The long-term effects of childhood residential mobility on social capital

When a child moves home multiple times, the consequences for the adult they will later become can be substantial. This study investigates how frequent relocations during childhood influence the development of social capital in adulthood. Using a combination of retrospective and longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of the Swiss population (N = 4,451), we examine how identity formation and the sense of agency jointly shape individuals’ ability to sustain supportive networks over time. Results from structural equation modelling show that individuals who experienced frequent moves in childhood tend to identify less with the city, region, and country in which they live; yet this appears to have no direct consequences for their social capital. In contrast, they report a stronger sense of personal agency—defined as feeling more confident in addressing problems and making decisions—which, in turn, enhances their ability to maintain supportive networks. Overall, the findings highlight that residential mobility in childhood is a complex phenomenon that reshapes how individuals relate to the communities they belong to, to themselves, and to others across the life course.

Introduction

Scholars agree that although residential moves ‘may be driven by positive (e.g., birth of a child or a job promotion) or negative (e.g., divorce or substantial loss in income) forces, they nonetheless bring transitions and adjustments’ (Coley and Kull, 2016: pp. 1,206). During childhood, a key stage for physical and cognitive development, these adaptations aim to cope with the many challenges of residential moves and are the result of both structural factors and individual strategies of integration. These processes are even more necessary in cases where individuals experience frequent and repeated relocations from the early stages of their life courses (DeCandia, Volk and Unick, 2022). The impact of residential mobility at such a young age can be profound and operate at multiple levels in the long run. Among the research angles on these coping strategies and processes, scholars have discussed the impact that changes of residence during childhood have on the creation and maintenance of social relations. It has been shown that geographical mobility can be disruptive to social networks, especially in the short term, by temporarily reducing the number of network members (Bidart and Lavenu, 2005) or leading to their restructuring (Offer and Schneider, 2007; Nisic and Petermann, 2013). While family contacts are usually the most resilient in withstanding the turbulence of a residential move, people might lose sight of weaker connections, such as acquaintances or friends who gradually become less important (Antonucci et al., 2010). These changes affect the ability of individuals to access and mobilize a range of social resources provided by personal contacts. That is, all those forms of instrumental and emotional support that compose an individual’s social capital (Bourdieu, 1986; Lin, 2001).

However, too often, a short-term look at the detrimental effect of changes in residence has been adopted. Little attention has been given to the idea that networks are by nature dynamic structures, with an extraordinary potential for renewal (Vacchiano et al., 2024). Although it is certainly true that, after a change of residence, we lose sight of some of our contacts, if we look at the effect of changing residence from an early age, we must study what these processes mean in the long run (Vidal, 2023-2027). The literature suggests that it is precisely within the adaptation processes triggered by residential changes that we can find mechanisms shedding light on their long-term effects on social capital (Oishi, 2010). Children who move repeatedly must learn to navigate new social environments, build new friendships, adapt to unfamiliar cultural and institutional norms, and negotiate their identity in response to shifting relational contexts. Over the life course, these experiences may strengthen social skills that facilitate the creation and maintenance of relationships in adulthood (Mann, 1972; Oishi, Lun and Sherman, 2007).

To investigate these mechanisms, we implemented a longitudinal mediation model using data from a nationally representative sample of 4,451 individuals drawn from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP). Our model analyses two parallel pathways through which childhood residential mobility relates to the development of social capital in later life. On the one hand, we tested how frequently moving is associated with individuals’ identification with collective entities—the city, canton, and country in which they live. On the other hand, we analysed how frequent moves relate to individual agency, that is, the perception of being capable of tackling problems and making decisions. By linking childhood residential mobility to identity formation and agency in adulthood, we examined the direct and indirect impacts of both mechanisms on social capital later in life. Few studies have integrated processes related to residential mobility, identity, agency, and social capital within a single longitudinal framework (Settersten, 2009). This study was designed to address this gap.

Short-term and long-term effects of childhood mobility on social capital

Social capital is conceived as ‘the extent of the diversity of resources embedded in one’s social network’ (Lin, 2001: p. 3). According to social capital theory, individuals potentially gain access to both instrumental and emotional resources through their social ties (Bourdieu, 1986). This means that social capital comprises a structural component, which reflects the characteristics and the number of people that compose a network of relations, and an agentic component, referring to the capacity to mobilize these resources when needed. Residential relocations have been shown to challenge both components of an individual’s social capital (Bidart and Lavenu, 2005; Lubbers et al., 2010).

Against this backdrop, one of the most immediate consequences of residential mobility is the loss of local contacts, such as neighbours, friends, classmates, teachers, and community members in the area where the child lives. When children relocate, they leave behind the physical environments and social settings where daily interactions foster these relationships, and disruptions tend to increase with each move (Jelleyman and Spencer, 2008). However, networks possess an intrinsic capacity for renewal, as they are inherently dynamic (Nisic and Petermann, 2013; Volker, 2020; Settersten, Hollstein and McElvaine 2024). These initial losses, therefore, often trigger turnover processes that unfold over time. This means that the lost contacts are gradually replaced by new ones as children adapt to their new environments (Offer, Fischer and Lee 2026). These renewal processes result from multiple factors, but in the context of residential mobility, research has consistently highlighted the importance of understanding the reasons for moving and the family’s socioeconomic resources (Pettit and McLanahan, 2003). Both shape the resources available to the child, the meaning they attribute to the mobility experience, and their social and cognitive responses to relocation. Moves prompted by parental job promotions or upward social mobility tend to be less disruptive than those caused by divorce, financial hardship, or eviction (Adam and Chase-Lansdale, 2002).

Another key driver of these dynamic relational processes is related to identity formation. Early ages are crucial to an individual’s identity formation, and experiencing one or more residential moves at this stage can drive significant cognitive, emotional, and behavioural redefinitions. Seminal works in developmental psychology (Erikson, 1950; Allison, 1993; Harris and Orth, 2020; Crocetti et al., 2023) reveal that children go through an initial stage of identity confusion and exploration of different options to a subsequent phase of identity synthesis or achievement. Children who arrive at a new place have fewer social ties than incumbent residents who have lived in that community for an extended period. They are more likely to interact with people who know nothing about their social background. Because of that, social status or any other group affiliation is no longer an effective tool for mutual recognition. They must seek alternative approaches to making new friends by mobilizing personal skills and abilities. This could explain why, for instance, people who moved more frequently while growing up tend to have an image of themselves strongly skewed towards personal traits to the detriment of collective identity and sense of belonging (Oishi, Lun and Sherman, 2007; Easthope, 2009).

Along these lines, research suggests that childhood mobility encourages the development of adaptive coping strategies that may enhance a person’s sense of agency. Agency, understood as the capacity to navigate one’s environment intentionally, make independent decisions and tackle problems (Hitlin and Elder, 2006, 2007), is shaped not only by structural factors but also by biographical experiences. Childhood residential mobility thus represents a particularly meaningful life event, as it inherently exposes children to novelty, discontinuity, and the need to adapt. Depending on how these changes are interpreted and managed, mobility can either hinder or stimulate the emergence of agency. Arguably, children who move frequently may develop a stronger sense of agency if these experiences teach them how to adapt, assert themselves in new environments, and make autonomous decisions (Werkman et al., 1981). By extension, it has been hypothesized that individuals who experienced mobility as children may feel more confident in building social ties in new contexts and actively pursuing supportive networks when needed (Nisic and Petermann, 2013; Oishi and Tsang, 2022).

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Source: https://academic.oup.com/esr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/esr/jcag001/8441975?login=false