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What Motivates Residential Mobility? Re-examining Self-Reported Reasons for Desiring and Making Residential Moves

Coulter, R; Scott, J; (2015) What Motivates Residential Mobility? Re-examining Self-Reported Reasons for Desiring and Making Residential Moves. Population, Space and Place , 21 (4) pp. 354-371. 10.1002/psp.1863. Green open access

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Abstract

Understanding why people move home is an important objective for population research. While studies are increasingly examining residential mobility motivations using the reasons reported in social surveys, data constraints and the conceptual legacy of behavioural theories mean that little is known about how people's reasons for desiring and making residential moves vary over the life course. In this paper, we address these issues using longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey. The results show that the reasons people report for desiring to move vary considerably over the life course. People are more likely to relocate if they desire to move for ‘targeted’ reasons like employment opportunities than if they desire to move for more ‘diffuse’ reasons relating to area characteristics. Life course events and moving desires intersect to strongly condition moving behaviour. These insights demonstrate how a deep engagement with life course theories can help researchers to overcome the difficulties encountered when using behavioural models to understand moving decisions.

Type: Article
Title: What Motivates Residential Mobility? Re-examining Self-Reported Reasons for Desiring and Making Residential Moves
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/psp.1863
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1002/psp.1863
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Social Sciences, Demography, Geography, life course, migration, motivation, reason, residential mobility, LIFE-COURSE, INTERNAL MIGRATION, EMPLOYMENT STATUS, SURVEY QUESTIONS, MOVING DESIRES, MOTIVES, FAMILY, NEIGHBORHOOD, CHALLENGE, BRITAIN
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1558446
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