Does multiple house moves throughout a child’s life affect their mental health/emotional development?

[crosser62]

Just read a newspaper article about a child committing suicide and one of the things mentioned was that in the child’s 12 years of life, they had moved house 11 times.
Is this significant?
Does it affect a child?

Many posters on this thread have said that it affected one sibling and not the other.
Therefore we must conclude that the reasons why it bothers and affects some, and not others, is complex.

The moving is probably less of an issue than a generally chaotic and unstable home life.
If the moves are due to unpaid rent/moving in with various partners then yes I expect it would be disruptive.
I think shuttling children large distance between parents is also unsettling.
If it is just moving because of jobs or within the same area then I doubt it has much of an impact.

God that poor child and family. What they must have been through.

Yy to the no roots or long term friendships thing, and to it being hard to define how troubling and disturbing that.

Even if on the surface people seem just fine about it, the problem is, you can't necessarily know what's wrong or how it really affects you until later in life. And how do you put into words the real impact of "no roots"?

It probably makes a difference if your parents keep core things consistent somehow - so if you have a strong consistent set of friends and family, or if they keep you in the same school.

And as so many others have said, it's not just about new houses. It's about the whole family lifestyle. My parents were quite isolated and insular; they liked moving to whole new places. That kind of unconscious role model has an effect on you growing up too.

It must be lovely to have grown up in one place. I literally can't imagine.

DM moved a lot through the primary school years rarely completing more than 2 years in the same school. Although her secondary education was more stable, a lot of damage was done by constantly settling in, and skipping or repeating school years because she couldn't necessarily be put in the right years. It was pre-national curriculum so little continuity between what different schools were doing. By secondary, there were too many odd gaps to fill.

Apparently the only people she has met who moved around as much were people from a forces background.

I moved once in childhood. The school I came from had a lot of movement in and out due to career progression. The school I moved to had very little movement and it took a very long time to settle in with my "posh" accent. I can see how cultures of movement would affect the ability to settle. No wonder DM fondly remembers playing with the gypsies as there was a shared element of experience compared to children from very fixed backgrounds.

We used to move house every few years because my dad used to do a house up and sell it on. But we stayed in the same area, so I only moved schools once despite moving house about 4 times between when I was 3 and 16.

I think the issue is simply that everyone is different. I was glad that when I went to secondary school I went more or less on my own and didn't take all the baggage of primary school to secondary school with me. Of course, if you are popular and have loads of friends, you will want them to be there with you.

On the other hand my son moved to a secondary school with nearly everyone from his primary and you see problems arising in the early months/year 7 with the kids who don't get on.

I read a book recently that said that in the Danish school system the kids are in the same school throughout their education, more or less. I think it could be your worst nightmare if you don't get along.

Being grounded in your "local village school" is lovely if your kids are popular and perfectly behaved (and you get on with the school mum mafia) but on the other hand I can see distinct advantages of moving around a bit more.