The roles of family and friends in staying and immobility
What makes ‘stayers’ stay?
Most migration research asks why people move. This PhD flips the question: Why do people stay? Drawing on a survey in Spain, interviews with university graduates in Maastricht (NL), and population-wide register data from Sweden, it concludes that staying is not just a personal choice but shaped by the people around us.
In Spain, when asked what makes moving difficult?, the most common answer was “family and friends”. Other reasons included feeling at home, financial constraints, and work. Women and those living near their social networks cited family and friends more, while such ties were cited less with age.
Interviews with university graduates in Maastricht revealed that staying is not just born out of “doing nothing”. Many had re-visited their decision over time. Family and friends acted not just as motives for staying, but also as advisors, role models, and practical help—helping with housing- or job searches.
Swedish register data show that young adults are more likely to stay in—or return to—their birthplace if it is also their parents’ or grandparents’ birthplace. These longstanding, local family roots also matter for income: while living close to parents at age 30 is linked to lower disposable income, residing in an area that is also the birthplace of (grand)parents is associated with higher income.
Taken together, ties to family and friends provide a crucial context for where people live or where they may want to live in the future—which may help inform (policy) efforts that seek to retain young people.