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Residential mobility and behavioural problems in children: results from the GINIplus and LISAplus studies

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Abstract

Aim

Residential mobility during childhood has been associated with several adverse health outcomes. The present study investigates the influence of residential mobility during childhood measured by the frequency of moves, the child’s age at the time of the move and the total distance moved on the development of behavioural problems in school-age children.

Subject and methods

Data (N = 2,933) of two German population-based, prospective birth-cohort studies were used. Measurement of children’s residential mobility is based on the addresses at birth, 2, 6 and 10 years, which were collected by questionnaires and subsequently geocoded. Behavioural outcomes were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire applied at 10-year follow-up. Multiple logistic regression analyses controlling for sex and age of the child, study centre, parental educational level, mother’s age at birth, single parent status and child’s time spent in front of a screen were applied.

Results

Children with two or more relocations—odds ratio (OR) = 1.95, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.23–3.11—who moved at school age (OR = 1.97, CI = 1.17–3.31) or who moved more than 50 km in total (OR = 1.76, CI = 1.03–3.00) showed a significantly increased risk for the development of behavioural problems measured by the Total Difficulties Score compared to children who have never moved. Moving during early childhood and moving only short distance (less than 10 km in total) were not associated with behavioural problems.

Conclusion

Increased residential mobility during childhood and especially moves at school age may negatively affect children’s later behaviour. Prevention may consist in parental or teacher’s support of children to cope with moving.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the families for participation in the studies; the obstetric units for allowing recruitment, the GINI and LISA study teams for excellent work and several funding agencies listed in the following.

GINIplus study group: Helmholtz Zentrum München, Institute of Epidemiology, München (Heinrich J, Wichmann HE, Schoetzau A, Mosetter M, Schindler J, Höhnke A, Franke K, Laubereau B, Gehring U, Sausenthaler S, Thaqi A, Zirngibl A, Zutavern A., Schnappinger M, Chen CM); Department of Pediatrics, Marien-Hospital, Wesel (Berdel D, von Berg A, Filipiak-Pittroff B, Albrecht B, Baumgart A, Beckmann C, Büttner S, Diekamp S, Groß I, Jakob T, Klemke K, Kurpiun S, Möllemann M, Varhelyi A,); Department of Pediatrics, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich (Koletzko S, Reinhardt D, Weigand H, Antonie I, Bäumler-Merl B, Tasch C, Göhlert R, Mühlbauer D, Sönnichsen C, Sauerwald T, Kindermann A, Waag M, Koch M); Department of Pediatrics, Technical University, Munich (Bauer CP, Grübl A, Bartels P, Brockow I, Fischer A, Hoffmann U, Lötzbeyer F, Mayrl R, Negele K, Schill E-M, Wolf B, Paschke M); IUF - Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf (Krämer U, Link E, Ranft U, Schins R, Sugiri D, Cramer C); Centre for Allergy and Environment, Technical University, Munich (Behrendt H, Grosch J, Martin F).

LISAplus study group: Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Munich (Heinrich J, Wichmann HE, Sausenthaler S, Chen CM, Schnappinger M); Department of Pediatrics, Municipal Hospital ‘St.Georg’, Leipzig (Borte M, Diez U), Marien-Hospital Wesel, Department of Pediatrics, Wesel (von Berg A, Beckmann C); Pediatric Practice, Bad Honnef (Schaaf B); Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Environmental Immunology/Core Facility Studies, Leipzig (Lehmann I, Bauer M, Gräbsch C, Röder S, Schilde M); University of Leipzig, Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, Leipzig (Herbarth O, Dick C, Magnus J); IUF - Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf (Krämer U, Link E, Cramer C); Technical University Munich, Department of Pediatrics, Munich (Bauer CP, Hoffmann U); ZAUM - Center for Allergy and Environment, Technical University, Munich (Behrendt H).

Funding

The GINI Intervention study was funded for 3 years by grants of the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology (Grant No. 01 EE 9401-4) and Helmholtz Zentrum München, the 6 and 10 years follow-up of the GINIplus study was funded by Helmholtz Zentrum München and in addition partly by the Federal Ministry of Environment (IUF, FKZ 20462296). The LISAplus study was funded by Helmholtz Zentrum München, by grants of the Federal Ministry of Environment, (BMU) (for IUF, FKZ 20462296), and Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research, and Technology (No. 01 EG 9705/2 and 01EG9732).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Centre for Environmental Health, Institute of Epidemiology I, Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    Carla M. T. Tiesler, Matthias Birk, Gabriele Kohlböck, H.-Erich Wichmann & Joachim Heinrich

  2. Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital, Division of Metabolic Diseases and Nutritional Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Lindwurmstr. 4, 80337, Munich, Germany

    Carla M. T. Tiesler

  3. Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital, Division of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Lindwurmstr. 4, 80337, Munich, Germany

    Sibylle Koletzko

  4. Department of Paediatrics, Technical University of Munich, Parzivalstraße 16, 80804, Munich, Germany

    Carl-Peter Bauer

  5. Institute of Medical Data Management, Biometrics and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany

    H.-Erich Wichmann

  6. Department of Paediatrics, Marien-Hospital Wesel, Pastor-Janßen-Str. 8-38, 46483, Wesel, Germany

    Andrea von Berg & Dietrich Berdel

  7. IUF - Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Auf’m Hennekamp 50, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Ursula Krämer

  8. Medical Practice for Paediatrics, Luisenstr. 16, 53604, Bad Honnef, Germany

    Beate Schaaf

  9. Department for Environmental Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Irina Lehmann

  10. Faculty of Medicine, Environmental Medicine and Hygiene, University of Leipzig, Liebigstr. 27, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Olf Herbarth

Authors
  1. Carla M. T. Tiesler
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  2. Matthias Birk
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  3. Gabriele Kohlböck
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  4. Sibylle Koletzko
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  5. Carl-Peter Bauer
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  6. H.-Erich Wichmann
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  7. Andrea von Berg
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  8. Dietrich Berdel
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  9. Ursula Krämer
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  10. Beate Schaaf
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  11. Irina Lehmann
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  13. Joachim Heinrich
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for the GINIplus and LISAplus Study Groups

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joachim Heinrich.

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Tiesler, C.M.T., Birk, M., Kohlböck, G. et al. Residential mobility and behavioural problems in children: results from the GINIplus and LISAplus studies. J Public Health 21, 39–48 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-012-0522-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-012-0522-y

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