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 After five or more moves, children are more than three times as
likely to experience mental health problems, according to an
analysis that tracked almost 50,000 youngsters in Northern Ireland
from 2001 to 2011.
The impact of moving on mental health may also be worse for older
children, particularly if they have to leave behind friends and
change schools, said lead study author Foteini Tseliou of Queens
University in Belfast.
“Moving house can be a hugely stressful experience for the parents
and the family as a whole as it can be associated with change in
social environment and networks, and other aspects of the physical
and social environment,” Tseliou said by email. “Parents need to be
aware that such a change can be even more stressful for children as
they may be more sensitive and less resilient.”
To understand the impact of moving on childhood mental health,
Tseliou and colleagues started analyzing data on children who were
aged eight and under in 2001, using census records to assess address
changes.
Then, they linked the data on moving to mental health information
reported at the end of the study in 2011.
Overall, slightly more than half of the children moved at least once
during the 10-year study period, and about 13 percent moved at least
three times, the researchers report in the Journal of Epidemiology
and Community Health.
Children were more likely to move if their families rented housing,
or if they owned homes in less affluent areas.
Kids who were in two-parent families at both the start and the end
of the study were less likely to change addresses than children who
experienced a divorce or separation in the household.
Kids were about 2.5 times more likely to move if they started the
study in a two-parent household and lived with just one parent ten
years later.
The researchers didn’t find a connection between moving and physical
health, only mental health.
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One shortcoming of the study is that the census data may not capture
every move, potentially underestimating the frequency of address
changes the children experienced, the authors acknowledge.
Another limitation was the mental health assessment, which was based
on one census question and could be answered by parents on behalf of
their children, the researchers also note.
“Only 263 (0.53 percent) reported chronic mental health problems, a
low prevalence of poor mental health conditions compared to what
might be expected,” Martin Lindstrom, a researcher at Lund
University in Sweden who wasn’t involved in the study, said by
email.
Even so, understanding the connection between mental health and
frequent childhood moves may better equip parents and health care
providers to help kids navigate these changes, noted Katherine
Marcal, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis who
wasn’t involved in the study.
“Healthy child development is supported by stability and security
across domains,” Marcal said by email. “Housing is one important
aspect of this, along with parenting, family dynamics, neighborhood
factors, the school environment, peer influences, etc.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1GP3cax Journal of Epidemiology and Community
Health, online October 16, 2015.
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