Stefanie Kley

Facilitators and constraints at each stage of the migration decision process

Behavioural models of migration emphasize the importance of migration decision-making for the explanation of subsequent behaviour. But empirical migration research regularly finds considerable gaps between those who intend to migrate and those who actually realize their intention. This paper applies the Theory of Planned Behaviour, enriched by the Rubicon model, to test specific hypotheses about distinct effects of facilitators and constraints on specific stages of migration decision-making and behaviour. The data come from a tailor-made panel survey based on random samples of people drawn from two German cities in 2006–07. The results show that in conventional models the effects of facilitators and constraints on migration decision-making are likely to be underestimated. Splitting the process of migration decision-making into a pre-decisional and a pre-actional phase helps to avoid bias in the estimated effects of facilitators and constraints on both migration decision-making and migration behaviour.

Regionale Mobilität in der Bevölkerungssoziologie

In der Soziologie ist raumliche Mobilitat ein relativ neues Forschungsfeld. Kernbegriffe werden deshalb oft nicht einheitlich verwendet. Der Artikel stellt verschiedene Auspragungen raumlicher Mobilitat dar, die Wohnungswechsel, Wanderungen sowie Pendelmobilitat umfassen, und nennt Begriffsdefinitionen, die auch international anschlussfahig sind. Jungste Entwicklungstrends der Binnenwanderungen und der Pendelmobilitat in Deutschland werden identifiziert. Zum Schluss wird ein Uberblick uber aktuelle Forschungsfelder, die mit raumlicher Mobilitat im Zusammenhang stehen, gegeben.

The Impact of Job-Related Mobility and Migration Intentions on Union Dissolution

This contribution considers the question of whether long-distance commuting between the place of residence and the place of work increases the risk of separation for couples. Starting with theoretical considerations based on the social exchange theory and the micro-economic theory of divorce, both married and unmarried couples with different spatial household arrangements are analysed. The data come from random samples drawn from the panel study ‘Migration Decisions in the Life Course’ in two German cities. Partnership, residence, and occupational information are investigated longitudinally for 890 couples over an observation period of 3 years. Discrete event history models show that long-distance commuting between home and work significantly enhances the risk of separation for couples if the woman commutes but not if the man commutes. Furthermore, important differences between Eastern and Western Germany appear, replicating newer findings about the influence of female full-time employment on the stability of partnerships: In the West German sample, female full-time employment per se exerts a negative effect on the stability of partnerships. In the East German sample, though, it is not the full-time employment of women but the necessity to commute over long distances that enhances the risk of separation significantly. Further analyses show that the negative effects of female long-distance commuting between home and workplace are detectible in both parts of Germany. The findings provide little evidence for the exchange theory and the micro-economic theory of divorce but rather support bargaining model theories.