Do Children Who Move Home and School Frequently Have Poorer Educational Outcomes in Their Early Years at School? An Anonymised Cohort Study
et al. (2013) Do Children Who Move Home and School Frequently Have Poorer Educational
Outcomes in Their Early Years at School? An Anonymised Cohort Study. PLoS ONE 8(8): e70601. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070601
Do Children Who Move Home and School Frequently Have Poorer Educational Outcomes in Their Early Years at School? An Anonymised Cohort Study
Hayley A. Hutchings 0
Annette Evans 0
Peter Barnes 0
Joanne Demmler 0
Martin Heaven 0
Melanie A. Hyatt 0
Michelle James-Ellison 0
Ronan A. Lyons 0
Alison Maddocks 0
Shantini Paranjothy 0
Sarah E. Rodgers 0
Frank Dunstan 0
Andrew H. Kemp, University of Sydney, Australia
0 1 Centre for Health Information Research and Evaluation, College of Medicine, Swansea University , Singleton Park, Swansea , United Kingdom , 2 Cochrane Institute of Primary Care and Public Health, Cardiff University , Heath Park, Cardiff , United Kingdom , 3 Department of Public Health, Public Health Wales , St David's Park, Carmarthen , United Kingdom , 4 Department of Child Health, Abertawe Bromorgannwg University Health Board, Singleton Hospital , Swansea , United Kingdom
Frequent mobility has been linked to poorer educational attainment. We investigated the association between moving home and moving school frequently and the early childhood formal educational achievement. We carried out a cohort analysis of 121,422 children with anonymised linked records. Our exposure measures were: 1) the number of residential moves registered with a health care provider, and 2) number of school moves. Our outcome was the formal educational assessment at age 6-7. Binary regression modeling was used to examine residential moves within the three time periods: 0 - ,1 year; 1 - ,4 years and 4 - ,6 years. School moves were examined from age 4 to age 6. We adjusted for demographics, residential moves at different times, school moves and birth related variables. Children who moved home frequently were more likely not to achieve in formal assessments compared with children not moving. Adjusted odds ratios were significant for 3 or more moves within the time period 1 -,4 years and for any number of residential moves within the time period 4,6 years. There was a dose response relationship, with increased odds ratios with increased frequency of residential moves (2 or more moves at 4-,6 years, adjusted odds ratio 1.16 (1.03, 1.29). The most marked effect was seen with frequent school moves where 2 or more moves resulted in an adjusted odds ratio of 2.33 (1.82, 2.98). This is the first study to examine the relationship between residential and school moves in early childhood and the effect on educational attainment. Children experiencing frequent mobility may be disadvantaged and should be closely monitored. Additional educational support services should be afforded to children, particularly those who frequently change school, in order to help them achieve the expected educational standards.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Moving home is one of the most stressful life events in adults
and is often ranked with illness, loss of employment and divorce. In
modern society around 50% of children have moved home at least
once before their 10th birthday [1]. The removal of a familiar
environment and the breakdown of social networks associated with
a residential move can result in stress and adjustment problems in
children [1,2,3].
The emotional and behavioral effects of moves (both school and
residential) seem clear. However, the impact of residential moves
on educational attainment in children is less apparent. Previous
studies have examined the relationship between moving schools
and educational outcomes but few have considered the
relationship between residential mobility and educational outcomes.
Studies that evaluated the effect of school moves largely report a
negative impact on educational outcomes, particularly at
secondary school level [4,5,6]. However parent questionnaire data from
the Child Health Supplement to the 1988 National Health
Interview Survey [3] indicated that those children between the
ages of 7 and 12 who moved home an average or above-average
number of times did not have poorer educational attainment if
they resided in families in which both biological parents were
present. However for children who were in other family structures,
any home move was associated with an adverse school life [3]. In
contrast to the findings of some United Kingdom (UK) studies
[4,7,8], an analysis of educational achievement in relation to
residential and school mobility illustrated that residential mobility
in urban South African children had no detrimental effect on
educational outcomes [9]. In some instances, there was even found
to be a positive association between relocation and educational
outcomes. Most researchers agree that moving (residential and
school) affects social relationships that are important to academic
achievement [10]. This relationship is complex (...truncated)