Residential mobility and migration of the separated Peteke Feijten and Maarten van Ham University of St Andrews

Background Housing careers are strongly determined by household careers, as each new household situation requires and adjustment of housing and/or location (Rossi, 1955). In the 1950s and 1960s, life courses were fairly standard, and the housing career usually showed an upward trend. From the 1970s onwards, household careers and housing careers became more complex. One of the reasons was the increase in divorce rates.

Crude divorce rates in Europe, Source: Eurostat, 2006

Divorce and the housing career We already know a lot about the effect of divorce on housing careers: –Separated people often move (temporarily) into shared housing or with friends or relatives (McCarthy & Simpson, 1991); –There is an increased risk of falling out of homeownership, especially for women (Feijten, 2005); –After separation, moves to smaller, multi-family, rented dwellings prevail (Van Noortwijk et al., 1992). –Leaving the marital home after a divorce can cause severe grief (Anthony, 1997) Little is known about how divorce affects people’s spatial careers.

Why separation may affect spatial careers 1.Separation makes moving urgent; 2.Moves after separation are subject to financial restrictions (especially for women); 3.Moves after separation are subject to spatial restrictions when strong social ties in the old place of residence remain (especially for non-custodial parents). RESEARCH QUESTION: How does separation affect the spatial aspects of housing careers?

Hypotheses Frequency: separated people move considerably more often than singles and people in intact couples; Distance: separated people are less likely to move over long distances than singles and people in intact couples; Direction: separated people are expected to move more often to/stay in cities than people in intact couples.

Data and methods Longitudinal dataset from 3 retrospective surveys: –SSCW survey (1993) –Netherlands Family Surveys 1993 and 2000 Data on 4,102 full life courses Study population: the Dutch population, having left the parental home and not living in an institution. Data transformed into a person-year file. Hazard analysis on discrete time data. Separate models for frequency, distance and direction of moves after separation. Per aspect first a bivariate (or trivariate) analysis and then a multivariate analysis.

Analysis part one: Frequency of moving

Moving frequency

Relative risks of moving (from multivariate model)

Analysis part two: Distance of moving

Distance moved

Proportion moves over long distance, by gender and child status

Relative risks of moving over long distance (>40 km) (from multivariate model)

Analysis part three: Direction of moving

Direction of moves – from city

Direction of moves – from suburb

Direction of moves – from rural area

Probability of moving within the city or out of the city (from multivariate model) Moving within the cityMoving out of the city Coef.S.e. Exp(B)Coef.S.e. Exp(B) Relationship situation (ref = first relationship) steady single *** ***0.590 separated single *** new relationship *** ***3.879

Probability of moving within the suburb/rural area or to the city (from multivariate model) Moving within suburban/rural areaMoving to city Coef.S.e. Exp(B)Coef.S.e. Exp(B) Relationship situation (ref = in first relationship) steady single *** separated single *** ***2.480 new relationship ***

Summary Separation leads to distinctive spatial behaviour. Separated people… –move much more often than people in other living arrangements; this effect lasts to up to five years after the separation. –move over slightly shorter distances compared to singles and people in a first relationship; this is largely attributable to separated men with children –tend to stay in the residential environment where they lived before separation. If they change residential environment, moves to the city prevail.

Conclusions Results show that past experience shapes future behaviour. Living arrangement in combination with relationship history is a robust determinant of spatial behaviour. As more people experience a separation, spatial careers will become increasingly disordered and discontinued. This increasing complexity and differentiation has to be taken into account when attempting to understand the functioning of housing markets.