Family changes and residential mobility among immigrant and native-born populations: Evidence from Swiss administrative data

Abstract

BACKGROUND Much of the literature on immigrant relocation has focused on human and social capital and has often ignored the role of life-course events as triggers of internal migration and residential mobility. We know that family transitions are closely tied to residential relocation, but the extent to which they might explain differential mobility patterns among immigrant and native-born populations is still largely unknown. OBJECTIVE/METHODS Using Swiss administrative registers and a nationally representative survey, we apply discrete-time logistic models to assess whether residential mobility responses to family changes differ between immigrant and native-born populations. We highlight various patterns of housing adjustment at times of childbirth, marriage (among cohabiting and non-cohabiting partners), and divorce. We also investigate the factors accounting for the differences between foreign-and native-born groups. RESULTS/CONTRIBUTIONS The results suggest that residential mobility increases at times of childbirth, marriage, and divorce for both native-and foreign-born populations living in Switzerland. The results also suggest that the timing and intensity of residential changes in response to (or in anticipation of) family transitions differ across groups according to their birthplace. Compared to native-born residents, immigrants prove to be more residentially mobile at the time of marriage, owing to specific premarital cohabitation behaviours, but less residentially mobile at the time of childbirth, an event inherently linked to housing improvement. Household income was identified as an important mitigating factor within the joint processes of family changes and residential mobility. Lacroix, Gagnon & Wanner: Family changes and residential mobility among immigrants and native-born https://www.demographic-research.org We argue that linking residential mobility to life-course events and statuses can serve as an alternative, dynamic marker of residential integration, preferences, and housing disadvantage among immigrant populations.

The complex life course of mobility: Quantitative description of 300,000 residential moves in 1850–1950 Netherlands

“…Recent work with a contemporary Swiss population suggests that higher income is a mitigating factor in allowing individuals to adjust their residence to changing family structures (Lacroix et al, 2020 ). As such, in the HSN data, the mobility between 20 and 30 may indicate adjustments to housing for a growing family that are either satisfied or can no longer be financed later on in life.…”

The Socio-Educational Adaptation of Secondary School Migrant Students in Sicily: Migrant Generation, School Linguistic Mediation and Teacher Proactivity Factors

“…According to González Rábago (2014), the social context in which the different integration processes occur and the atmosphere that provokes cognitive, physical, or emotional development (Adams-Ojugbele and Mashiya 2020) undoubtedly determine the fate of future generations. It is not surprising that segments of the population in which young people are integrated depend heavily on their success or failure (Lacroix et al 2020).…”