Poster #40 - Residential Mobility and Social and Academic Outcomes for Elementary-Aged Children

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

Residential mobility is prevalent in the United States: between 2018 and 2019, over eight million children experienced at least one residential move (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019). Yet, residential mobility’s role in child development remains unclear. While some studies have documented negative relationships between residential moves and child development, particularly among families experiencing economic adversity (Cutuli et al., 2013; Ziol‐Guest & McKenna, 2014), other studies find no relationship between mobility and development after accounting for related child and family factors (Howland et al., 2017; Tobin, 2016).

One seminal article, which used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) 1998-99 cohort to explore the link between residential mobility and developmental outcomes, found small but statistically significant associations (Coley & Kull 2016). However, this study leaves several questions unresolved, for example: do these associations persist in more recent data, and does the relationship vary by families’ experiences of poverty or low income, particularly over time?

To investigate these questions, this study uses the updated 2010-11 ECLS-K cohort. We use a series of weighted regression models to assess the relationship between the frequency of residential moves throughout children’s elementary school years (e.g., from K through 5th grade) and children’s 5th grade academic and socio-emotional outcomes, as well as whether family income moderated these associations.

Residential mobility was assessed using parent reports of whether a child moved at each survey wave (e.g., K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th), which were summed over time into a continuous measure. Child development was assessed using ECLS-K math and reading scores, as well as teacher reports across 4 socio-emotional domains. A rich set of child, family, school, and neighborhood characteristics previously linked to both mobility and outcomes were also included (Anderson et al., 2014), as well as a measure of residential mobility prior to kindergarten and measures of child cognitive and socio-emotional development assessed during the fall kindergarten year. The analytic sample (n =5,320) includes all children who had valid survey weight data (W9C19P_9T29B) from kindergarten through fifth grade (response rates 68%-87%).

Table 1 shows that while residential mobility was initially deleteriously associated with reading, math, and internalizing outcomes, these associations attenuated in models that included covariates. Notably, however, there is a persistent, statistically significant association between mobility prior to kindergarten and 5th grade outcomes, despite the inclusion of fall kindergarten scores.

Table 2 shows that the pattern of largely null findings is replicated across family income groups, though there is some suggestive evidence that children from mobile families with lower-incomes may struggle more with externalizing and self control, whereas children from families with higher incomes may struggle more interpersonally and with internalizing.

Taken together, study results fail to replicate Coley & Kull (2016). Next steps include exploring patterns by timing of residential mobility and the use of more rigorous modeling strategies, including child fixed effects modeling. These analyses can help clarify the relationship between residential mobility and children’s development, and further build our understanding of how early instability and economic adversity may influence longer-term development.

Authors

• Jeffrey Yo, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Anna Markowitz, University of California - Los Angeles

• Rashmita S. Mistry, University of California - Los Angeles