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Cross Country

By Elizabeth Diaz

According to the U.S. census moving rates have stayed at a constant 12% since 2008. So

many people are moving each year and many of them are children. I myself have moved several

times in and out of the United States all before the age of 18. I wanted to research how kids and

adults were affected by moving as it is a huge change in someones life. It interested me how

kids could be affected and how myself and my family were impacted. I will also account my

familys responses to my questions and get into how their personalities were affected and if it fits

with how people are affected by moving according to my research.

There are many parenting articles and psychiatric studies that explain how children are

affected by moves, cross country and internationally. In each article I read they all came to the

same consensus: moving is bad for kids. Each article had a slew of information such as in a

Washington Post1 article about a Denmark study2 that showed moving during childhood

increased the incidence of negative outcomes later in life including: suicide attempts, criminality,

psychiatric disorders, drug abuse, unnatural mortality, etc. The study also showed that multiple

moves in a year made long term harm more likely, and Webb (one of the authors) concluded

Mobility may be intrinsically harmful, (it is worthwhile to note that the study did not include

reasons behind moves). A different article in Warwick Medical School3 discussed a published

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/13/moving-as-a-child-can-change-who-you-are-
as-an-adult/?utm_term=.e3b4a73b39d8

2
http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2816%2930118-0/pdf
3
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/frequent_school_moves/
study from American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also supported that school

mobility during childhood heightens the risk of developing psychotic-like symptoms by up to

60%. Professor Swaran Singh explained, Changing schools can be very stressful for students.

Our study found that the process of moving schools may itself increase the risk of psychotic

symptom - independent of other factors. The Denmark study and other sources ,such as

Psychology Today4, found that children in middle school around ages 12-14 are most affected as

they must deal with school changes and the onset of puberty. Moving is such a life changing

thing, especially moving internationally that there is even a syndrome that describes the

particular psychological effects of moving to another country called Expat Child Syndrome5.

This syndrome usually manifests in older children ages 10-15 and can lead to withdrawn or

disruptive behavior. Moving to another country is difficult, especially since most children are not

asked if they want to move, and can cause feelings of powerlessness, and resentment. It also

forces children to adapt to a new culture and education system which some children can thrive in

while others struggle. Additionally, moving removes the childs social support beyond the

immediate family and came make the child feel lonely and isolated. Moving has so many layers

and affects the whole family yet while researching how parents are affected there were no

articles or studies, all the information I found (which is not a lot) was in passing in articles about

how children are affected. They effects I found were stress, which can affect parenting, moving

for one parent could cause another to lose a job, and guilt for making their children move.

4
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thinking-about-kids/201007/moving-is-tough-kids
5
http://howtoadult.com/moving-another-country-affect-children-8608751.html
While doing my research I created a form6 for my family to fill out. I wanted to see their

accounts of when they first moved and when we moved to the U.S. I did it as a form to keep

things consistent and to prevent myself from misinterpreting their experiences. It was very

interesting seeing their responses as I got to learn something I did not know about my parents

and how similar some of the answers could be between parents and children. In my first section I

wanted the first experience with moving my family could remember. My dads first memorable

experience was also at the youngest age in the family at age 2. He had moved in with his

grandparents as his parents were completing grad school. He recognized his grandmother as his

mother and stated in the form that there was no easy part during that period, and he was

confused. Many of the articles I read stated that children would be confused and could feel

overwhelmed. My moms first moving experience was similar to a few of our cross country

moves when my brothers and I were around 10-14. She had to move because of her fathers job

and like several of the problems stated in the articles she was sad to leave but unlike many of the

articles also happy and excited for the moved. She adapted to the change easily and enjoyed the

countryside much better than her city life. Both my brothers do not recall moving before our big

US move, and my younger brother (2 years younger) can barely recall that move. My own first

experience is not a very solid one. I recall moving a lot as a kid and remember different

apartments and spending time at my grandparents house. I do not feel that these events affected

me, besides adding some confusion, which I feel I easily moved on from.

https://docs.google.com/a/student.hssd.k12.wi.us/forms/d/1Zt3tXmg8y10Smjhe0BqeWGPnqYheNj6XfyPn
YIuM_p8/edit#response=ACYDBNj2fkFjRFsI2wNQKDwmOHQRhpYGYyroEERFOQo8KKFbdMcuj2GzPF
y8SA
Our United States move was a big change yet we all felt differently about it. The second

part of my form was about this move. I wanted to see how they really felt about this move. I

never really thought about how moving to the US affected the rest of my family until now. My

mom and dad moved at ages 36, and 40 respectively and Jose, me, and Josue (my brothers),

moved at 7, 5, 3 respectively. We all felt differently when we heard the news. My dad was

excited, and Josue did not know how to feel at that age. Jose did not want to move, and I think I

did not really know what was going on but I was excited. The hardest and easiest parts of the

move were interpreted differently. My mom and dad both said that they would miss their friends

and community and not knowing what was coming next were the hardest parts. My older brother

wrote getting up that morning to leave was the hardest but sleeping after getting settled was the

easiest. My younger brother and I are on the same boat. While my younger brother was too

young to remember much I can recall some parts of actually moving such as boarding the plane

and seeing our new home, but I cannot recall the emotions I felt. One of my questions was how

did you feel after the moved. This question was really where I was surprised as I expected my

mom to have felt more fearful of the new country and my dad to take it in stride, yet it was the

opposite. My mom wrote that people are the same no matter where you live in and that she felt

okay as the US was not too different from our country. My dad was fear as he felt he did not

know much about his destination and was afraid of accidentally offending someone. As for my

brothers Jose felt lonely as he did not have anyone close to him while Josue was fine with it and

quickly made friends. I was very shy and withdrawn I was afraid of messing up and getting

teased for my english and I was always introverted. My last two questions were Did moving

have a big impact on you? and Do you think moving affected your personality? Why or why
not?. To answer the first question my mom stated she was used to moving so it did not have a

big personal impact. My dad stated that its impact was that it opened new doors in career

advancement. Jose wrote from a personal view, that it may have subconsciously taught him how

to adapt, and Josue focused on the career view, as it opened new job opportunities. I think it

allowed me to learn how to adapt and made me want to conform and be like others to fit in. As

for affecting personality, changes did occur. My mom stated that she used to be more open but

that changed as American culture is closed and not open with others. My dad wrote that it did not

really change him but made him more conscious of his actions. Jose wrote that he had to open up

and give living here a chance while Josue does not know if he changed due to him being so

young at the time. Personally I think I became more introverted and afraid to approach others

while still wanting to conform. How does this correlate with the research? It connects on the

level of feeling loneliness and hesitance in the new environment. I do not think this move

changed us dramatically but it certainly made us more self aware.

While reports state that there can be an increase in psychotic behavior as a person gets

older if they have moved a lot as a child that certainly is not always the case. A move affects a

person in different ways. The act itself can vary from just house to house and staying in the same

school to a cross country or international move where everything changes. The reasons behind

each move are also important. In general I learned that moving is not good for children even

though they are adaptable and resilient they still hold the experience of losing a home, friends

and familiarity. While no one comes from a move unchanged it is not necessarily as drastic as

what my research has led me to believe. While there is still change everyone experiences a move

differently, even within a family.


Bibliography

Bureau, US Census. "U.S. Mover Rate Remains Stable at About 12 Percent Since 2008." The

United States Census Bureau. N.p., 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 May 2017.

Darling, Nancy. "Moving is tough for kids." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 11 July 2010.

Web. 31 May 2017.

"How Does Moving to Another Country Affect Children?" How To Adult. N.p., n.d. Web. 31

May 2017.

Ingraham, Christopher. "Moving as a child can change who you are as an adult." The

Washington Post. WP Company, 13 June 2016. Web. 31 May 2017.

"News & Events." Frequent school moves can increase the risk of psychotic symptoms in early

adolescence. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2017.

Webb, Rodger T., Carson B. Pedersen, and Pearl L.H. Mok. "Adverse Outcomes to Early Middle

Age Linked With Childhood Residential Mobility." Ajpmonline. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2017.

<http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2816%2930118-0/pdf>.

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