Moving for their first job or staying put? Predictors of high school students' attitudes toward geographic mobility

摘要

In order to understand better the factors that influence adolescents' mobility attitudes, a questionnaire study of high school students (N = 392) was conducted I year before their graduation. Mobility proneness was higher for adolescents with an individualistic attitude and when parents' and friends' attitudes toward mobility were perceived to be more positive. Uncertainty tolerance and strong vocational goals also were found to increase mobility proneness. In contrast, mobility proneness was lower for adolescents with a collectivistic attitude and firm plans for vocational training. The number of prior relocations has been identified as an influential factor in other studies, but did not prove significant here. The results support the notion that individualism and parents' and peers' attitudes, in particular, can be identified as adolescence-specific predictors of a positive attitude toward mobility and should be investigated further.