The Association of Residential Mobility With Weight-Related Health Behaviors

Objective: To estimate associations of residential mobility with body mass index (BMI), physical activity, and diet and whether associations differ across demographics. Design: Longitudinal cohort with 4 waves of survey follow-up over 15 years. Participants and Setting: A total of 2,110 adolescents and young adults originally from the Twin Cities of Minnesota responded to at least 2 waves of follow-up, beginning at ages 15 to 23 years. Main Outcome Measure(s): Self-reported BMI, physical activity, fast food consumption, breakfast frequency, sugary drink consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, and screen time. Analysis: Each outcome was modeled as a continuous variable using hierarchical linear regression. Residential mobility—change in residential address—was the main effect of interest. Models adjusted for demographics, marriage during follow-up, and previous level of the outcome. Inverse propensity weights accounted for loss to follow up. Results: No weight-related outcomes differed between movers and nonmovers in the whole sample. When examining effect modification by age, as participants aged, moving was increasingly associated with improvements in weight-related outcomes, particularly BMI. Conclusions and Implications: Results suggest that moving may be associated with poorer weight-related outcomes during a brief window from late teens and early-20s and less associated with weight-related outcomes in the mid-20s and 30s.