Typologies of Residential Mobility in Childhood and Associations with Sociodemographic Characteristics: a Prospective Birth Cohort Study in Aotearoa New Zealand

Despite documented associations between childhood area-level socioeconomic status (SES), residential mobility and health, studies in this domain rarely use lifecourse study designs. This study examined temporal patterns of four residential mobility typologies based on area-level SES exposure from birth to 16 years. We devised four main residential mobility typologies: advantaged stayers (remaining in high SES areas), disadvantaged stayers (remaining in low SES areas), advantaged or upward movers (moving between high SES areas or transitioning from low to high SES areas), and disadvantaged or downward movers (moving between low SES areas or transitioning from high to low SES areas). Secondly, the research examined selected sociodemographic characteristics associated with the residential mobility typologies and whether these associations varied by age. Data from the Christchurch Health and Development (CHDS) prospective birth cohort study were used to obtain individual (i.e., gender, ethnic) and family sociodemographic (i.e., family SES) characteristics, and home addresses from birth to 16 years. Geocoded home addresses were linked to area-level SES. Two-level multinomial logistic regression models examined associations between sociodemographic characteristics and residential mobility typologies and their variations by age. Disadvantaged stayers constituted over one-fifth of the cohort during most of childhood. Children with Māori ethnicity, younger mothers, family instability, and childhood adversity are more vulnerable to frequent moves coupled with exposure to low area-level SES. Our study paves the way for the exploration of childhood environmental exposures and later-life health within a spatial lifecourse epidemiology framework.