Re-thinking residential mobility: Linking lives through time and space

Effect of pre- and post-migration neighborhood environment on migrants' mental health: the case of Shenzhen, China

Existing mental health studies usually disregard people's neighborhood experiences in the past, which may have long-lasting mental health effects. This may particularly be true for migrants. To assess how the perceived pre- and post-migration neighborhood environment shapes migrants' mental health later on in life, a quasi-longitudinal survey (N = 591) among migrants was conducted in Shenzhen, China. The risk of poor mental health was screened with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Perceptions of the pre- and post-migration neighborhood environment were measured retrospectively and assessed with structural equation models. The results show that the direct pathways linking the perceived post-migration neighborhood physical (NPE) and social environment (NSE) to migrants' mental health are significant. No direct association is found between the pre-migration neighborhood environments and mental health. The indirect path between the pre-migration NPE/NSE and mental health is significantly mediated by the post-migration NPE and NSE. Migrants' SES development and their neighborhood attainment interplay overtime which have long-term impacts on their mental health. Our findings suggest that the pre-migration neighborhood plays a crucial role in migrants' mental health. This confirms a path dependency of migrants' neighborhood environment throughout their migrations. Future mental health studies are advised to incorporate neighborhood characteristics along migrants' residential histories.

Do Health and Housing Attributes Motivate Residential Moves Among Older Chinese Adults? Evidence From an 8‑Year Follow‑up Study

Background and Objectives

Despite the widespread belief in aging-in-place as the preferred housing arrangement for older adults, they are increasingly embracing moving. The person-environment fit theory explains that environmental changes due to residential moves can pose health risks, discouraging older people from moving. However, it also suggests that moves may be suitable when living conditions no longer meet their physical needs. The correlation between older people's health, housing, and their subsequent moving or staying actions in China remains underexplored.

Research Design and Methods

Using alternative operating variables of key concepts and the China Family Panel Studies 2012-2018 data sets, this study examines the effects of health and housing status on older people's residential moves in China. The study outlines changes in health indicators and housing characteristics during multiple moves, as well as examines the relationship between the health and housing status of older adults and moving over a relatively long period of time using both regression models with lagged explanatory variables and fixed effects binary choice models.

Results

The results reveal that: (1) higher rates of subsequent moves were observed among older adults with better self-rated health, positive self-rated health changes, and no ADL impairment, but no significant associations were found between most health variables and moving; and (2) the correlation between older persons' house ownership/type and their residential moves was significant and consistent over time, steady and lasting.

Discussion and Implications

Potential mechanisms explaining the association between specific housing types and ownership statuses on moving are discussed. The findings encourage a focus on the positive benefits of moving in later life and how to provide additional housing options for older individuals.

Place Attachment and Aging in Place: Preferences and Disruptions

This paper examines the links between place attachment and older persons' preferences to age in place, and factors that disrupt these preferences. We use data from the 2001-2021 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and panel-data modelling to confirm strong associations between several place attachment dimensions and aging-in-place preferences. Strong ties to children, strong social capital, residence in social housing, homeownership status, housing wealth, and home and neighborhood satisfaction are all positively linked to a stronger preference to age in place. Our findings reveal important differences between older homeowners and older non-owners. For owners, closeness to children is a strong predictor of aging-in-place preferences, although mortgage debt can trigger involuntary moves. For non-owners, tenure security achieved through longer durations at one's address of residence is linked to stronger aging-in-place preferences. However, private renters are more often exposed to involuntary moves. We discuss the policy implications of these disruptions.

Trapped in Place? Ethnic and Educational Heterogeneity in Residential Mobility and Integration of Young Adults in Brussels

Spatial assimilation theory asserts that immigrants' socioeconomic progress leads to residential adaptation and integration. This association has proven robust in USA and European urban areas through much of the twentieth century, but drastic change of ethnic and class compositions yet persistent (neighbourhood) inequality in the urban landscape urge us to reconsider the dynamic interaction between stability and change. In this study, we investigate to what extent education shapes residential mobility differently for young adults with varying ethnic and social origins. Focussing on Brussels, we use multinomial logistic regressions on linked longitudinal population-based censuses from 1991 and 2001 and register data for the period 2001-2006. Analyses show that dispersal away from poor inner-city neighbourhoods appears least likely for the offspring of poor low-educated non-Western households, regardless of their own educational attainment. While our approach roughly confirms traditional arguments of socio-spatial integration, it also reveals how educational success generates opportunities to escape poor neighbourhoods for some but not for others. With this, it points at the subtle ways in which factors and mechanisms in traditional spatial assimilation theory affect residential behaviour of young adults over their life course, at the intersection of specific locales, ethnic groups, social classes and generations.

Linking internal and international migration over the life course: A sequence analysis of individual migration trajectories in Europe

Because internal and international migration are typically conceptualized and measured separately, empirical evidence on the links between these two forms of population movement remains partial. This paper takes a step towards integration by establishing how internal and international migration precede one another in various sequenced relationships from birth to age 50 in 20 European countries. We apply sequence and cluster analysis to full retrospective migration histories collected as part of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe in 2008-09 and 2017, for individuals born between 1950 and 1965. The results show that nearly all international migrants engage in internal mobility at some point in their lives. However, individual migration trajectories are delineated by the order of internal and international moves, the duration and timing of stays abroad, and the extent to which individuals engage in return international migration. Institutional and economic conditions shape the diversity of migration experiences.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Residential Mobility and Experience of Client Violence Among Women Who Exchange Sex in Baltimore

Residential mobility remains an underexplored yet critical construct that may influence the risk of violence among women who exchange sex. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between residential mobility and experience of client-perpetrated physical or sexual violence among women who exchange sex in Baltimore, Maryland. Participants were at least at 18 years of age, were cisgender women, reported having engaged in transactional sex three or more times within the last 3 months, and were willing to be contacted for 6-, 12-, and 18-month follow-up visits. Analyses of responses from 370 women who exchange sex participating in at least one study visit were conducted. Unadjusted and adjusted Poisson regression models of the association over time between residential mobility and recent experience of physical or sexual violence were fit. Generalized estimating equations with an exchangeable correlation structure and robust variance estimation were used to account for clustering of participants' responses over time. Findings demonstrated that those who had lived in at least four places in the past 6 months had a 39% increased risk of client-perpetrated physical violence (aRR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.07-1.80; p < .05) and a 63% increased risk of sexual violence (aRR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.14-2.32; p < .01) compared to their less-mobile counterparts. These findings provide necessary evidence of correlations over time between residential mobility and experience of client-perpetrated violence among women who exchange sex. Strengthening our understanding of how residential mobility intersects with violence is critical for the development of public health interventions that are relevant to women's lives and needs. Future interventions should explore including residential mobility, a critical pillar of housing instability, with efforts to address client-perpetrated violence.

Elementary disruptions? Exploring residential move type, timing, and duration of implications during middle childhood

Moving is common during middle childhood, but links between move type and children's development are less well understood. Using nationally-representative, longitudinal data (2010-2016) of ~9900 U.S. kindergarteners (52% boys, 51.48% White, 26.11% Hispanic/Latino, 10.63% Black, 11.78% Asian/Pacific Islander), we conducted multiple-group fixed-effects models estimating associations of within- and between-neighborhood moves, family income, and children's achievement and executive function, testing whether associations persisted or varied by developmental timing. Analyses suggest important spatial and temporal dimensions of moving during middle childhood: between-neighborhood moves had stronger associations than within-neighborhood moves, earlier moves benefited development whereas later moves did not, and associations persisted with significant effect sizes (cumulative Hedges' g = -0.09-1.35). Research and policy implications are discussed.

The role of states in U.S. immigration: A study of population dynamics and subnational immigration laws

Legislative action on issues of immigration emerged prominently across and within US states throughout the 2000s. The emerging literature on this topic demonstrates the political motivations driving anti-immigrant laws that negatively impact the mobility of Hispanic/Latino and Foreign-born populations across US states. Considerable research identifies the political mechanisms driving restrictive state-level immigration policies. Despite the growth of this scholarly work, the impact of these laws within states requires further study. This paper broadens the approach to the study of restrictive state-level omnibus immigration laws (OILs) using a rich dataset to uncover the effects of these laws on compositional change for undocumented, foreign-born, and Hispanic/Latino populations from 2005 to 2017. Using a quasi-experimental design, I show that by passing omnibus immigration laws, states shape demographic patterns of Foreign-born populations. Specifically, I find that states that pass omnibus immigration laws experience a decrease in undocumented and Foreign-born populations relative to states that did not pass similar laws. Effects are estimated each year after the passage of OILs, providing additional insight into the temporal impact of omnibus immigration laws on the settlement patterns of these groups. I conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of the multiple interior immigration law and policies, specifically at the state level, and their salience in shaping population dynamics across the United States.

Exploring changes in residential preference during COVID-19: Implications to contemporary urban planning

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has reshuffled our daily routines and activity spaces. The home and its immediate environment have attained a critical role in coping with the confinement both as living, working and recreational space. Drawing on a longitudinal survey from greater Oslo, we analyze shifts in residential preferences amidst COVID-19. Given the pandemic induced movement restrictions, we pay special attention to the mediating role of perceived accessibility on the link between several sociodemographic/locational/housing characteristics on preference shifts. Amidst a drop in perceived accessibility, outdoor assets like gardens or balconies, and motility by car and public transport are amongst the residential and locational amenities that have gained most in people's considerations for a new dwelling peri-pandemically. Dwelling satisfaction and preferences with regard to neighborhood density, dwelling size, and work-proximity, have remained largely unchanged despite a clear trend towards more teleworking. Our results can be understood as a nod of approval to contemporary compact urban planning. Nonetheless challenges as to bolstering its resilience still linger and more needs to be done to mitigate the inequalities in (perceived) access to in-home, near-home, and mobility assets that we have also observed to have (re)-immerged in the wake of the pandemic.

Local Ties as Self-Reported Constraints to Internal Migration in Spain

The internal migration literature has identified various factors that deter migration and encourage staying, but has been less concerned with people's own reports about what makes it difficult for them to migrate or makes them want to stay. We explore factors that make it difficult to change the place of residence-from here on denoted as constraints-reported in the Spanish survey on Attitudes and Expectations of Spatial Mobility in the Labour Force (N = 3892). These constraints were uniquely asked from all respondents through an open-ended question, regardless of their migration intentions. We find that many self-reported constraints correspond to factors that have previously been associated with decreased migration propensities. In order of frequency, respondents reported ties to family and friends, ties to their residential environment, financial limitations, and ties to work as constraints to migration. Our results further show that the likelihood of mentioning ties to family and friends as constraints decreased with age, was higher for women than for men and for people who lived close to most of their social network than for those who did not. Mentioning ties to the residential environment as constraints was positively associated with being partnered, and also with living in one's birthplace. People who were unemployed were less likely to mention ties to work and were more likely to report financial limitations as constraints than people who had a permanent contract-whereas being self-employed was positively associated with mentioning ties to the residential environment.

Explaining Residential Clustering of Large Families

Numerous studies have shown that fertility behavior is spatially clustered. In addition to pure contextual effects, two causal mechanisms could drive this pattern. First, neighbors may influence each other's fertility and second, family size may influence decisions about where to live. In this study we examine these two potential causal mechanisms empirically, using the sex composition of the two eldest children and twin births as instrumental variables (IVs) for having a third child. We estimate how having a third child affects three separate outcomes: the fertility of neighbors; the propensity to move houses; and the likelihood of living in a family-friendly neighborhood with many children. We draw residential and childbearing histories (2000-2018) from Norwegian administrative registers (N ~ 167,000 women). Individuals' neighborhoods are defined using time-varying geocoordinates for place of residence. We identify selective moves as one plausible causal driver of residential clustering of large families. This study contributes to the understanding of fertility and relocation, and to the literature on the social interaction effects of fertility, by testing the relevance of yet another network: that of neighbors.

Urbanicity and cognitive functioning in later life

Introduction

Prior research has shown disparities in cognitive functioning across the rural-urban continuum. We examine individual- and contextual-level factors to understand how and why urbanicity shapes cognitive functioning across older adulthood.

Methods

Using a nationally representative sample from 1996 to 2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and growth curve models, we assess urban-suburban-exurban differences in older adult cognitive functioning.

Results

Results demonstrate that older adult men and women living in exurban areas, and older adult men in suburban areas, have lower cognitive functioning scores compared to their urban peers. Educational attainment and marital status contribute to but do not fully explain these differences. There were no differences in the trajectory over age, suggesting that urbanicity disparities in cognition occur earlier in life, with average differences remaining the same across older adulthood.

Discussion

Differences in cognitive functioning across urbanicity are likely due to factors accumulating prior to older adulthood.

Leaving the City: Counterurbanisation and Internal Return Migration in Sweden

This paper examines counterurban migration among young families with children in Sweden and the extent to which these moves reflect return migration, recognising the role of family members and family roots at the destination from a life course perspective. Drawing on register data for all young families with children leaving the Swedish metropolitan areas during the years 2003-2013, we analyse the pattern of counterurban moves and explore how the families' socioeconomic characteristics, childhood origins, and links to family networks are associated with becoming a counterurban mover and choice of destination. The results show that four out of ten counterurban movers are former urban movers who choose to return to their home region. Among them, almost all have family at the destination, indicating that family ties are important for counterurban migration. In general, urban residents with a background outside metropolitan areas are much more likely to become counterurban movers. Families' previous residential experiences during childhood, particularly in rural areas, are found to be associated with the residential environment they choose to resettle in when leaving the big city. Counterurban movers making a return move are similar to other counterurban movers in relation to employment status, but tend to be better off economically and move longer distances than other counterurban movers.

Long-Term Residential Environment Exposure and Subjective Wellbeing in Later Life in Guangzhou, China: Moderated by Residential Mobility History

With rapid global urbanization, the importance of understanding relationships between the changing environment and wellbeing is being increasingly recognized. However, there is still a lack of understanding of how long-term residential environment exposure affects subjective wellbeing under the dual changes of geographical environment and residential location. Based on a survey of the elderly (people over 60 years old) in Guangzhou, China, this study analyzes the effect of long-term residential environment exposure over 25 years on subjective wellbeing in later life in the context of residential mobility. The study found that subjective wellbeing in later life is not only related to the current residential environment but also the cumulative exposure to the long-term residential environment. The relationship between long-term residential environment exposure and subjective wellbeing in later life tends to be stable with the increase of cumulative time, especially the cumulative years over 15 years. Considering the importance of residential mobility history, the study further analyzes the moderating effects of relocation frequency and residential location. Relocation frequency can strengthen the positive effect of residential environment on subjective wellbeing and weaken the negative effect of residential environment on subjective wellbeing, which confirms the existence of residential self-selection. In addition, the direction of effect of residential environment on residents who move between living in the urban center and the periphery is consistent with that of residents who have always lived in the urban center, while the effects of the residential environment on residents who have always lived in the urban center and those who have always lived in the urban periphery are related in different directions. The conclusion of this study can provide guidance for individuals' residential choice and governance of the urban environment to improve wellbeing.

Do Internal Migration Experiences Facilitate Migration Intentions and Behavior?

Growing evidence suggests that internal migration experience shapes future internal migration behavior. However, it remains unclear what stage of the decision-making process past internal migration facilitates and whether the impact depends on the distance moved. To advance understanding of the role of past migration, we explicitly and dynamically link migration experiences to the formation and realization of future internal migration intentions by blending the aspiration-ability framework with the learned behavior hypothesis. We empirically test our proposition by fitting a series of logistic regression models to longitudinal microdata from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, which has been conducted annually since 2001. We use a two-step approach by first modeling internal migration intentions and then modeling the realization of these intentions, distinguishing between residential moves, onward interregional migration, and return interregional migration. We find that migration experience is positively associated with both the formation and realization of migration intentions and that the effect of past migration increases with the distance moved and the number of past migrations. These findings suggest that migration experiences accumulate over the life course to predispose individuals toward subsequent migration. Finally, we show that the effect of past migration is not the result of a lack of social capital among repeat migrants-a finding that reinforces the importance of conceptualizing internal migration as a life course trajectory rather than a series of discrete events.

Effect of hukou Accessibility on Migrants’ Long Term Settlement Intention in Destination

Migrants’ long-term settlement intention in urban areas has been emphasized by both policy makers and researchers in promoting urbanization and coordinating regional economic development. This study advances the body of knowledge by investigating the effect of what E.S. Lee has proposed as ‘intervening obstacles’ in the ‘push-and-pull’ theory—the difficulty in obtaining hukou in migration destination, on their long-term settlement intention in urban areas. Logistic regressions were applied to examine the effect of urban registered residence system (the hukou system) accessibility on migrants’ long-term settlement intention in urban areas, as well as the determinants of subjective evaluated difficulty in obtaining urban hukou, based on a nation-wide large-scale survey in 46 Chinese cities. Our results suggest that difficulty in obtaining urban hukou does play an important role in shaping country-wide population movement. However, the negative impact of hukou difficulty on migrant workers’ residence intention is not linear, and only when the threshold in obtaining hukou is too high and difficult to achieve will migrant workers choose to return to their hometown in the long term. Moreover, the subjective evaluation of difficulty is further influenced by personal capability and living conditions in cities. This study provides pragmatic implications for administrations from either push side or pull side to improve habitant-related development strategies.

Association Between Neighborhood Disadvantage and Fertility Among Pregnancy Planners in the US

IMPORTANCE

Decades of inequitable policies in the US have yielded disparities in neighborhood quality, and some studies show that living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with worse health outcomes, including reproductive health outcomes. However, no US studies to date have directly examined the association between residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods and fertility.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association between residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods and fecundability, a sensitive marker of fertility with many health implications.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This prospective preconception cohort study used the Pregnancy Study Online, for which baseline data were collected from June 19, 2013, through April 12, 2019. The study included 6356 participants who identified as female, were 21 to 45 years of age, were attempting conception without fertility treatment, and provided a valid residential address in the contiguous US at enrollment.

EXPOSURES

A standardized area deprivation index (ADI) derived at the census block group level applied to each residential address.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Fecundability, the per-cycle probability of conception, via questionnaires that were completed every 8 weeks for 12 months, until conception or a censoring event. Proportional probabilities models were used to estimate fecundability ratios and 95% CIs for associations between ADI and fecundability. Restricted cubic splines were also implemented to examine nonlinearity. Models were adjusted for demographic characteristics and factors associated with fertility. The study's a priori hypothesis was that higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage would be associated with decreased fecundability.

RESULTS

Among 6356 participants, 3725 pregnancies were observed for 27 427 menstrual cycles of follow-up. The mean (SD) baseline age was 30.0 (4.1) years, and most participants were non-Hispanic White (5297 [83.3%]) and nulliparous (4179 [65.7%]). Comparing the top and bottom deciles of disadvantaged neighborhood status, adjusted fecundability ratios were 0.79 (95% CI, 0.66-0.96) for national-level ADI rankings and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.65-0.92) for within-state ADI rankings. Restricted cubic splines showed some evidence of nonlinearity in the association. Associations were slightly stronger among participants with lower annual incomes (<$50 000).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

In this cohort study, residence in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood was associated with moderately decreased fecundability. If confirmed in other studies, these results suggest that investments to reduce disadvantaged neighborhood status may yield positive cobenefits for fertility.

The paradox of local inequality: Meritocratic beliefs in unequal localities

A puzzle has emerged amidst rising inequality: why do people profess high levels of belief in meritocracy even as income gains are increasingly concentrated at the top? In light of contradictory theories and evidence, we undertake the first assessment of the relationship between local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs outside the United States, using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. We find that the positive relationship between country-level income inequality and meritocratic beliefs identified in the recent literature does not translate straightforwardly below country level: there is no robust relationship between local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs in England. However, there is a robust-and somewhat paradoxical-positive association between high local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs among those with the lowest incomes. On average, respondents with annual household incomes of £10,000 are five points more likely (on a 100-point scale) to believe their hard work will pay off if they live in the most rather than the least unequal places in England. We also show that this applies beyond the specific case of meritocratic beliefs: low-income respondents in unequal places are also notably more satisfied with their own (low) income than similar respondents in more equal localities. In line with system justification theory, we argue that belief in meritocracy serves as an important tool of psychological resilience for low-income individuals who regularly come into contact with others more economically fortunate than themselves: though it legitimates their current position at the bottom of the status hierarchy, this belief also offers the promise of future advancement. While this reduces concern about the psychological effects of growing local income inequality on the most economically vulnerable, it also suggests that there is little prospect of demand for systemic economic change emerging from what might have been considered the most likely places.

"I Have Been Born, Raised and Lived My Whole Life Here" - Perpetually on the Move While Remaining Still

This article explores the story of Einar, a Faroese man who always lived within a 500-meters radius on the island of Suðuroy, who never felt “stuck” or “immobile” in the literal sense of the word. Studies have shown that staying is a process, as much as mobility; yet while mobility studies mainly show that imagination is an incentive to move, we argue that imagination may also actively support staying. Combining sociocultural psychology with mobility studies, we propose to explore the entanglement of symbolic mobility (a form of imagination) and various forms of geographical (im)mobility. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and hours of conversation, we present the case study of Einar’s life on his island. We follow the sociogenetic development of the island, and the expansion and contraction of the imaginative horizon over time. On this background, we then retrace the life of Einar and show how, within this transforming context, his imagination developed thanks to resources he could use from the mobility of technologies, ideas, and other people. Interestingly, at different bifurcation points, his symbolic mobility almost led him to move away but, at another point, helped him to refuse geographical mobility. Hence, he was always symbolically mobile while staying. We finally propose directions for generalising from this case study, and implications for cultural psychology and for mobility and migration studies.

The geography of intergenerational social mobility in Britain

Empirical analysis of social mobility is typically framed by outcomes recorded for only a single, recent generation, ignoring intergenerational preconditions and historical conferment of opportunity. We use the detailed geography of relative deprivation (hardship) to demonstrate that different family groups today experience different intergenerational outcomes and that there is a distinct Great Britain-wide geography to these inequalities. We trace the evolution of these inequalities back in time by coupling family group level data for the entire Victorian population with a present day population-wide consumer register. Further geographical linkage to neighbourhood deprivation data allows us to chart the different social mobility outcomes experienced by every one of the 13,378 long-established family groups. We identify clear and enduring regional divides in England and Scotland. In substantive terms, use of family names and new historical digital census resources are central to recognising that geography is pivotal to understanding intergenerational inequalities.

An Examination of Downward Drift as an Explanation of the Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment and Residence in Unhealthy Neighborhoods in Adulthood: The Role of Psychiatric Symptoms

This study sought to determine whether downward drift explains relationships among childhood maltreatment, psychiatric disorders, and residence in unhealthy neighborhoods. Using data from a prospective cohort design study, individuals with court substantiated cases of child abuse and/neglect (ages 0-11 during the years 1967-1971) and matched controls were followed up in adulthood. Mental health symptoms and neighborhood disadvantage were measured in young (M_age  = 29) and middle adulthood (M_age  = 40). Physical disorder and social cohesion were also measured in middle adulthood. Childhood maltreatment increased risk for more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and illicit drug use in young adulthood and depression and anxiety in middle adulthood. Childhood maltreatment negatively impacted neighborhood residence in young and middle adulthood, increasing a person's risk of living in neighborhoods with higher levels of physical disorder and economic disadvantage, and lower levels of social cohesion. Neighborhood disadvantage in young adulthood did not increase risk for psychiatric symptoms in middle adulthood. With one exception, neighborhood disadvantage earlier in life, not psychiatric symptoms, helped explain the relationship between childhood maltreatment and living in unhealthy neighborhoods. The negative impact of childhood maltreatment was evident earlier in life and continued into middle adulthood.

Interrelationships Among Fertility, Internal Migration,and Proximity to Nonresident Family: A Multilevel Multiprocess Analysis

Past research has found that relations to nonresident family can influence individual fertility and migration behaviors separately. However, fertility and migration outcomes may also be interrelated, suggesting potential links across all three demographic processes. With this in mind, we track a cohort of women in Norway from age 18 to 31, recording the emergence of birth and migration events as well as their proximity to nonresident family networks (siblings and parents). Using a multilevel multiprocess statistical framework, with observations nested within women and equations for births, migrations, and proximity to nonresident family estimated simultaneously, our results support the notion that linked lives matter. Even in early adulthood, proximity to nonresident family has a positive effect on transitions to motherhood, whereas the presence of children (itself an outcome of past fertility) is associated with lower propensities to migrate. Mothers also have higher propensities to be living near family than women without children. The presence of local nonresident family reduces propensities for second and third migrations. However, after accounting for unobserved heterogeneity and selection, we observe a small positive effect of proximity to family on first migrations undertaken after age 18. Significant cross-process residual correlations exist across all three outcomes, suggesting that separately estimated model estimates may be vulnerable to bias emerging from unobserved sources of heterogeneity and selection. Our analysis therefore suggests that decisions about fertility, migration, and proximity to family are jointly determined and endogenous, and they should be analyzed simultaneously when possible.

Assessing the perceived changes in neighborhood physical and social environments and how they are associated with Chinese internal migrants' mental health

BACKGROUND

Migrants experience substantial changes in their neighborhood physical and social environments along their migration journeys, but little is known about how perceived changes in their neighborhood environment pre- and post-migration correlate with their mental health. Our aim was to examine the associations between recalled changes in the perceived neighborhood physical and social environments and migrants' mental health in the host city.

METHODS

We used cross-sectional data on 591 migrants in Shenzhen, China. We assessed their risk of mental illness using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Neighborhood perceptions were collected retrospectively pre- and post-migration. We used random forests to analyze possibly non-linear associations between GHQ scores and changes in the neighborhood environment, variable importance, and for exploratory analysis of variable interactions.

RESULTS

Perceived changes in neighborhood aesthetics, safety, and green space were non-linearly associated with migrants' mental health: A decline in these characteristics was associated with poor mental health, while improvements in them were unrelated to mental health benefits. Variable importance showed that change in safety was the most influential neighborhood characteristic, although individual-level characteristics-such as self-reported physical health, personal income, and hukou (i.e., the Chinese household registration system)-appeared to be more important to explain GHQ scores and also strongly interacted with other variables. For physical health, we found different associations between changes in the neighborhood provoked by migration and mental health.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that perceived degradations in the physical environment are related to poorer post-migration mental health. In addition, it seems that perceived changes in the neighborhood environment play a minor role compared to individual-level characteristics, in particular migrants' physical health condition. Replication of our findings in longitudinal settings is needed to exclude reverse causality.

Do older parents' assistance needs deter parent-child geographic divergence in Norway?

The role of intergenerational geographic proximity in individuals' migration decisions has been well-established. The circumstances under which parents and their adult children move away from or remain close to each other are, however, less clear. Drawing on Norwegian register data for 2014-2016 and three-level logistic regression models, we examine whether formal care needs of older parents (aged ≥65) deter parent-child geographic divergence and whether variation in the likelihood of divergence is associated with municipal-level characteristics. After accounting for location-specific capital and parents' and children's sociodemographic characteristics, parents and children were less likely to diverge after the onset of parental care needs. Utilising in-home nursing decreased the likelihood of divergence for mothers while utilising institutionalised care decreased the likelihood of divergence for fathers. The use of in-home nursing care among single mothers further reduced the likelihood of divergence. Parents and adult children living in central areas were the least likely to diverge geographically. The likelihood of intergenerational divergence was lower for fathers and children living in municipalities with high healthcare spending.

Do households prefer to move up or down the urban hierarchy during an economic crisis?

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between adverse economic circumstances and the desire of Dutch households to move up or down the urban hierarchy. We apply three consecutive waves of the Dutch Housing Demand Survey (WoON) in a repeated cross-section setting, with data collected at the time of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and its aftermath. We find that households desire to move down the urban hierarchy during the volatile and uncertain periods following the GFC. This is a surprising result, given that urban areas are generally considered more opportunity rich. In order to uncover the mechanisms driving this result, we considered the impact of the economic circumstances on the general willingness to move and on the underlying motives. We find that willingness to move increased when the adverse economic consequences of the GFC hit Dutch households. Further, it appears that this willingness to move is only partially related to work. Besides work, desires to move for health, education, vicinity to family and friends, and reasons related to the dwelling, also become more prevalent during the aftermath of the GFC as well. This heterogeneity in impacts and consequences for household desired mobility serves to explain some of the mixed results in the literature, and generates lessons for current and future crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Neighborhood Age Composition and Self-Rated Health: Findings from a Nationally Representative Study

Neighborhood age composition is an understudied area. Furthermore, existing empirical and conceptual work is conflicting, with some scholarship-indicating neighborhoods with older adults are beneficial and other scholarship suggesting it can be detrimental. Combining data from 7,197 older adults from the first wave (2011) of the National Health & Aging Trends Study and census tract data from the National Neighborhood Change Database, the purposes of our study were to: 1) identify the characteristics of neighborhoods experiencing different types of changes in age composition, and 2) examine the association between neighborhood age composition and self-rated health. Findings indicate that neighborhoods experiencing Concentration (where the number of older adults are declining but their percentage of the total population are increasing), the majority of which are in urban areas, have less aggregate economic resources, more indicators of neighborhood disorder, and less access to services and supports. Regression models also suggest older adults living in Concentration neighborhoods reported lower self-rated health compared to those living in the other three neighborhood types. Findings point to the importance of considering neighborhood age composition when targeting interventions and resources, and the potential consequences of being stuck in place in a neighborhood that does not meet elders' needs.

The roles of family and friends in the immobility decisions of university graduates staying in a peripheral urban area in the Netherlands

Highly educated individuals constitute great assets for regional development and economic growth. Nevertheless, young university graduates are relatively geographically mobile and less likely to stay in peripheral regions. Based on semi-structured, life-calendar interviews, this study explored the immobility decisions of graduates who have stayed in a peripheral urban area in the Netherlands where they completed their university education. The study specifically focused on the roles of family and friends in the staying processes of these young adults. The results indicate that the decision to stay was frequently and consciously re-evaluated by some, whereas for others, it resulted from a 'lack of triggers' for moving elsewhere. Notably, the interviews revealed that family and friends act as more than motives for staying or deterrents to migration. On various occasions, family and friends had played crucial roles as advisors, influencers, triggers, exemplars and facilitators in the staying processes of highly educated young adults.

Demographic and behavioural drivers of intra-urban mobility of migrant street children and youth in Kampala, Uganda

While research on the nexus of migration and wellbeing of individuals has gained recognition in recent years, far less attention has been devoted to intra-urban mobility especially among the urban poor young populations. We assess the drivers of intra-urban mobility using a random sample of 412 migrant street children and youth in Kampala city, Uganda. This paper draws from a larger cross-sectional survey of circular migration and sexual and reproductive health choices among street children in Kampala, Uganda. We define 'migrants' as street children and youth with a rural-urban migration experience and 'intra-urban mobility' as the number of places stayed in or moved since migrating to the city, measured on a continuous scale. More than half (54.37%) of the migrant street children and youth had lived in two or more places since migrating to the city. Multivariate negative binomial regression analysis reveals migrant street children and youth's intra-urban mobility to be associated with gender (aIRR = 0.71, 95%CI 0.53-0.96), sex work (aIRR = 1.38, 95%CI 1.01-1.88), a daily income of one USD or more (aIRR = 1.57, 95%CI 1.16-2.13) and duration of stay in the city (aIRR = 1.54, 95%CI 1.17-2.01). Other drivers of intra-urban mobility included availability of causal work, personal safety and affordability of rental costs. Our findings suggest the need for urban housing and health policies to take into account street children and youth's intra-urban mobility and its drivers. Future research on all drivers of street children and youth's intra-urban mobility and its linkage with their health outcomes is recommended.

The role of residential history in cancer research: A scoping review

The role of residential history in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship is garnering increasing attention in cancer research. To our knowledge, there is no comprehensive synthesis of the current state of knowledge in the field. We reviewed the extant literature on this topic and conducted a scoping analysis to examine two main research questions: (a) To what degree, and how, have researchers accounted for residential history/mobility in cancer research? and (b) What are the gaps in the literature based on a knowledge synthesis using scoping review and concept mapping? To answer these questions, this scoping analysis focuses on how researchers compile, analyze and discuss residential history/mobility in studies on cancer. The study is focused on peer-reviewed articles from 6 different datasets (PubMed, Cinahl, Scopus, Web of Science and JSTOR, ERIC) from 1990 to August 2020. The review captured 1951 results in total, which was scoped to 281 relevant peer-reviewed journal articles. First, we examined these articles based on cancer continuum, cancer type and the main theme. Second, we identified 21 main themes and an additional 16 sub-themes in the pool of the selected articles. We utilized concept mapping to provide a conceptual framework and to highlight the underlying socioecological assumptions and paradigms. Results show that cancer research incorporating residential histories is primarily focused on incidence and estimating cumulative exposure, with little consideration across the cancer continuum. Additionally, our review suggests that although the social environment plays an important role across the cancer continuum, a small number of articles were focused on such factors and this area remains relatively unexplored. Additionally, the expansion of interdisciplinary research on residential mobility before and after cancer diagnosis will enhance understanding of the role of environmental and socioeconomic characteristics and exposures on cancer continuum.

Boomerang Behaviour and Emerging Adulthood: Moving Back to the Parental Home and the Parental Neighbourhood in Sweden

This paper makes two original contributions to research on young adults' boomerang mobility. First, it reveals the magnitude and complexity of return moves by young people to their parental home and neighbourhood. Secondly, it shows that the determinants and associates of return migration vary significantly when analysed at two different geographical scales-the parental home and the parental neighbourhood area. Using longitudinal data (1986-2009) on four cohorts of young adults, we find that boomeranging to the parental home in Sweden has increased in times of economic recession and is associated with economic vulnerability, such as leaving higher education or entering unemployment, and partnership dissolution. While returning to the parental home can offer financial support in times of life course reversal, we found gender differences indicating a greater independence among young women than men. Returning to the parental neighbourhood is found to be a very different kind of mobility than returning to co-reside with one's parents, involving the migration decisions of more economically independent young adults. Results also indicate that returns to the parental neighbourhood, as well as returns to the parental home, can be part of young people's life course changes.

Effects of residential mobility and migration on standards of living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: A life-course approach

Rural-to-urban migration and intra-urban residential mobility often lead to improved living conditions. However, it is not clear if this is true for all, especially in cities in developing countries, where inequalities persist and upward mobility remains elusive for marginalized populations. We investigate the effects of intra-urban residential mobility and rural-to-urban migration on standards of living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We examine the entire residential history of individuals and assess temporal changes in living conditions in their respective housing careers. We use four different aspects of housing as indicators of living conditions from a survey conducted by the World Bank Group that captured the residential history of 2,397 individuals in Dar es Salaam from a spatially representative sample of households. We find that improvements in housing conditions are uneven, a considerable proportion of individuals remained perpetually deprived of adequate housing despite migrating from rural areas to Dar es Salaam and changing multiple homes within the city during their tenure. Our findings indicate that housing disparities persist over time for many. Socioeconomic groups such as migrants tend to experience significant improvements after moving to the city but show limited upward mobility afterwards, an aspect that is rarely addressed in policy discourse on equitable access to adequate housing.

Climate Change and Migration: New Insights from a Dynamic Model of Out-Migration and Return Migration

In popular accounts, stories of environmental refugees convey a bleak picture of the impacts of climate change on migration. Scholarly research is less conclusive, with studies finding varying effects. This paper uses an agent-based model (ABM) of land use, social networks, and household dynamics to examine how extreme floods and droughts affect migration in Northeast Thailand. The ABM explicitly models the dynamic and interactive pathways through which climate-migration relationships might operate, including coupled out and return streams. Results suggest minimal effects on out-migration but marked negative effects on return. Social networks play a pivotal role in producing these patterns. In all, the portrait of climate change and migration painted by focusing only on environmental refugees is too simple. Climate change operates on already established migration processes that are part and parcel of the life course, embedded in dynamic social networks, and incorporated in larger interactive systems where out- and return migration are integrally connected.

Residential mobility and chronic disease among World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees, 2004-2016

Residential mobility is hypothesized to impact health through changes to the built environment and disruptions in social networks, and may vary by neighborhood deprivation exposure. However, there are few longitudinal investigations of residential mobility in relation to health outcomes. This study examined enrollees from the World Trade Center Health Registry, a longitudinal cohort of first responders and community members in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001. Enrollees who completed ≥2 health surveys between 2004 and 2016 and did not have diabetes (N = 44,089) or hypertension (N = 35,065) at baseline (i.e., 2004) were included. Using geocoded annual home addresses, residential mobility was examined using two indicators: moving frequency and displacement. Moving frequency was defined as the number of times someone was recorded as living in a different neighborhood; displacement as any moving to a more disadvantaged neighborhood. We fit adjusted Cox proportional hazards models with time-dependent exposures (moving frequency and displacement) and covariates to evaluate associations with incident diabetes and hypertension. From 2004 to 2016, the majority of enrollees never moved (54.5%); 6.5% moved ≥3 times. Those who moved ≥3 times had a similar hazard of diabetes (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.78; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.40, 1.53) and hypertension (HR = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.43) compared with those who never moved. Similarly, displacement was not associated with diabetes or hypertension. Residential mobility was not associated with diabetes or hypertension among a cohort of primarily urban-dwelling adults.

Exploring the Association Between Mobility and Access to HIV Services Among Female Sex Workers in Zimbabwe

Female sex workers (FSW) face structural barriers to HIV-service access, however the effect of their mobility is uncertain. Using cross-sectional data from 2839 FSW in 14 sites in Zimbabwe, we explored the association between mobility (number of trips, distance, duration) in the past 12 months and five HIV-service-access outcomes: exposure to community mobilisation, clinic attendance, HIV testing, antiretroviral treatment initiation, and viral suppression (< 1000 copies per mL). We used modified-Poisson regression, and natural-effects models to estimate how the effect of trip frequency was mediated by distance and duration away. Each additional trip in 12 months was associated with increased community-mobilisation-event attendance (adjusted RR 1.08, 95% CI 1.04-1.12) and attending clinic two-or-more times (adjusted RR 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.05). There was little evidence of any other associations, or of mediation. Our findings are consistent with literature that found the effects of mobility to vary by context and outcome. This is the first study to consider many FSW-mobility and HIV-service-access measures together. Future research on mobility and health-related behaviour should use a spectrum of measures.

Kin location and racial disparities in exiting and entering poor neighborhoods

Blacks and Latinos/as are less likely than Whites to move from a poor neighborhood to a non-poor neighborhood and are more likely to move in the reverse direction. Using individual-level data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1980-2013) and neighborhood-level census data, this study explores the role that the spatial location of familial kin networks plays in explaining these racially and ethnically disparate mobility patterns. Blacks and Latinos/as live closer than Whites to nuclear kin, and they are also more likely than Whites to have kin members living in poor neighborhoods. Close geographic proximity to kin and higher levels of kin neighborhood poverty inhibit moving from a poor to a non-poor neighborhood, and increase the risk of moving from a non-poor to a poor tract. Racial/ethnic differences in kin proximity and kin neighborhood poverty explain a substantial portion of racial gaps in exiting and entering poor neighborhoods.

Residential relocation trajectories and neighborhood density, mixed land use and access networks as predictors of walking and bicycling in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966

Background

Given the high global prevalence of physical inactivity, there is a need to design cities that support active modes of transportation. High density diverse neighborhoods with good access networks have been associated with enhanced walking and cycling, but there is a lack of large-scale longitudinal studies utilizing a life course perspective to model residential relocation trajectories. The objectives of the present longitudinal study were to model and visualize residential relocation trajectories between 31 and 46 years of age based on neighborhood density, mixed land use and access networks (DMA), and to assess neighborhood DMA as a predictor of self-reported regular walking and cycling and objectively measured physical activity.

Methods

Based on data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (N = 5947), we used self-reported regular walking and cycling and objectively measured physical activity as outcome variables and objectively assessed neighborhood DMA as the main explanatory variable. We conducted sequence analysis to model residential relocation trajectories, and generalized linear mixed models and Fisher’s exact test were used to explore longitudinal associations between neighborhood DMA and physical activity.

Results

Over 80% of the participants lived in a neighborhood with the same level of neighborhood DMA during the follow-up. Relocation occurred more often from higher to lower DMA neighborhoods than reverse. Increased neighborhood DMA was associated with increased regular walking (OR 1.03; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.05; p = 0.023) and cycling (OR 1.17; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.23; p <  0.001). Residential relocation trajectory from lower to highest neighborhood DMA increased the odds of starting regular walking (OR 3.15; 95% CI: 1.50, 7.14; p = 0.001) and cycling (OR 2.63; 95% CI: 1.23, 5.79; p = 0.009) as compared to higher to lower neighborhood DMA trajectory.

Conclusions

The results strongly support the hypothesis that increasing urban DMA can enhance regular walking and cycling at population level and so improve public health. The findings have implications for zoning and transportation policies, favoring the creation of dense and diverse neighborhoods with good access networks to support regular walking and cycling.

Understanding Immobility: Moving Beyond the Mobility Bias in Migration Studies

This article suggests that there is a mobility bias in migration research: by focusing on the “drivers” of migration — the forces that lead to the initiation and perpetuation of migration flows — migration theories neglect the countervailing structural and personal forces that restrict or resist these drivers and lead to different immobility outcomes. To advance a research agenda on immobility, it offers a definition of immobility, further develops the aspiration-capability framework as an analytical tool for exploring the determinants of different forms of (im)mobility, synthesizes decades of interdisciplinary research to help explain why people do not migrate or desire to migrate, and considers future directions for further qualitative and quantitative research on immobility.

Unpacking Summary Measures of Ethnic Residential Segregation Using an Age Group and Age Cohort Perspective

The residential segregation literature has underplayed the significance of age in shaping the ethnic compositions of neighbourhoods. This paper develops an age group and age cohort perspective as a way to unpack summary measures of residential segregation. Harmonised small area data for England and Wales (2001–2011) are used as a case study to explore the potential of this methodology for understanding better the role of age in the evolution of ethnic residential geographies. Our findings demonstrate the age-specificity of residential segregation, for both cross-sectional patterns and change over time. Levels of segregation vary among age groups and age cohorts and between ethnic groups, with a changing pattern of segregation as people age. Exploring change over a 10-year period, we observe that residential segregation decreases during young adulthood for all age cohorts, then increases during the late 20s and early 30s, and continues to increase until retirement. These trends are, for the most, consistent between ethnic groups. Our findings emphasise how residential segregation is a dynamic process with a significant life cycle component, with commonalities in residential decision-making between ethnic groups through the life course.

Is migration in later life good for wellbeing? A longitudinal study of ageing and selectivity of internal migration

Migration scholarship has recently paid attention to lifecourse and non-economic effects of moving house. Yet consideration of the effects of internal migration in later life has been relatively neglected despite their implications for social and spatial inequalities. Thus we address two questions: how trajectories of wellbeing in later life vary for movers and non-movers, and how the event of moving affects wellbeing. In both cases we distinguish between "voluntary" and "involuntary" movers. We use 10 years (2002-2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) to analyse trends in wellbeing for age cohorts and to examine how wellbeing changes through the event of moving. The Control, Autonomy, Selfrealisation and Pleasure (CASP-19) measure of wellbeing is used. We find that, after controls for demographic and socio-economic characteristics, involuntary movers have lower levels of wellbeing than stayers or voluntary movers; and involuntary movers experience a stabilisation in the decline in wellbeing following migration which is not seen for voluntary movers. So, migration in later life is good for wellbeing, maintaining advantageous wellbeing trajectories for voluntary movers and improving wellbeing trajectories for involuntary movers. These findings imply a rich potential of ELSA and similar longitudinal datasets for examining residential mobility; the need for ageing inequalities studies to take more account of residential mobility; the need for internal migration scholarship to pay greater attention to reason for move; and for policy to consider the potentially beneficial effects of residential mobility in later life, particularly for those in adverse circumstances.