Suvremene migracijske motivacije mladih Hrvatske — vrijednosni i identitetski aspekti

Abstract

According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the net migration in Croatia, i.e., the difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants, has shown a negative trend in the last few years. Even though it is important to know the emigration demographic data, it is also important to include the wider context in the research, i.e., the social factors behind the emigration of youth. Therefore, the main goals of this research were: 1) to determine the average importance of personal and social components of identity and the average representation of self-actualization-related, conventional and hedonistic values orientation among young emigrants, and to compare them to the youth population in Croatia; 2) to examine whether there is a connection between the social identity, value orientations and sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, education) of young emigrants and their migration motivation; and 3) to examine which characteristics of young emigrants are the best predictors of their intention to return to Croatia. The research was carried out as part of the flzaJEDNO srce, jedna dusa, jedna Hrvatska« project, which was encouraged by the Humanitarian Association of Father Mladen HrkaÊ. The research included 934 first- generation emigrants aged 18 to 40 in Europe and 977 young persons aged 18 to 40 from Croatia. The research results show that participants from both groups attach high average importance to the determinants of both aspects of identity, as well as to three value orientations. However, expatriates attach greater importance to all measured identity and value categories. It was also found that older men from the age group of 18 to 40 with a lower level of education and participants with a more pronounced social identity and a more pronounced hedonistic value orientation emigrate most often. In contrast to the migration motivation, the intention to return is expressed more among younger emigrants, with a less pronounced hedonistic value orientation and a more pronounced social identity.