How do younger migrants 'do' family?

There are many factors which affect a person's choice to migrate to a different country and many other factors which affect their life after they arrive. The reasons for migrating have been well documented, including more buoyant labour markets and more flexible housing tenures, but what do these benefits lead to in terms of lifestyle? Do migrants take longer to 'settle down' due to their new found freedom living away from their existing family support structures?

New CPC research studied a group of young adult migrants from Poland, looking at their living arrangements and relationships in the UK. The team found that Polish migrants to the UK are more likely that their peers in the UK or Poland to cohabit, marry and or enter parenthood at a younger age. Conversely, their non-migrant peers in either country stay living with family longer due largely to financial pressures.

Many of the study group took advantage of the opportunity afforded to them by their new found economic and social freedom to bring forward, rather than delay conventional transitions into marriage and parenthood. This was found to be underpinned by aspirations of home ownership either in Poland or the UK. Support networks for the young migrants in the UK were found to comprise of extended family members who had also chosen to migrate to the UK.

The team concluded that "most of the participants strongly believed that migrating to the UK had made a huge difference to the way in which their adult lives were unfolding."

The research team comprised of Professor Sue Heath, Professor Derek McGhee and Dr Paulina Trevena.

The full article can be found here.

Posted 08/01/2016 14:03