About one-third of natural-born Americans are ready to call it quits, pack up their stuff and move outside of the US — at some point in the future, according to Study Finds, a website that seeks out research released by universities and established companies then summarizes it for the general public.
Researchers Dr. Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels and Dr. Helen Marrow published their new report on November 28 in the International Migration Review.
They analyzed data collected in 2014 and discovered that people who do not feel “very strongly” about their national identity were most likely to live abroad.
The most common reason (87.4% of participants) to live outside the US is the desire to travel the world.
Political belief had limited to no correlation of their dreams of moving overseas.
“While one might think that ideological orientation plays a role, at least in this pre-Trump survey, we found out that it did not, at least not directly,” said Koppenfels.
While politics did not have a direct correlation, researchers found that one’s own national identity was a critical factor in their aspirations for living in another country. Those who responded with a weak national identity were more likely to leave.
“We asked respondents if they had a ‘very strong,’ ‘somewhat strong,’ ‘not very strong,’ or ‘not strong at all’ American national identity. Those who had anything other than ‘very strong’ national identity were more likely to aspire to live abroad,” Koppenfels told Study Finds. “It was, of course, a quantitative measure of a subjective belief measuring individuals’ self-identity.”
Researchers used data from 2014 of 877 Americans who were born in the US, and found beside exploration; other reasons include retirement (51%), fleeing country before economic collapse (49%), or for work (48%).
In addition, participants were asked whether or not they had aspired to live outside the US for an extended period time: “Just over half (58.4%) said no, not at all; 8.4% said they never had, but might consider it if something came up and 33.1% had thought about doing so, with 5.4% overall strongly planning on doing so,” said Koppenfels.
In a previous study, Koppenfels determined that exploration is the primary reason Americans have already relocated abroad, followed by marriage or partnership.
She told Study Finds that another study will be run next year to see how the political climate has changed responses.
via RSS http://bit.ly/2Sjisn9 Tyler Durden