Background: A great deal of research has focused on employment and educational reasons for migration. Recent research has also begun to explore social motives. However, we still know very little about the role of nonresident family for moving, especially over long distances. Objective: We examine (1) the prevalence of nonresident family as a primary motive versus a secondary and location-based motive for migration, (2) moving away from family versus moving toward family, (3) how individuals’ reported family motives correspond to their actual migration toward family members, and (4) the sociodemographic characteristics of individuals who report family as a motive for migration. Methods: The data were derived from the Swedish Motives for Moving survey, which is based on an analytic sample of 4,601 Swedish respondents who migrated at least 20 km in 2007. We present descriptive statistics and quotes to illustrate respondents’ reports of their migration motives. As a tool for sophisticated description, we also provide the results of logistic and ordered logistic regression models of mentioning nonresident family as a motive for moving. Contribution: Common assumptions that internal migration is related to employment and education underestimate the importance of family as a motive. Moreover, nonresident family is among the secondary and location-based considerations for many more migrants than data on only primary motives might suggest. Reports of migration toward family are far more common than reports of migration away from family. We provide support for the assumption underlying previous work that moves toward family are indeed motivated by family considerations and not just a by-product of other considerations. Sociodemographic characteristics associated with reporting nonresident family are in line with expectations based on prior research and theory.

中文翻译：

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非居民家庭是移民的动机

背景：大量研究集中于移民的就业和教育原因。最近的研究也已经开始探索社会动机。但是，我们对非居民家庭在迁徙中的作用仍然知之甚少，特别是在长途旅行中。目的：我们研究（1）非居民家庭作为迁移的主要动机与次要和基于地点的迁移动机的流行程度；（2）远离家庭而走向家庭的动机；（3）个人报告的家庭动机如何对应于他们向家庭成员的实际迁移，以及（4）报告家庭为迁移动机的个人的社会人口统计学特征。方法：数据来自瑞典移动动机调查，该调查基于4个分析样本 601位瑞典受访者在2007年迁移了至少20公里。我们提供了描述性统计数据和报价，以说明受访者关于其迁移动机的报告。作为进行复杂描述的工具，我们还提供了将非居民家庭作为迁徙动机的逻辑和有序逻辑回归模型的结果。贡献：人们普遍认为内部移民与就业和教育有关，这低估了家庭作为动机的重要性。此外，与仅基于主要动机的数据相比，对于更多的移民而言，非居民家庭是次要的和基于地点的考虑因素。向家庭迁移的报告比从家庭迁移的报告要普遍得多。我们支持以前从事家庭工作的假设确实是出于家庭考虑，而不仅仅是其他考虑的副产品。与报告非居民家庭相关的社会人口统计学特征与基于先前研究和理论的预期相符。