Parental Attachment and Peer Support as Moderators of Associations Between Childhood Mobility and Young Adult Sense of Belonging and Depression

Objectives: This study examined how childhood residential moves and non-normative school transitions are associated with a sense of belonging and depression in young adults, and how parental and peer relationships may serve as moderators of these associations. Methods: The participants were 487 young adults (358 females, 129 males; mean age = 19 years, age range = 17 to 30) who completed retrospective measures of family instability, parental and peer support (the Attachment History Questionnaire; Pottharst, 1990), depression (the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale; Kohout et al., 1993), and the Psychological scale from the Sense of Belonging Instrument (Hagerty & Patusky, 1995). Results: The bivariate associations for residential moves and school transitions were weak, but there were significant interactions involving parental attachment and peer support. The interaction patterns revealed that when parental attachment or peer support were high, sense of belonging was high and depression scores were low, even when there were many residential moves and school transitions. However, for people with more impoverished relationship contexts, outcomes were more positive (for six out of eight interactions) when there was more mobility. Conclusion: The findings provide a more nuanced perspective on the correlates of residential moves and school transitions than what has been previously reported in the literature.