As an “Army brat,” I went to 20 different schools between first grade and graduating from high school.
Obviously, we moved a LOT when I was growing up.
I hated moving so often, and even today at age 62 I’ve been unable to totally forgive my father (may he rest in peace) for constantly requesting transfers because he always hated what he was doing and for his entire life maintained the self-delusion that work (and life) would be more tolerable “as soon as we moved to a better place.”
That was never the case, of course, because the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence.
In fact, if you can’t be happy where you are with what you have, my experience is that you’re not going to be happy somewhere else with something different.
Although I’ve believed what I just wrote for my entire adult life, I’ve also struggled with negativity and hyper-sensitivity to all kinds of various things.
And, yes, this struggling often led to thoughts of “I could be happy somewhere else in different circumstances.”
I guess the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh? 
In any event, I’d like to share now an article I read today that provided confirmation of what I’ve always believed… that moving as a child is NOT a good thing and that all that moving does affect the way a person turns out.
Moving repeatedly in childhood linked with poorer quality-of-life years later
Lack of quality long-term relationships related to poorer well-being
WASHINGTON – Moving to a new town or even a new neighborhood is stressful at any age, but a new study shows that frequent relocations in childhood are related to poorer well-being in adulthood, especially among people who are more introverted or neurotic.
The researchers tested the relation between the number of childhood moves and well-being in a sample of 7,108 American adults who were followed for 10 years. The findings are reported in the June issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association.
“We know that children who move frequently are more likely to perform poorly in school and have more behavioral problems,” said the study’s lead author, Shigehiro Oishi, PhD, of the University of Virginia. “However, the long-term effects of moving on well-being in adulthood have been overlooked by researchers.”
The study’s participants, who were between the ages of 20 and 75, were contacted as part of a nationally representative random sample survey in 1994 and 1995 and were surveyed again 10 years later. They were asked how many times they had moved as children, as well as about their psychological well-being, personality type and social relationships.
The researchers found that the more times people moved as children, the more likely they were to report lower life satisfaction and psychological well-being at the time they were surveyed, even when controlling for age, gender and education level. The research also showed that those who moved frequently as children had fewer quality social relationships as adults.
The researchers also looked to see if different personality types – extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism – affected frequent movers’ well-being. Among introverts, the more moves participants reported as children, the worse off they were as adults. This was in direct contrast to the findings among extraverts. “Moving a lot makes it difficult for people to maintain long-term close relationships,” said Oishi. “This might not be a serious problem for outgoing people who can make friends quickly and easily. Less outgoing people have a harder time making new friends.”
The findings showed neurotic people who moved frequently reported less life satisfaction and poorer psychological well-being than people who did not move as much and people who were not neurotic. Neuroticism was defined for this study as being moody, nervous and high strung. However, the number and quality of neurotic people’s relationships had no effect on their well-being, no matter how often they had moved as children. In the article, Oishi speculates this may be because neurotic people have more negative reactions to stressful life events in general.
The researchers also looked at mortality rates among the participants and found that people who moved often as children were more likely to die before the second wave of the study. They controlled for age, gender and race. “We can speculate that moving often creates more stress and stress has been shown to have an ill effect on people’s health,” Oishi said. “But we need more research on this link before we can conclude that moving often in childhood can, in fact, be dangerous to your health in the long-term.”
###Article: “Residential Mobility, Well-Being, and Mortality” Shigehiro Oishi, PhD, University of Virginia; Ulrich Schimmack, PhD, University of Toronto Mississauga; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 98, No. 6.
(Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office and at http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-98-6-980.pdf)
Now that’s pretty interesting reading, isn’t it?
If you moved around a lot as a child, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to share your thoughts on this interesting topic by leaving a reply on this blog entry and research summary.
Chet
Chet I too am a boomer who was an ‘army brat’ and attended 14 different schools and I had a different experience–I loved it! Each move my mother and sister would be shedding tears at every move I’d be excited and looking forward to a new adventure.
As an adult, I’ve currently lived in the same home for 30 years and when I get an itch to travel, I take a trip. And, I enjoy having my home to return to.
Glad to have found you online as being a healthy boomer is important to me.
Cheryl, I enjoyed your entry.
You know, we moved so much when I was a kid, I’ve never had an itch to travel at all. In fact, walking the dogs around the neighborhood is more than enough traveling for me these daze.
Chet
I was a Daughter of an Air Force Officer and always wondered if we were a rare breed. Interesting study for sure! My Mother was a genius, she always made our moves seem like a great adventure. We’d take out the Encyclopedia and look up our new area. We learned to be resilient. I learned to love change. When I became a nurse, I followed the pattern of constant change in my work, enjoying opportunities to study new specialties when possible. I’m settled down now, an aging boomer. I miss travel and welcome chances to visit new areas if/when my health budget allows, or even explore new sights on the internet!!!
Vicky, your Mother sounds wonderful. That was very wise of her to make the moves an adventure instead of something negative. During all our moves, my mom was patient but I could always tell that she wanted to move about us much as I did… which was not at all. I’m glad you still like to travel and visit new places, both in person and online! Thank you for sharing your experience.
Chet
I went to the same school from K to graduation. Then I moved around a bit as a navy wife. Back home and enjoying it. When I get the urge for a change I just re-arrange my furniture and that works well enough. I enjoy your blog although I don’t always comment.
Brenda, moving the furniture is more than enough moving for me these days, too.
Thanks for sharing.
Chet
I love moving. When I was a kid, i never got the chance to move, though, until I was 18 and had to leave home to study in the city. When I got married, I did not move to my in-laws’ house, instead, I went home to mom until I delivered a baby. That was when we started moving.
When the baby was 8-month old, we got a new home, which we left when she was two. Again we moved after a natural disaster destroyed our kitchen, and again when she was seven, we had to get nearer the school for her to walk to and from school.
Before she finished grade school, we built our own house, which we later left when she was in the university. Every time we moved, we carry some small things and the bigger pieces of furniture are left behind but we have pictures of them that we also carry.
The difference now is that we have a house to return home to during special holidays like Christmas and the New Year.
Chet, at age 62 myself I can relate. I have not moved much, even though I did travel about 100% for six years in one of my jobs in my 30′s. I got to see the whole country, one week at a time. That was enough for me.
Now after 15 years in my current home, my wife and I are looking to move to a 55 community about 40 miles away. I realize that is going to be a major move for us. Looking forward to being there, but not the process.
Take care.
I loved where i grew up and wanted to stay there. We had to move when my dad got transferred, and my first day in the new place was on my 16th birthday.
I didn’t move with a good attitude, and once i decided to make the best of the new place, i found it didn’t love me back, either. Couldn’t wait to move away from there.
I’ve moved a number of times since then for college, then jobs.
I have found that i’m a location person. If i love the location, i can put up with a lot of other stuff that may not be to my liking. But, if i don’t love the location, there’s a part of my soul that doesn’t get fed, and in fact, feels as if it’s atrophying.
I recently moved from the general area i’ve lived in for the last 27 years to a place i always wanted to live. It’s on the coast, and i grew up on the coast, several hundred miles south.
I’m extremely happy where i am, happier than i’ve been for a long, long time. The last place i lived wasn’t a bad place, but it didn’t feed my soul.
I know some people are more people people, meaning their friends and family are what matter most, and they need to be where those folks are. Doesn’t matter location, what matters to them is that they’re in close proximity to the people they love.
I don’t think one’s right or better than the other, but i do think it’s important to know what sort you are. For me, finding a place i love and staying there wins out over being with great people in a less than ideal (for me) location.
Oh, i guess i shouldn’t have responded because i didn’t move around a lot as a kid. I always felt sorry for kids who moved all the time. I didn’t want to have to be in the situation of always trying to make new friends and get comfortable just about the time it was ready to pick up stakes and move on.
Megan, I’m really glad you did reply because what you wrote is so true… and interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Chet
I moved around quite a bit as an Army brat with 4 siblings and I loved it as well. With each move I left behind some friends and usually a few people I would be glad never to see again. I enjoyed the adventure of new places, new discoveries, new friends but I have to say I was not as enamored of it in my teen years when I attended 4 junior highs and thought I was leaving my BFFs, luckily, my Dad retired in time for me to attend the same high school and I got involved in everything I could in school because finally I could. I think having 4 siblings that were mostly close in age helped because in each new neighborhood we would hang out with each other until we found “real” friends. I think it was very hard on my Mom moving 5 kids and most of their junk. But we got to live in OK, KY, NC,SC,FL, Germany( twice), Panama Canal Zone. My parents would have not have met if my dad wasn’t in the military – and then I wouldn’t be here and what a great loss to the world that would be :0). Funny thing is when I looked at some of my old Army Brat school photos I see that I actually was in kindergarten at one base with a few kids whom I was later ij 5th Grade in Germany and we never realized that ( nor did I) since in Kindergarten we were stationed in Panama and probably didn’t remember each other. I think this was not as easy for some of my siblings, and I think it depends on birth order, personality, self esteem etc. as well. I like the attention of being the new kid especially when living off base when all the rest of the class weren’t army brats as well and had lived in one place their whole lives they were impressed at a kid so well-traveled.
I wasn’t an army kid but I called my dad a gypsy, I think he was unhappy and thought moving would make him happier. I hated it because I never felt like I was in control. However, as an adult I’m not afraid to jump into a new situation and I’m not afraid to move. What I like about being an adult is now I’m in control of where I want to move and not because of my father’s unhappiness. I wish I could have had a more stable childhood but I try to learn from the experiences. I know adults who are paralyzed by fear from just moving across town; if I did it numerous times as a kid I consider it a cake walk as an adult.