Frequent moves harm children - if they’re poor

Children who move three or more times before they turn 5 have more behavioral problems than their peers - but only if they are poor, report researchers at Cornell and the National Employment Law Project. These children have more attention problems, anxiety or depression and are more aggressive or hyperactive at age 5 than those who had moved once, twice or not at all, the researchers said. But these problems occurred only among poor children, the study found. "This suggests that frequent moves early in life are most disruptive for the most disadvantaged children," said Kathleen Ziol-Guest, postdoctoral associate in policy analysis and management at Cornell, who led the study. The paper, "Early Childhood Housing Instability and School Readiness," was published online March 28 in Child Development and will appear in a forthcoming issue. Moving is a fairly common experience for American families. In 2002, 10 percent of low-income children - and 6.5 percent of all children - had been living in their current home for less than six months.