Abstract
This study aims to understand the psychological factors, such as
psychological attachment to place, underlying the migration desires of
these highly educated individuals. A sample of 174 adults was recruited
to test a model proposing that psychological place attachment mediates a
previously reported relationship between social ties to the community and
desires to migrate from the community. Participants completed a survey
measuring their psychological place attachment using a newly developed
Psychological Place Attachment Scale (PPAS). This scale was based on
theoretical view of place attachment proposed by Scannell and Gifford
(2010). Several indicators of local ties, including residential length in
one’s community, perceived local friendships, local family ties and
migration desires were assessed in the survey. The proposed model
predicting migration desires from residential length, perceived
friendships and family ties, mediated by psychological place attachment
was supported in the path analysis using a structural equation modeling
framework. The hypothesized model fits the data well. These data
supported a more complex understanding of qualities that predict
migration desires and the important role of psychological place
attachment to these desires. Data also supported the reliability and
validity of the newly developed Place Attachment Scale. Future studies
may further develop the scale by testing using different target places and
across different countries.
Jeewon Cheong, Irene Hanson Frieze, Manyu Li. (2014) Stay or Go? A Path Model of Highly Educated Individuals’ Migration Desires, Journal of Behavioural Sciences, Volume 24, Issue 2 .
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