This article was originally published in May 2018.
LCC researchers Dr Sergi Vidal and Professor Janeen Baxter have published a new paper in Longitudinal and Life Course Studies titled ‘Residential relocations and academic performance of Australian children: A longitudinal analysis.’
The authors use data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) to examine the associations between residential relocations and academic performance.
Dr Vidal and Professor Baxter find that, under certain conditions, residential relocations are associated with school performance. Their results showed that children who relocate often (3 or more times) display worse school performance, while children who relocate moderately (1-2 times) display better school performance.
Overall, the authors argue that, while changing residence is not in itself a major determinant of academic performance, the contexts and environments where children are embedded matter. Relocations that are detrimental for academic performance are embedded in contexts of disadvantage, suggesting that policies aimed at supporting disadvantaged families may widely benefit children’s cognitive development.
You can find their paper here.