The New York Times ran a story today about a new study out of Denmark suggesting that frequent moves increase the risk of suicide for teens. The study found:

Adolescents ages 11 to 17 who had moved three to five times were about twice as likely to have attempted suicide as those who never had changed residences, while those who had moved more than 10 times were four times as likely to attempt suicide. Youngsters who had moved more than 15 times were almost five times as likely to attempt suicide, the study’s authors found. The researchers adjusted the figures to account for other difficulties in the children’s lives that might have influenced the risk of suicide. All changes of residence except those along the same street were defined as moves.

The study’s author elaborates on these findings…

According to lead author Dr. Ping Qin, an associate professor in psychiatric epidemiology at the Centre for Register-Based Research at Aarhus University in Denmark, the analysis does not prove a causal relationship between frequent changes in residence and suicidal behavior but does suggest “a true connection between the two events.”

“We found a strong association between frequent changes of residence and suicidal behavior among children,” Dr. Qin said. But, she added, “We could not distinguish whether the mobility was a causal risk factor or merely an intermediate variable of other risk factors.”

The sociological commentary…

The report corroborates earlier studies that have found an association between frequent mobility and children’s mental health. But the new report goes further, because it used actual medical records rather than self-reported survey data and looked at moves throughout childhood rather than just at recent moves, said Dr. Scott J. South, professor of sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York, who was not involved in the Danish study but has studied the impact of frequent moves on children.

“The evidence is becoming quite compelling that there is a causal effect of children’s residential mobility on a variety of negative behavioral outcomes,” Dr. South said. “[The children] do worse in school, they are more likely to drop out of high school, and I published a study that found they’re more likely to engage in sexual behavior earlier.”

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