The long-term effects of childhood residential mobility on social capital
Riccardo Valente & Mattia Vacchiano
What the paper says
When a child moves home multiple times, the consequences for the adult they will later become can be substantial. This study investigates how frequent relocations during childhood influence the development of social capital in adulthood. Using a combination of retrospective and longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of the Swiss population (N = 4,451), we examine how identity formation and the sense of agency jointly shape individuals’ ability to sustain supportive networks over time. Results from structural equation modelling show that individuals who experienced frequent moves in childhood tend to identify less with the city, region, and country in which they live; yet this appears to have no direct consequences for their social capital. In contrast, they report a stronger sense of personal agency—defined as feeling more confident in addressing problems and making decisions—which, in turn, enhances their ability to maintain supportive networks. Overall, the findings highlight that residential mobility in childhood is a complex phenomenon that reshapes how individuals relate to the communities they belong to, to themselves, and to others across the life course.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.