The purpose of this study was to identify and examine risk and protective factors
associated with residential instability within a sample of rural low-income mothers.
Residential instability was defined as two or more residential moves within the course of
a year. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to compare residentially stable
and residentially unstable participants in order to isolate the factors that differentiated the
two groups. These factors were analyzed through life course and ecological theoretical
perspectives. Significant factors associated with residential instability included childhood
and adulthood contexts, as well as changes in family structures throughout the life course.
Based on the findings from this sample, it could be conservatively estimated that
10 to 25% of rural low-income families with children were residentially unstable between
2000 and 2001. Previous research has pointed to the severe negative educational, social,
and developmental impacts of residential instability on children. Findings from this study
suggest that the children who are most at risk for future residential instability in any
given year are likely to have experienced residential instability already, compounding the
impact of residential instability on these children. This study also supports the previous
finding that residential instability is transmitted across generations, with childhood
residential instability predictive of residential instability in adulthood.
Participants who had moved frequently during childhood were significantly more
likely to be residentially unstable, as were participants who had been homeless within the
two years previous to being surveyed. Participants who were sharing housing with
relatives were also at risk of residential instability, due to strain on relationships between
participants' families and the relatives with whom they were sharing housing.
Relationship strain associated with residential instability also occurred between
participants and their partners, with partnership separation significantly predictive of
residential instability. Many residentially unstable participants went through cycles of
moving in and out of relatives' and/or partners households, moving in and out with
partners, or both.
The connection between previous residential instability and subsequent residential
instability was theorized to be associated with persistent poverty, and may also have
indicated other destabilizing conditions. Difficulty in maintaining relationships or holding
down a job, mental health problems, poor survival skills, or patterns of bad choices were
all destabilizing conditions that could theoretically lead to residential instability. These
destabilizing conditions may have often been associated with persistent poverty and their
consequences may have been amplified by persistent poverty. / Graduation date: 2005
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29441 |
| Date | 10 September 2004 |
| Creators | Ozretich, Robin Nathaniel |
| Contributors | Richards, Leslie N. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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