changes provided by patients to their physicians. The study included children born in Wales from 1999 to 2008. Researchers compared the number of residential moves for each child to the number of potentially preventable hospitalizations to determine how mobility affects their health.

Study results showed that moving in the first year of life increased the risk for potentially preventable hospitalizations for children aged 1 through 5 years. Two or more moves significantly increased the risks for otolaryngological infections (incidence RR = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.29-1.61), convulsions or epilepsy (IRR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.23-2.04), injuries (IRR = 1.33; 95% CI, 1.18-1.51) dehydration or gastroenteritis (IRR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.21-1.88), asthma (IRR = 1.61; 95% CI, 1.19-2.16) and influenza or pneumonia (IRR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1-1.32). Results also showed that children were at an increased risk for dental conditions after only one of more moves (IRR = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.03-1.64)

“Further research is needed to determine whether the effects of residential mobility in early childhood on potentially preventable hospitalizations persist in later childhood and adolescence and whether moves beyond the first year of life have similar effects,” Hutchings and colleagues wrote.

Lasting impact on mental health

Recent research in Child Development indicated that moving during middle childhood and early adolescence negatively impacted cognitive skills and psychological functioning, although these effects dissipated over time. Additional research in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, however, found links between childhood residential mobility and negative mental health-related outcomes later in life.

Rebekah Levine Coley

“A child’s home serves as a central context for human development, helping to define personal space and belongings, family relationships, and connections to neighbors, peers, schools, and community resources,” Rebekah Levine Coley, PhD, professor of counseling, developmental, and educational psychology at Boston College, and colleagues wrote in Child Development. “As such, moving residences may cause stress and disruption to children’s lives and core social connections, with negative repercussions for healthy development.”

Coley and colleagues studied a nationally representative sample of 19,162 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which followed a kindergarten class from 1998 through eighth grade. Study data indicated that moving was detrimental to children’s psychosocial functioning by the end of fifth grade, resulting in decreased social skills and increased internalizing and behavior problems. They also observed that moves during middle childhood and early adolescence negatively affected children’s cognitive skills. These effects, however, were short term and waned through time.

Coley and colleagues also noted that relocating may have the potential to positively impact child development.

“Moving may also bring new opportunities: families may move to safer, more comfortable, or more affordable homes, or to communities with better schools and community resources, and thus may promote children’s development,” they wrote.

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Moves in early adolescence impact adulthood

A study conducted by Roger T. Webb, PhD, of the Centre for Mental Health and Safety at the University of Manchester in England, and colleagues determined that residential moving before age 15 years was associated with negative socioemotional outcomes in adulthood.

“Childhood residential mobility is associated with multiple long-term adverse outcomes,” the researchers wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “Although frequent residential mobility could be a marker for familial psychosocial difficulties, the elevated risks were observed across the socioeconomic spectrum, and mobility may be intrinsically harmful.”

Webb and colleagues studied a cohort of 1,475,030 Danish participants and tracked their residential mobility using the Denmark Civil Registration System. Participants were followed from age 15 years until their early 40s to measure for adverse outcomes later in life. The investigators found that multiple moves in 1 year during early and mid-adolescence were linked to significant risks for violent offending, attempted suicide, substance abuse and unnatural death.

“Health and social services, schools and other public agencies should be vigilant of the psychological needs of relocated adolescents, including those from affluent as well as deprived families,” Webb and colleagues wrote. “Effective monitoring and risk management will require close cooperation among multiple public agencies, and in particular among child, adolescent, and adult mental health services.” – by David Costill

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Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.