Stresses, Losses, and Gains Associated with Adolescent Relocation
Martha Dewey Bergren, MS, RN
Doctor of Nursing Science Candidate, University at Buffalo
612 906-9314
bergren@usinternet.com
ABSTRACT
This exploratory pilot study elicited adolescent perceptions, experiences, and feelings associated
with geographic relocation.
Researchers have validated that adolescents consider relocation a stressful event. Stressful life
events have been associated with negative well-being and negative health outcomes. In addition to
stress, a number of researchers have identified relocation as a lifetime exit event that precipitates a
grief reaction.
Six subjects who experienced geographic relocation as adolescents volunteered from a
convenience sample of 18-22 year old college students. The subject’s move had to cause a change
in both school and residence for inclusion in the study. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews
were tape recorded and transcribed by the investigator. The interviews were content analyzed to
identify the circumstances of moving that were perceived by adolescents as stresses, losses, and
gains.
The subjects were females between 20 and 22 years of age. The subjects moved up to three times
during adolescence. The distance of the moves ranged from 7 to 550 miles. All of the subjects but
one were from two parent families.
The perceptions of moving were divided into three categories: Stresses, losses and gains. Stress
was associated with a lack of preparation for the move, and the associated hardships of finding a
new residence and moving of household goods. Social ambiguity, social norms, especially in dress,
and lack of mastery of the new school environment created stress. Losses included material
possessions, pets, and family members who remained behind. Adolescents lost autonomy in
unfamiliar surroundings, and credentials earned in academics and sports. Most traumatic was the
loss of friends and the loss of intimacy with close friends. Also lost was their future self, who they
would have become if they had stayed in the old environment. Gains included increased family
cohesion, escaping a bad environment, material gain, and parental career opportunities. These
adolescents felt they acquired social skills needed for making friends. They also felt they expanded
their horizons, were less naïve, and were less judgmental than others their age.
The implications of the findings emphasize the need for parents to include their teens in the planning
stages of a move. Parents must allow adolescents to grieve their losses and to say goodbye to
home, community, and friends. Schools should examine their system’s treatment of transfer students
from the lunchroom experience to academic and extracurricular opportunities. Specific strategies
should be enacted to integrate students into the school’s social network. Adolescents who move
should not deny themselves the grief needed to adjust to the losses, but they should also take risks
and use active rather than passive coping mechanisms.
Electronic mail address
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