Title: Intentions to move home in response to two potentially unexpected life events: an experimental analysis in Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Authors: Alan G. Phipps

Addresses: Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada

Abstract: An unexpected life event from the perspective of residential mobility is one whose occurrence has not already been factored by a resident into decisions about moving from or staying in the current home. One unexpected event may be experiencing or witnessing a nearby crime and disorder incident, and another may be the action of a neighbour who lists a nearby property for sale, and possibly sells it. Occurrences of these events are in particular hypothesised to add residential stress by abruptly and involuntarily changing the attributes of a home. Findings from an experimental analysis are that experiencing or witnessing a crime and disorder event may have created stress via more undesirable than desirable attributes of the neighbourhood; whereas nearby possible property sales may have caused contradictory re-evaluations of economic and locational attributes. In conclusion, further experimental measurement may test whether involuntary attribute changes caused by unexpected life events create residential stresses for residents, and thus, revised intentions to move home.

Keywords: crime; disorder; house sales; older urban neighbourhoods; online surveying; residential mobility; residential stress; unexpected life events; Canada; intention to move; moving home; neighbour actions; involuntary attribute changes; neighbourhood attributes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMRM.2016.079404

International Journal of Migration and Residential Mobility, 2016 Vol.1 No.3, pp.195 - 218

Accepted: 18 May 2015
Published online: 28 Sep 2016 *

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