Residential mobility between cities and suburbs: race, suburbanization, and back-to-the-city moves

Information from the 1979 to 1985 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics is merged with data on respondents’ tract and metropolitan area of residence to examine patterns and determinants of residential mobility between central cities and suburbs. Consistent with the life-cycle model of residential mobility, mobility in both directions declines with age, but on balance the presence of young children deters moving to the suburbs. Among blacks, education increases the probability of moving from cities to suburbs, while high income retains blacks and whites in suburbs. Consistent with the place stratification model. blacks are substantially less likely than whites to move from cities to suburbs, and substantially more likely to move from suburbs to cities, even after standardizing for racial differences in sociodemographic characteristics. High levels of violent crime and unemployment in cities relative to suburbs also tend to spur city-to-suburb mobility or inhibit suburb-to-city moves.     

‘It Was the Right Time To Do It’: Moving House,the Life‐Course and Kairos

While much has been written on the two issues of home and of residential mobility, little has been written on the experience of moving house. This paper aims to fill this gap. While work on residential mobility has tended to conceptualise it in terms of transitions in the life‐course as triggering moves, this paper explores how these moves are experienced and narrated by those moving house. In doing so, it develops the concept of kairos, an ancient Greek notion of time meaning the ‘right time’ to act. I argue that people who move house narrate their moving experiences in such terms: they saw an opportunity to move home, an opportunity that arose at just the right time and their timely actions meant that they seized the moment. It is through such narratives of kairos that homes are created and (re‐)constituted.     

Residential Mobility Across Early Childhood and Children’s Kindergarten Readiness

Understanding residential mobility in early childhood is important for contextualizing family, school, and neighborhood influences on child well-being. We examined the consequences of residential mobility for socioemotional and cognitive kindergarten readiness using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, a nationally representative longitudinal survey that followed U.S. children born in 2001 from infancy to kindergarten. We described individual, household, and neighborhood characteristics associated with residential mobility for children aged 0–5. Our residential mobility indicators examined frequency of moves, nonlinearities in move frequency, quality of moves, comparisons between moving houses and moving neighborhoods, and heterogeneity in the consequences of residential mobility. Nearly three-quarters of children moved by kindergarten start. Mobility did not predict cognitive scores. More moves, particularly at relatively high frequencies, predicted lower kindergarten behavior scores. Moves from socioeconomically advantaged to disadvantaged neighborhoods were especially problematic, whereas moves within a ZIP code were not. The implications of moves were similar across socioeconomic status. The behavior findings largely support an instability perspective that highlights potential disruptions from frequent or problematic moves. Our study contributes to literature emphasizing the importance of contextualizing residential mobility. The high prevalence and distinct implications of early childhood moves support the need for further research.     

Life course events and residential change: unpacking age effects on the probability of moving

We know that life course events, especially divorce and separation, trigger residential moves, but we know less about how these and other life course events intersect with how far people move and the relationship with labour market change. This research uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey in Australia to model a set of life course events and their intersection with the distance of move. I examine essentially positive events, marriage and new births and not so positive events, separation and divorce, and the unexpected events of widowhood and job loss, and their outcomes in the housing market. For the decision to move, the models partly parallel other studies of life course events and their role in the mobility decision, but the results provide enriched results about how age and life course events intersect. The analysis shows in greater detail how age acts as a proxy for complicated life course intersections with moving. The disruption of divorce and separation, as expected, increases the probability of moving but with different effects over distance. Households move in response to these life events but they are much less likely to change metropolitan locations, which reflects the embedded nature of family change and location. Overall, the research enriches previous studies of age-related links to migration and mobility.     

Influence of Proximity to Kin on Residential Mobility and Destination Choice: Examining Local Movers in Metropolitan Areas

A growing body of research has examined how family dynamics shape residential mobility, highlighting the social—as opposed to economic—drivers of mobility. However, few studies have examined kin ties as both push and pull factors in mobility processes or revealed how the influence of kin ties on mobility varies across sociodemographic groups. Using data on local residential moves from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) from 1980 to 2013, we find that location of noncoresident kin influences the likelihood of moving out of the current neighborhood and the selection of a new destination neighborhood. Analyses of out-mobility reveal that parents and young adult children living near each other as well as low-income adult children living near parents are especially deterred from moving. Discrete-choice models of neighborhood selection indicate that movers are particularly drawn to neighborhoods close to aging parents, white and higher-income households tend to move close to parents and children, and lower-income households tend to move close to extended family. Our results highlight the social and economic trade-offs that households face when making residential mobility decisions, which have important implications for broader patterns of inequality in residential attainment.     

Comparison of Face-to-Face and Web Surveys on the Topic of Homosexual Rights

ABSTRACT

Although academic research on homosexuality relies heavily on survey data, there has been limited study of the survey method of asking relevant questions. This study examines the effect of survey mode on responses to questions about homosexual rights. We find significant mode effects among heterosexual respondents, who are more likely to support equal access to employment, military service, adoption, and marriage for homosexual people in face-to-face surveys than in Web surveys. They are also more likely to choose to not respond when face-to-face than online. Homosexual respondents do not show mode effects for either substantive responses or item nonresponse rate.     

Frequency of geographic mobility: Findings from the National Health Interview Survey

Age stands out as an important factor in multiple moves over a relatively short period of time. In addition, in the NHIS data whites show a higher tendency to be multiple movers than do blacks. It was also found that persons defined as interstate migrants moved more often than either intrastate migrants or local movers, but it is impossible to conclude anything more definitive about that relationship. In conclusion, mobility defined as a move rather than as a mover is clearly higher than estimates derived from five-year census data or the CPS, which only use the idea of a mover. On the whole, though, over three-year periods most persons do not move at all or they move and then return. Of those who do change residence, the majority move only once. By far the bulk of moves is accounted for by a relatively small segment of Americans. Of 34,000 moves reported in the NHIS, more than one-half were made by a small number of persons--4,400--who not only constituted scarcely one-fourth of all movers but were less than 1 out of every 11 Americans.     

The potential impact of discrimination fears of older gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals living in small- to moderate-sized cities on long-term health care

As an exploration of the potential impact of fears of discrimination against GLBTs in long-term health care settings, this study compared perceptions of GLBT persons and heterosexuals. A total of 132 GLBT persons and 187 heterosexuals living in Eastern Washington completed a survey that contained demographic questions and perceptions of discrimination in long-term care settings. Most respondents suspected that staff and residents of care facilities discriminate against GLBTs. GLBT respondents who believed that residents of care facilities are victims of discrimination were more likely to believe that they would have to hide their sexual orientation if admitted to a care facility. GLBT respondents were more likely than heterosexual respondents to believe that GLBTs do not have equal access to health care and social services, that GLBTs residents of care facilities are victims of discrimination, that GLBT sensitivity training programs would benefit staff and residents of care facilities, and that GLBT retirement facilities would be a positive development for older GLBTs. This study is offered as a preliminary investigation of concerns about GLBT discrimination in health care settings, how concerns are expressed, and the implications of those concerns for health care needs.     

The validity of survey responses on abortion: Evidence from Estonia

This paper presents results of a validation survey of abortion conducted in Tallinn, Estonia in April and May 1992. The sample was drawn from patient records in a maternity hospital. Women who had an abortion in that hospital in 1991 were asked about recent abortions as part of a survey about women’s health. More than 80% of the respondents reported having a recent abortion. Some respondents misreported their abortion as a miscarriage. Moreover, some variation in reporting was associated with respondents’ characteristics. Ethnic Estonians were less likely to report their abortion than were Russians, women over age 40 were less likely to report the abortion than younger women, and women who had the abortion late in the first trimester were less likely to report that abortion. There was some evidence that unmarried women were less likely than married women to report their abortion, and that women who had borne three or more children were less likely to report their abortion than women who had borne fewer children. These differences probably stem from the extent to which pregnancy or abortion is considered stigmatizing for women in different situations.     

Necromobilities: The Multi-sited Geographies of Death and Disposal in a Mobile World

Abstract

No longer just bodies at rest, the dead are increasingly on the move. Noting that much of the literature on mobility is focused on the living, this paper considers what the mobilities of the corpse, the dead body and more specifically bodily remains add to our understanding of subjects and objects (living or dead) on the move. In this paper, I argue that mobility is a spatial tactic for negotiating dominant British necroregimes and attaining a culturally appropriate funeral and body/remain ‘disposal’. The article begins by exploring the transfer of the state’s responsibilities to the Death Care Industry. I then look at the agency of the governed (non-Abrahamic Indian and Chinese minorities), through a montage of experiences, to show that while mobility is a strategy to challenge the contours of state ‘necropower’, a circuit of guilt and culture of corruption exists and has real effects. The paper seeks to understand the sociocultural changes enacted by the state and in conjunction with the Death Care Industry that have major implications for the transportation of dead bodies and remains in an increasingly mobile world.     

Ethnicity at the Individual and Neighborhood Level as an Explanation for Moving Out of the Neighborhood

We address the influence of both the ethnic composition of the neighborhood and the ethnicity of individual residents on moving out of neighborhoods in the Netherlands. Using the Housing Research Netherlands survey and multinomial logistic regression analyses of moving out versus not moving or moving within the neighborhood, we found that ethnicity at the individual level was not of much importance for moving out. The combination of ethnicity at the individual level and the neighborhood level, however, appeared to be a rather important explanation of geographical mobility. Ethnic minorities are more likely than native Dutch to move within neighborhoods, and less likely to move away from them, as the share of non-western minorities in those neighborhoods increases. Native Dutch move away more frequently than ethnic minorities as the share of non-western ethnic minorities in neighborhoods is greater. These results suggest ethnic enclave formation or place stratification in the Netherlands.     

The Potential Impact of Discrimination Fears of Older Gays,Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender Individuals Living in Small- to Moderate-Sized Cities on Long-Term Health Care

ABSTRACT

As an exploration of the potential impact of fears of discrimination against GLBTs in long-term health care settings, this study compared perceptions of GLBT persons and heterosexuals. A total of 132 GLBT persons and 187 heterosexuals living in Eastern Washington completed a survey that contained demographic questions and perceptions of discrimination in long-term care settings. Most respondents suspected that staff and residents of care facilities discriminate against GLBTs. GLBT respondents who believed that residents of care facilities are victims of discrimination were more likely to believe that they would have to hide their sexual orientation if admitted to a care facility. GLBT respondents were more likely than heterosexual respondents to believe that GLBTs do not have equal access to health care and social services, that GLBTs residents of care facilities are victims of discrimination, that GLBT sensitivity training programs would benefit staff and residents of care facilities, and that GLBT retirement facilities would be a positive development for older GLBTs. This study is offered as a preliminary investigation of concerns about GLBT discrimination in health care settings, how concerns are expressed, and the implications of those concerns for health care needs.     

Change comes slowly for women in rural Bangladesh

Survey results from two disparate rural areas of Bangladesh, Sirajgong and Gopalpur subdistricts in the north-central part of the country and Abhoynagar and Fultala subdistricts in the southwest, offer the opportunity to assess the changing status of women in rural Bangladesh. The survey, conducted by the Mother and Child Health/Family Planning Extension Project of the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Control during 1982-89, collected data on 7433 ever-married women 15-56 years old. The analysis focused on two indicators: women's freedom to move outside their homes (mobility) and women's authority in household decision making. Although most respondents moved freely between households, they rarely traveled outside their village alone. In addition, respondents had little input in household decisions regarding health or expenditures. 65% felt they should be able to decide whether to see a doctor when they were ill or to buy medicine for a sick child, but only 7% actually made such decisions on their own. The majority approved of women working outside their homes, but only 11% did so. Both mobility and authority tended to increase with a woman's age. Women who lived in households headed by their in-laws had less mobility and much less authority. Women from poor homes had greater mobility, but wealth had little effect on household decision making. Education tended to increase decision-making authority but decrease mobility. Finally, the greater economic development, ecological stability, cultural diversity, and social progressiveness in the southwestern region tended to increase both mobility and authority.     

Women and retirement planning: towards the "feminization of poverty" in an aging Hong Kong

Hong Kong's population is aging but retirement research is largely missing from the research agenda in Hong Kong. This study, based on a telephone survey of 1,078 respondents, examines middle-aged adult's retirement planning activities in Hong Kong. The findings show men are more likely to be involved in financial planning, while women are more likely to take part in some forms of health, living arrangement and psychological planning for retirement. Further, there are age, education and income differences in the various forms of retirement planning activities within genders. Women are living longer; because of their lack of financial retirement planning, they are prime candidates for poverty. The discussion concludes with policy implications related to assisting midlife individuals, in particular women, in planning for retirement.     

Life Satisfaction Among University Students in a Canadian Prairie City: a Multivariate Analysis

This article reports the findings from a questionnaire survey of university students’ life satisfaction in Regina. The results demonstrated that a significant proportion of the 315 respondents were satisfied with their lives (N = 240, 76.2%). With regard to degree of satisfaction with different aspects of life, respondents expressed that they were most satisfied with relationship with mother, living environment, relationships with close friends, relationships with siblings, and living arrangement. Multiple ordinary least-squares regression analyses revealed that respondents who indicated a higher socio-economic status, achieveda higher grade point average, and were more satisfied with their academic experience, self-esteem, relationship with significant other, and living conditions, expressed a markedly higher level of satisfaction with life.     

Different Reasons,Different Results: Implications of Migration by Gender and Family Status

Previous research on migration and gendered career outcomes centers on couples and rarely examines the reason for the move. The implicit assumption is usually that households migrate in response to job opportunities. Based on a two-year panel from the Current Population Survey, this article uses stated reasons for geographic mobility to compare earnings outcomes among job migrants, family migrants, and quality-of-life migrants by gender and family status. We further assess the impact of migration on couples’ internal household economy. The effects of job-related moves that we find are reduced substantially in the fixed-effects models, indicating strong selection effects. Married women who moved for family reasons experience significant and substantial earnings declines. Consistent with conventional models of migration, we find that household earnings and income and gender specialization increase following job migration. Married women who are secondary earners have increased odds of reducing their labor supply following migration for job or family reasons. However, we also find that migrating women who contributed as equals to the household economy before the move are no more likely than nonmigrant women to exit work or to work part-time. Equal breadwinner status may protect women from becoming tied movers.     

Planned retirement housing preferences of older homosexuals

This preliminary study investigated interest in planned retirement housing among older homosexuals and their preferences for certain facility characteristics. A nonrandom, volunteer sample of 57 lesbians and 399 gay men with a mean age of 63.3 years completed an anonymous survey. There was no difference with regard to living arrangement, home ownership, relationship status, or annual income between those respondents 55 to 64 years old and those 65 and older within each sex. The respondents were more likely to live alone, to be still working, and to have a higher socioeconomic status than the general older population. A large majority indicated an interest in planned retirement housing specifically sensitive to the needs of gay men and lesbians, with support for a continuum of services. Many respondents expressed a willingness to relocate significant distances in order to live in such a community. Security and health services were the most preferred, while mandatory services were rejected.     

Women and Retirement Planning: Towards the “Feminization of Poverty” in an Aging Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Hong Kong's population is aging but retirement research is largely missing from the research agenda in Hong Kong. This study, based on a telephone survey of 1,078 respondents, examines middle-aged adult's retirement planning activities in Hong Kong. The findings show men are more likely to be involved in financial planning, while women are more likely to take part in some forms of health, living arrangement and psychological planning for retirement. Further, there are age, education and income differences in the various forms of retirement planning activities within genders. Women are living longer; because of their lack of financial retirement planning, they are prime candidates for poverty. The discussion concludes with policy implications related to assisting midlife individuals, in particular women, in planning for retirement.     

Spousal Mobility and Earnings

An important finding in the literature on migration has been that the earnings of married women typically decrease with a move, while the earnings of married men often increase with a move, suggesting that married women are more likely to act as the “trailing spouse.” This article considers a related but largely unexplored question: what is the effect of having an occupation that is associated with frequent migration on the migration decisions of a household and on the earnings of the spouse? Further, how do these effects differ between men and women? The Public Use Microdata Sample from the 2000 U.S. decennial census is used to calculate migration rates by occupation and education. The analysis estimates the effects of these occupational mobility measures on the migration of couples and the earnings of married individuals. I find that migration rates in both the husband’s and wife’s occupations affect the household migration decision, but mobility in the husband’s occupation matters considerably more. For couples in which the husband has a college degree (regardless of the wife’s educational level), a husband’s mobility has a large, significant negative effect on his wife’s earnings, whereas a wife’s mobility has no effect on her husband’s earnings. This negative effect does not exist for college-educated wives married to non-college-educated husbands.In the substantial literature on the relationship between migration and earnings, an important finding has been that the earnings of married women typically decrease with a move, while the earnings of married men often increase with a move. This is consistent with the notion that married women are more likely to act as the “trailing spouse” or to be a “tied mover.” This article considers a related but largely unexplored question: what is the effect of having an occupation that is associated with frequent migration on the migration decisions of a household as well as on the earnings of the spouse? And how do these effects differ between men and women?There are three reasons to move beyond the previous analysis of household moves to studying the effect of occupational mobility on migration and earnings. First, the analysis of changes in employment and earnings of movers is only part of a broader discovery concerning the extent to which the earnings of husbands and wives are affected by the ability to move to or stay in optimal locations. Second, the existing literature relies on the comparison of movers to nonmovers. Even longitudinal comparisons will not completely eliminate the bias in this comparison because movers likely differ in their earnings growth, not just the level of premigration earnings. Third, the methods used in the literature often do not adequately adjust for occupational differences between men and women, so it is difficult to know whether the current findings in the literature are the result of differences in jobs held by men and women, or rather are the result of differences in influence on location decisions. The question pursued in this article is, controlling for an individual’s own occupation and the earnings potential in that occupation, how does the migration rate in a spouse’s occupation affect one’s own labor market outcomes?This article uses the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) from the 2000 U.S. decennial census to calculate mobility measures by occupation and education class. Mobility is measured by the fraction of workers who, in the past five years, have either (a) changed metropolitan area or (b) if in a nonmetropolitan area, changed Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA).¹ Using the sample of white, non-Hispanic married couples between the ages of 25 and 55 in the 2000 census, I perform migration and earnings analyses separately for four groups of couples: both have college degrees (“power couples”), only the husband has a college degree, only the wife has a college degree; and neither has a college degree.Results indicate that the mobility rates in both the husband’s and wife’s occupation affect the household migration decision, but mobility in the husband’s occupation matters considerably more. Comparison analysis for never-married individuals indicates that among individuals with college degrees, never-married men and women are equally responsive to occupation mobility in their migration behavior.The earnings analysis uses occupation fixed-effects and average wage in occupation-education class to control for substantial heterogeneity in earnings potential. For couples in which the husband has a college degree, the wife’s mobility has no effect on the husband’s earnings, regardless of the wife’s education. However, the husband’s mobility has a large, significant negative effect on the wife’s earnings. This negative effect does not exist for couples in which only the wife has a college degree.     

(Un)natural disaster: vulnerability,long-distance displacement,and the extended geography of neighborhood distress and attainment after Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina, socioeconomically vulnerable populations were slow to return to their poor and segregated pre-disaster neighborhoods. Yet, very little is known about the quality of their post-disaster neighborhoods. While vulnerable groups rarely escape neighborhood poverty, some Katrina evacuees showed signs of neighborhood improvement. The current study investigates this puzzle and the significance of long-distance moves for neighborhood change among participants in the Resilience in the Survivors of Katrina Project. Seven hundred low-income, mostly minority mothers in community college in New Orleans before Katrina were tracked across the country a year and a half later. The findings show that respondents’ immediate and extended neighborhoods and metropolitan areas after Katrina were less disadvantaged, less organizationally isolated, and more racially and ethnically diverse compared to their pre-hurricane environments, and to the environments of those staying or returning home. Counterfactual analyses showed that more than within-neighborhood changes over time, between-neighborhood mobility and long-distance migration decreased respondents’ exposures to distress in their neighborhood, extended geographic area, and metropolitan area.