Community satisfaction, expectations of moving and migration

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Demography
• Human Geography

Background:

• Previous residential mobility models, like Speare's (1974), posited additive relationships between satisfaction, desire to move, and actual mobility.
• These models have been foundational but may not capture the nuanced decision-making processes involved in migration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To elaborate and apply an existing residential mobility model to intercounty migration.
• To hypothesize and test an interaction effect between community satisfaction and expectations to migrate.
• To provide methodological insights into defining migration intervals.

Main Methods:

• The study elaborates Speare's (1974) residential mobility model.
• An interaction between community satisfaction and migration expectations was hypothesized.
• Data were collected through a survey in Durham, North Carolina, with an eight-year mobility follow-up.
• Various time periods were used to identify migrants, offering methodological insights.

Main Results:

• Results support Speare's general model formulation when an interaction is considered.
• The hypothesized interaction between community satisfaction and migration expectations was supported.
• A three-year migration interval was identified as appropriate for analysis.

Conclusions:

• The interaction between community satisfaction and migration expectations is crucial for understanding residential mobility decisions.
• The elaborated model provides a more accurate representation of intercounty migration patterns.
• Methodological considerations regarding migration interval selection are important for future research.