IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0126567.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Difficult Life Events, Selective Migration and Spatial Inequalities in Mental Health in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Helena Tunstall
  • Niamh K Shortt
  • Jamie R Pearce
  • Richard J Mitchell

Abstract

Objective: Research has indicated that people moving towards neighbourhoods with disadvantaged socio-economic status have poor health, in particular mental health, but the reasons for this are unclear. This study aims to assess why people moving towards more socio-economically deprived areas have poor mental health. It focuses upon the role of difficult life events that may both trigger moves and damage mental health. This study investigates how mental health and socio-spatial patterns of mobility vary between people moving following difficult life events and for other reasons. Methods: Longitudinal analysis of British Household Panel Survey data describing adults’ moves between annual survey waves, pooled over ten years, 1996-2006 (N=122,892 observations). Respondents were defined as ‘difficult life event movers’ if they had experienced relationship breakdown, housing eviction/repossession, or job loss between waves. Respondents were categorised as moving to more or less deprived quintiles using their Census Area Statistic residential ward Carstairs score. Mental health was indicated by self-reported mental health problems. Binary logistic regression models of weighted data were adjusted for age, sex, education and social class. Results: The migration rate over one year was 8.5%; 14.1% of movers had experienced a difficult life event during this time period. Adjusted regression model odds of mental health problems among difficult life event movers were 1.67 (95% CI 1.35-2.07) relative to other movers. Odds of difficult life events movers, compared to other movers, moving to a less deprived area, relative to an area with a similar level of deprivation, were 0.70 (95% CI 0.58-0.84). Odds of mental health problems among difficult life event movers relocating to more deprived areas were highly elevated at 2.40 (95% CI 1.63-3.53), relative to stayers. Conclusion: Difficult life events may influence health selective patterns of migration and socio-spatial trajectories, reducing moves to less deprived neighbourhoods among people with mental illness.

Suggested Citation

  • Helena Tunstall & Niamh K Shortt & Jamie R Pearce & Richard J Mitchell, 2015. "Difficult Life Events, Selective Migration and Spatial Inequalities in Mental Health in the UK," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-13, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0126567
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126567
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126567
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126567&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0126567?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Propper, Carol & Jones, Kelvyn & Bolster, Anne & Burgess, Simon & Johnston, Ron & Sarker, Rebecca, 2005. "Local neighbourhood and mental health: Evidence from the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(10), pages 2065-2083, November.
    2. Larson, Ann & Bell, Martin & Young, Anne Frances, 2004. "Clarifying the relationships between health and residential mobility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(10), pages 2149-2160, November.
    3. Rogerson, Peter A. & Han, Daikwon, 2002. "The effects of migration on the detection of geographic differences in disease risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(10), pages 1817-1828, November.
    4. Timothy J. Halliday & Michael Kimmitt, 2007. "Selective Migration and Health," Working Papers 200720, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    5. Beata Nowok & Maarten van Ham & Allan M Findlay & Vernon Gayle, 2013. "Does Migration Make You Happy? A Longitudinal Study of Internal Migration and Subjective Well-Being," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 986-1002, April.
    6. Fone, David & Dunstan, Frank & Williams, Gareth & Lloyd, Keith & Palmer, Stephen, 2007. "Places, people and mental health: A multilevel analysis of economic inactivity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 633-645, February.
    7. Birgitta Rabe & Mark Taylor, 2010. "Residential mobility, quality of neighbourhood and life course events," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(3), pages 531-555, July.
    8. Tunstall, Helena & Pickett, Kate & Johnsen, Sarah, 2010. "Residential mobility in the UK during pregnancy and infancy: Are pregnant women, new mothers and infants 'unhealthy migrants'?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 786-798, August.
    9. Norman, Paul & Boyle, Paul & Rees, Philip, 2005. "Selective migration, health and deprivation: a longitudinal analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(12), pages 2755-2771, June.
    10. Curtis, Sarah & Setia, Maninder S. & Quesnel-Vallee, Amelie, 2009. "Socio-geographic mobility and health status: A longitudinal analysis using the National Population Health Survey of Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 1845-1853, December.
    11. Tunstall, Helena & Mitchell, Richard & Pearce, Jamie & Shortt, Niamh, 2014. "The general and mental health of movers to more- and less-disadvantaged socio-economic and physical environments within the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 97-107.
    12. P. Taylor, Mark & J. Pevalin, David & Todd, Jennifer, 2006. "The psychological costs of unsustainable housing commitments," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-08, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    13. Bentham, Graham, 1988. "Migration and morbidity: Implications for geographical studies of disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 49-54, January.
    14. Strohschein, Lisa & McDonough, Peggy & Monette, Georges & Shao, Qing, 2005. "Marital transitions and mental health: Are there gender differences in the short-term effects of marital status change?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(11), pages 2293-2303, December.
    15. Andrew McCulloch, 2001. "Ward-Level Deprivation and Individual Social and Economic Outcomes in the British Household Panel Study," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(4), pages 667-684, April.
    16. Connolly, Sheelah & O'Reilly, Dermot, 2007. "The contribution of migration to changes in the distribution of health over time: Five-year follow-up study in Northern Ireland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 1004-1011, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emily T Murray & Owen Nicholas & Paul Norman & Stephen Jivraj, 2021. "Life Course Neighborhood Deprivation Effects on Body Mass Index: Quantifying the Importance of Selective Migration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Hagedoorn, Paulien & Helbich, Marco, 2022. "Longitudinal effects of physical and social neighbourhood change on suicide mortality: A full population cohort study among movers and non-movers in the Netherlands," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    3. Maria Vaalavuo & Mikko-Waltteri Sihvola, 2021. "Are the Sick Left Behind at the Peripheries? Health Selection in Migration to Growing Urban Centres in Finland," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 341-366, April.
    4. Jamie Pearce & Niamh Shortt & Esther Rind & Richard Mitchell, 2016. "Life Course, Green Space and Health: Incorporating Place into Life Course Epidemiology," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-11, March.
    5. Curtis, Sarah & Cunningham, Niall & Pearce, Jamie & Congdon, Peter & Cherrie, Mark & Atkinson, Sarah, 2021. "Trajectories in mental health and socio-spatial conditions in a time of economic recovery and austerity: A longitudinal study in England 2011–17," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tunstall, Helena & Mitchell, Richard & Pearce, Jamie & Shortt, Niamh, 2014. "The general and mental health of movers to more- and less-disadvantaged socio-economic and physical environments within the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 97-107.
    2. Maria Vaalavuo & Mikko-Waltteri Sihvola, 2021. "Are the Sick Left Behind at the Peripheries? Health Selection in Migration to Growing Urban Centres in Finland," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 341-366, April.
    3. Riva, Mylène & Curtis, Sarah & Norman, Paul, 2011. "Residential mobility within England and urban–rural inequalities in mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(12), pages 1698-1706.
    4. Wilding, Sam & Martin, David & Moon, Graham, 2016. "The impact of limiting long term illness on internal migration in England and Wales: New evidence from census microdata," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 107-115.
    5. Lankila, Tiina & Näyhä, Simo & Rautio, Arja & Koiranen, Markku & Rusanen, Jarmo & Taanila, Anja, 2013. "Health and well-being of movers in rural and urban areas – A grid-based analysis of northern Finland birth cohort 1966," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 169-178.
    6. Birthe Jongeneel-Grimen & Mariël Droomers & Karien Stronks & J. Oers & Anton Kunst, 2013. "Migration and geographical inequalities in health in the Netherlands: an investigation of age patterns," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(6), pages 845-854, December.
    7. Hagedoorn, Paulien & Helbich, Marco, 2022. "Longitudinal effects of physical and social neighbourhood change on suicide mortality: A full population cohort study among movers and non-movers in the Netherlands," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    8. Frances Darlington-Pollock & Nichola Shackleton & Paul Norman & Arier C. Lee & Daniel Exeter, 2018. "Differences in the risk of cardiovascular disease for movers and stayers in New Zealand: a survival analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(2), pages 173-179, March.
    9. Curtis, Sarah & Setia, Maninder S. & Quesnel-Vallee, Amelie, 2009. "Socio-geographic mobility and health status: A longitudinal analysis using the National Population Health Survey of Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 1845-1853, December.
    10. Emily T Murray & Owen Nicholas & Paul Norman & Stephen Jivraj, 2021. "Life Course Neighborhood Deprivation Effects on Body Mass Index: Quantifying the Importance of Selective Migration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-12, August.
    11. Brown, Denise & Leyland, Alastair H., 2010. "Scottish mortality rates 2000-2002 by deprivation and small area population mobility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(11), pages 1951-1957, December.
    12. Green, Mark A. & Subramanian, S.V. & Vickers, Daniel & Dorling, Danny, 2015. "Internal migration, area effects and health: Does where you move to impact upon your health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 27-34.
    13. Darlington-Pollock, Frances & Norman, Paul & Lee, Arier C. & Grey, Corina & Mehta, Suneela & Exeter, Daniel J., 2016. "To move or not to move? Exploring the relationship between residential mobility, risk of cardiovascular disease and ethnicity in New Zealand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 128-140.
    14. Arline Geronimus & John Bound & Annie Ro, 2014. "Residential Mobility Across Local Areas in the United States and the Geographic Distribution of the Healthy Population," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 777-809, June.
    15. Norman, Paul & Boyle, Paul & Exeter, Daniel & Feng, Zhiqiang & Popham, Frank, 2011. "Rising premature mortality in the UK’s persistently deprived areas: Only a Scottish phenomenon?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(11), pages 1575-1584.
    16. Jokela, Markus & Kivimäki, Mika & Elovainio, Marko & Viikari, Jorma & Raitakari, Olli T. & Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa, 2009. "Urban/rural differences in body weight: Evidence for social selection and causation hypotheses in Finland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 867-875, March.
    17. David Briggs & Daniela Fecht & Kees De Hoogh, 2007. "Census data issues for epidemiology and health risk assessment: experiences from the Small Area Health Statistics Unit," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(2), pages 355-378, March.
    18. Malgorzata Switek, 2016. "Internal Migration and Life Satisfaction: Well-Being Paths of Young Adult Migrants," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 191-241, January.
    19. Eva Kibele & Fanny Janssen, 2013. "Distortion of regional old-age mortality due to late-life migration in the Netherlands?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(5), pages 105-132.
    20. Jooseok Oh, 2020. "Residential Mobility and Quality of Life between Metropolitan Areas: The Case of South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-14, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0126567. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.