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Children whose families move homes frequently may be at increased risk for serious psychiatric illness.

Researchers followed 1,440,383 children from birth to age 29, including data on residential moves. They found 4,537 cases of psychosis, symptoms of which can include hallucinations and delusions.

The more often children under 19 moved, the greater their risk for psychosis. The largest effect was among 16- to 19-year-olds. For them, two or three moves more than tripled the risk for psychosis, and four or more nearly quadrupled the risk.

After age 20, there was no association between moving and illness.

The study, in JAMA Psychiatry, controlled for sex, foreign background, parental death, parental history of severe mental illness, income and mother’s age at birth, but had no data for bullying or physical or sexual abuse.