title: Analyzing migration decisions: the first step--whose decisions?
abstract: Many theories of geographic mobility assume that the change-of-residence process includes a substantial degree of choice. This paper classifies stated reasons for moving from the 1973 through 1977 Annual Housing Survey into forced, imposed, and preference-dominated categories. About 25 percent of residential mobility and 40 percent of migration occurred under conditions of substantial constraint. Mobility was most often constrained by family dynamics; for migration, occupational relocations frequently imposed the decision-to-move process and determined destinations. The volume of constrained movement indicates that its impact upon individuals, population dynamics, and voluntaristic theories of mobility deserves greater consideration.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D004651:Employment; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008571:Men; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014930:Women