Accumulated Disadvantage or Moving Out of Disadvantage? The Impact of Moving on Completion of Secondary Education for Children Born in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods

Joeke Kuyvenhoven , Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute(NIDI)/KNAW/University of Groningen

Moving during childhood is an important life event that is not only disruptive and stressful but also likely to alter children’s developmental context which may have long-term consequences. In this study we aim to understand the consequences of childhood mobility for completion of secondary education by focusing on children born in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. On the one hand, mobility can be an element of instability in a child’s life which could have negative consequences. On the other hand, mobility might lift children out of disadvantage if it involves a move to a better neighbourhood. Using longitudinal full-population register data, all children born in 1995 in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Amsterdam or Stockholm are selected. Their internal mobility is followed from birth until age 16 and completion of secondary education analysed at age 21. To minimize selection bias, propensity score weights are estimated for non-mobile children and children with low lateral, low upward, frequent lateral and frequent upward mobility patterns predicted by migrant background, socioeconomic status, parental union and housing tenure at birth. Weighted logistic regression models are used to analyse the association between the different mobility patterns to completion of secondary education. Results indicate that much of the mobility-effects are explained by selective mobility patterns of socioeconomically disadvantaged and unstable families moving frequently and affluent families moving out of disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Despite this, frequent moving is associated with a lower likelihood to complete secondary education in Stockholm. The next step will explore heterogeneity in mobility-effects by migrant background and family stability.

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 Presented in Session 41. Flash session Internal Migration: temporalities, socio-economic and health outcomes