Researchers studying problem behaviour in children are looking to family relocation as a possible cause. It is thought that as a family relocates to a new community, a child's behaviour can become problematic due to the breakdown in the social network, such as the extended family, friends and neighbours, who have helped to regulate the child's behaviour.
Changing residence is a common experience for many Canadian children. Between 1986 and 1991, census figures indicated that almost half the population aged five and over moved. The NLSCY estimates that only one in four children ages 10 to 11 have never moved but 32 percent has moved three or more times. Some evidence suggests that young people who move frequently or have relocated recently are more likely to have problems in school, exhibit difficult behaviour and abuse substances as a result of weakened parental supervisory capacity and disciplinary practices and child emotional attachments to family, school, church and community.
This study compared the strength of the effect on childhood problems between the length of time since the last move to the total number of moves. The total number of moves had a larger effect on childhood problems. Compared with nonmovers, children who reported three or more moves were more likely to engage in problem behaviour. In contrast, little difference in behaviour was observed between nonmovers and children who moved once or twice. Children were less likely to encounter problems if they had high attachment to family (i.e., parent/child attachment and family harmony) and attachment to school (i.e., positive school attitudes). They were more likely to have problems if they experienced inconsistent and punitive parenting practices. There were more harmful effects of moving (in terms of heightened risk of problem behaviour) among children low on family harmony, children exposed to inconsistent disciplinary practices, and children having weak attachments to parents. In some instances, greater vulnerability to the effects of moving was also observed among children low on academic achievement, those possessing negative attitudes towards school, and those having infrequent involvement in out-of-school sports or other community activities (i.e., attending church or participating in clubs).
Overall, moving is not an inherently stressful process for many children. These results tend to support the commonly held view that moving contributes to aberrant child behaviour by intensifying problems (i.e., problem behaviour risk factors) which already exist in the family.
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