Children's social and academic functioning is impeded when their families move more often

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/sfri-csa052016.php

Public Release: 25-May-2016
Children's social and academic functioning is impeded when their families move more often
Society for Research in Child Development

America is a mobile society, with most children and their families moving once or more during childhood. Moving can bring new opportunities if families relocate to safer, more comfortable homes, or to communities with better schools. However, previous research has found that more frequent residential moves can lead to stress and disrupt children's routines, with negative repercussions for healthy development. Now a new study has found that each additional residential move that children experience is associated with a corresponding decline in reading and math scores, as well as less positive social skills and higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems. The study compared children who move frequently with those who don't move or who move less frequently.

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They found that moving is differentially harmful for children's well-being--that is, the effects depend on when the moves occur. "Moves during both early and middle childhood were associated with decreases in children's social skills and increases in emotional and behavior problems, and these effects lasted for years," explains Rebekah Levine Coley, professor of applied developmental and educational psychology at Boston College, who led the study.

"In contrast, moves during middle childhood and early adolescence--after children had started school--had shorter-term effects on children's reading and math skills, and those effects diminished over time," Coley adds. The study also found that while residential and school mobility was associated with small decreases in children's functioning, these detriments could accumulate over multiple moves.

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