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BACKGROUND This contribution analyzes gender-specific effects of long-distance commuting and residential relocation on the social integration of couples. Research on geographical mobility in the partnership context focused very much on gender differences of regional mobility with respect to labor market outcomes and economic success. The effects of regional mobility and their possibly gendered impact on social networks and the social integration of households have been understudied. However, one would expect that regional mobility imposes severe temporal and geographical restrictions on the formation and upholding of social relationships. Moreover, these restrictions can be assumed to differ by gender due to differential involvement of women and men in market and domestic care work, which also present different opportunities and constraints for maintaining and forming social contacts. OBJECTIVE Against this background we analyze the effects of internal migration and job-related commuting on couples' social relationships. METHODS The analysis is based on the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) waves 1997-2008. We first give extensive descriptive overview on the social structure of mobile couples and the amount and perceived quality of social contacts men and women maintain. Second the effects on quality (i.e., the satisfaction with one's social life) are analyzed within a panel fixed-effects framework. RESULTS Results indicate that regional mobility affects women more than men. In particular women who move for her partner's job prospects suffer losses in perceived quality of social life. Female commuters are dissatisfied if they have low qualification and are only weakly integrated in the labor market. Among male commuters time restrictions due to high workload are detrimental to their social life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Couples tend to move house around first childbirth and often into suburban or rural neighbourhoods, conforming to the normative belief that children should grow up in a 'proper family home.' Such moves are likely to increase housing costs and both partners might need to contribute to the household income. But the move might also necessitate long commutes, inhibiting mothers' labour force participation. If the family sphere is more salient for (prospective) mothers, they might accept a remote location for its family-friendly environment but also because they are not planning a rapid return to work. OBJECTIVE This article analyses the influence of moving around first childbirth on the timing of mothers' transitions into employment after childbirth. METHODS Event history methods are used on longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel 1999-2014 (N = 1334 first-time mothers). RESULTS Limited evidence was found for the hypothesis that moving around first childbirth accelerates mothers' labour market (re-)entry: moving for homeownership increased the entry rate into full-time employment for mothers with low earnings potential. Strong evidence was found for the hypothesis that moving around first childbirth impedes mothers' employment, particularly hampering entering part-time jobs, the domain of working mothers in Germany and other countries. CONCLUSION Moving for family nest-building seems to place mothers in unfavourable structural positions for employment. CONTRIBUTION This article shows that social inequalities among women and within households as well as the persistence of gendered life courses can be reinforced through processes of family migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]