Residential mobility and socioemotional and behavioural difficulties in a preschool population cohort of New Zealand children

Abstract

BackgroundFindings regarding early residential mobility and increased risk for socioemotional and behavioural (SEB) difficulties in preschool children are mixed, with some studies finding no evidence of an association once known covariates are controlled for. Our aim was to investigate residential mobility and SEB difficulties in a population cohort of New Zealand (NZ) children.MethodsData from the Integrated Data Infrastructure were examined for 313 164 children born in NZ since 2004 who had completed the Before School Check at 4 years of age. Residential mobility was determined from address data. SEB difficulty scores were obtained from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire administered as part of the Before School Check.ResultsThe prevalence of residential mobility was 69%; 12% of children had moved ≥4 times. A linear association between residential mobility and increased SEB difficulties was found (B=0.58), which remained robust when controlling for several known covariates. Moves >10 km and moving to areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation were associated with increased SEB difficulties (B=0.08 and B=0.09, respectively), while residential mobility before 2 years of age was not. Children exposed to greater residential mobility were 8% more likely to obtain SEB difficulties scores of clinical concern than children exposed to fewer moves (adjusted OR 1.08).ConclusionThis study found a linear association between residential mobility and increased SEB difficulties in young children. This result highlights the need to consider residential mobility as a risk factor for SEB difficulties in the preschool years.

How Does Household Residential Instability Influence Child Health Outcomes? A Quantile Analysis

“…Previous analyses of residential instability have for example defined children’s residential instability as occurring when households made three or more moves in the first 7 years of a child’s life [30], 2 or more moves before the age of 9 [32], 2 or more times within a two-year period [33]. Other studies have not specified instability, rather focusing on the relative number of moves undertaken (for example, References [34,35]) Residential instability in this analysis is defined as occurring when a child’s family undertook two or moves during a two year period.…”

Structural Adjustment and Community Resilience: The Case of Postdisaster Housing Recovery After the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010 and 2011

“…In the private rental market, low-income households are likely to experience the greatest levels of residential mobility (Morton et al, 2014), but there is not enough information on the drivers of transience for low-income households in private rentals. Tenants in the private rental market are more likely than homeowners and social housing tenants to experience reluctant moves and low housing quality, which has significant impacts on human health and safety (Keall et al, 2010) and over-all quality of life (Howden-Chapman et al, 1996), particularly for children (Nathan et al, 2019).…”

Residential mobility for a national cohort of New Zealand-born children by area socioeconomic deprivation level and ethnic group

“…Changes of home address and frequent residential mobility can have negative impacts on young children, with possible long-term consequences for their physical and mental health, and social outcomes. [1][2][3][4] However, there are also potential benefits from mobility in some instances. For example, families may be upwardly mobile and move to areas with better access to jobs and higher quality housing, reflecting increasing socioeconomic resources and opportunities.…”

“…[35][36][37] In a recent study of early childhood mobility, more than two-third (69%) of New Zealand children (n=3 13 164) had moved at least once by the age of four and 12% had experienced four or more moves. 2 Among the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study of over 6000 New Zealand children, 33% were living in high-deprivation areas at 4 years of age as measured by the New Zealand Deprivation Index (NZDep). 38 Current study Our study focusses on the patterns of moves made by children from birth to their fourth birthday, to and from areas of varying socioeconomic deprivation.…”

“…The current descriptive study grew out of work on health and social outcomes associated with residential mobility in early childhood. 2 Taking a developmental approach, the prior study focussed on the first 4 years of life based on both the importance of this period for healthy child development and the frequency with which young children move. Whereas this earlier work focussed on child outcomes associated with mobility, the current study examines the patterns and transitions of the moves themselves, using a similar cohort.…”