Residential Mobility and Voting Behavior: Assessing the Impact of Socioeconomic Transitions During Adolescence on Electoral Participation in Sweden

Numerous studies have shown that socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods generally see lower electoral participation rates. The established link between a neighborhood's socioeconomic status and voter turnout is a significant topic in political behavior research. However, the role that residential mobility during key developmental years plays in shaping political engagement, particularly the effects of moving from economically weaker to stronger neighborhoods, is not as well studied. This paper addresses this gap by examining the influence of shifting from lower to higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods during adolescence on voting behavior in adulthood. We employ a comprehensive Swedish adolescent dataset, integrating survey and register data. This allows in-depth tracking of residential movements and their long-term effects on electoral participation. Our study methodically maps the movements of individuals between neighborhoods of varying socioeconomic statuses and evaluates how these relocations impact their likelihood of voting later in life. In doing so, the analysis meticulously controls for various potentially confounding variables such as educational attainment, income levels, self-efficacy, the breadth and depth of social networks, employment status, and parental education.