Moving to a new town or even a new neighborhood is stressful at any age, but a new study shows that frequent moves in childhood are related to poorer well-being(幸福) in adulthood, especially among people who are more introverted(内向的) or neurotic(神经症的). The researchers tested the relationship between the number of childhood moves and well-being in a sample of 7108 American adults who were followed for 10 years. “We know that children who move frequently are more likely to perform poorly in school and have more behavioral problems,” said the study’s lead author Shigehiro Oishi. “However, the long-term effects of moving on well-being in adulthood have been overlooked by researchers.” The study’s participants, who were between the ages of 20 and 75, were contacted in 1994 and 1995 and were surveyed again 10 years later. They were asked how many times they had moved as children, as well as about their psychological well-being, personality type and social relationships. The researchers found that the more times people moved as children, the more likely they were to report lower life satisfaction and psychological well-being at the time they were surveyed. The research also showed that those who moved frequently as children had fewer quality social relationships as adults. The researchers also looked to see if different personality types affected frequent movers’ well-being. Among introverts, the more moves participants reported as children, the worse off they were as adults. “Moving a lot makes it difficult for people to keep long-term close relationships.” Said Oishi. “This might not be a serious problem for outgoing people who can make friends quickly and easily.” The findings showed neurotic people who moved frequently reported less life satisfaction and poorer psychological well-being than people who did not move as much and people who were not neurotic. However, the number and quality of neurotic people’s relationships had no effect on their well-being, no matter how often they had moved as children. In the article, Oishi thinks this may be because neurotic people have more negative reactions to stressful life events in general. “We can guess that moving often creates more stress,” Oishi said. “But we need more research on this link before we can conclude that moving often in childhood can, in fact, be dangerous to your health in the long-term.” 小题1:What can be learnt about the new study from the passage?
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