Peer-reviewed article

Childhood Residential Mobility and the Life-Course Accumulation of Wealth Inequalities: Evidence From the 1958 British Birth Cohort.

Valente R · 12 Jul 2026

Abstract

Wealth inequality is a central dimension of social stratification, yet the early-life processes underlying its emergence remain insufficiently understood. This article examines whether childhood residential mobility contributes to adult wealth accumulation, through which developmental pathways, and under what conditions. Drawing on longitudinal data from the 1958 National Child Development Study, I link residential histories from birth to age 16 to homeownership and net financial wealth at age 33. Childhood mobility is conceptualised as a multidimensional process that captures the frequency and timing of moves, as well as whether residential change coincided with school disruption. The results reveal a clear stratified pattern. Occasional moves are largely benign by early adulthood, but repeated mobility is associated with lower wealth and reduced access to homeownership, especially when it extends into adolescence or disrupts schooling. Mediation analyses indicate that these associations operate more clearly through adolescent psychosocial difficulties than through cognitive performance. Moderated mediation models further indicate that psychosocial pathways are concentrated among children who are outside financially secure owner-occupied households at age 16. By highlighting how childhood residential instability becomes embedded in later wealth accumulation, this study extends sociological accounts of stratification beyond labour market outcomes to the developmental and housing foundations of asset inequality.