Project

mobility; temporary mobility; life-course; young adults; youth

Lead
La mobilité géographique est souvent valorisée dans une société moderne telle que la Suisse. On ne connait cependant que très peu les pratiques et intentions de mobilité des jeunes Suisses, qu’il s’agisse d’expériences temporaires dans d’autres régions linguistiques ou à l’étranger.
Lay summary
La mobilité géographique de courte durée pour des raisons éducationnelles, professionnelles ou personnelles échappe souvent aux statistiques. Dans le monde professionnel en particulier, de tels séjours évoquent l’acquisition de compétences notamment linguistiques. Or, nous en savons très peu sur les pratiques et perspectives des jeunes en la matière. L’étude permettra non seulement de mesurer l’importance des expériences effectuées ou prévues, mais également de dresser un profil précis des jeunes dits ‘mobiles’ et ‘non-mobiles’. Elle offrira également de meilleures connaissances quant aux motivations et aux freins à la mobilité, ainsi qu’à ses bénéfices tels que perçus par les jeunes. Ce projet se base sur une enquête de grande envergure, l’enquête ch-x (www.chx.ch), réalisée dans le cadre du recrutement pour l’armée suisse. Elle s’adresse à la quasi-totalité des jeunes hommes suisses de 18 à 20 ans (n=50’000), ainsi qu’à un échantillon supplémentaire de 3'000 femmes. L’anayses fine de ces données sera complétée par des entretiens qualitatifs. Le projet permettra, entre autres, de répondre aux questions suivantes : 1) Quelles sont les expériences et intentions des jeunes Suisses en matière de mobilité spatiale ? 2) Quels sont les facteurs disciminatoires à la mobilité ? 3) Quels sont les motivations et les freins à la mobilité ? La plupart des études sur le sujet s’est limitée à des étudiant(e)s qui optent pour la mobilité. Nous en savons en revanche très peu sur les autres qui constituent pourtant la majorité des jeunes. Le projet permettra de dresser un profil détaillé des jeunes dits ‘mobiles’, et en quoi ils diffèrent des jeunes ‘non-mobiles’.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 04.10.2016

Life course and experiences of mobility (ch-x 2016/2017)

Author	Stam, Alexandra; Kleiner, Brian; Heers, Marieke; Ferrez, Eliane; van den Hende, Anthe
Publication date	20.07.2020
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.23662/FORS-DS-1107-1
Repository	FORS BASE
Abstract

FORS won the open tender by the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports to conduct the 2016-17 Swiss Federal Surveys of Adolescents (ch-x), which focuses on the topic of the geographical mobility of young people. ch-x are long-established large-scale surveys conducted amongst 19 to 21-year-old Swiss citizens. They provide virtually full coverage of young men drafted into the army, as well as a sample of women of the same age.The 2016-17 edition will allow an entire cohort of young men over a two-year period to be examined, as well as a complementary sample of approximately 2,000 women of the same age. Never before has there been a large-scale survey of this nature on the topic of mobility, with a special focus on language, professional and cultural stays in other language areas of Switzerland and abroad. The comprehensiveness of the paper questionnaire (over 100 questions) as well as the number of respondents in the dataset (more than 40,000) result in extremely rich data that will enable significant contributions in the fields of mobility and youth studies.

Active participation

Active participation

Communication	Title	Media	Place	Year

Temporary mobility experiences, whether for education, employment or leisure, are often perceived as having positive outcomes, such as better professional perspectives. Research on young adults, and in particular the student population, has demonstrated that such experiences strongly contribute to the development of skills, for example linguistic, cultural and social skills, as well as personal development. Further, mobility experiences, which range from short school exchanges to longer experiences in another linguistic area or another country, are linked to many governmental initiatives supporting young adults. In Switzerland, there is currently much debate about reinforcing school exchanges between different linguistic areas. Yet, very little is known about the prevalence of various forms of short stays, the factors that influence mobility experiences across social strata, and the various underlying motivations and barriers that promote or discourage temporary mobility. Until now, studies have largely concentrated on university students. As such, research has largely concentrated on more privileged young people, and has strongly neglected the rest of the population. This project will follow an extraordinary opportunity - the upcoming 2016-17 edition of the Swiss Federal Surveys of Adolescents (ch-x), which will focus on the topic of youth mobility. This edition of ch-x, led by FORS, will allow examination of an entire cohort of young adults over a two year period - 18-20 years old male citizens who take part in the recruitment process of the army, as well as a complementary sample of some 2’000 women of the same age. Never before has there been a large-scale survey of this nature on the topic of temporary mobility. The length of the paper questionnaire (over 100 questions) as well as the number of anticipated respondents (about 50’000) will provide extremely rich data that will allow us to contribute significantly to the fields of mobility and youth studies. Addressing the theoretical gaps and methodological shortcomings mentioned above, our mixed-method approach will draw on advanced statistical analyses of the ch-x survey data on the one hand, and a qualitative complement on the other, providing a more complete picture overall of the experiences, selective factors, motivations, and barriers behind the mobility of young adults. We will employ a life-course perspective for both the quantitative and qualitative analyses, with focus on three types of trajectory - socio-familial, migration, and educational/professional. The project is the result of collaboration between FORS and the Institute of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Lausanne. The work will be carried out over a three-year period by a doctoral student, who will use the ch-x data for his/her dissertation, as well as a senior researcher (at 30%), and will culminate in a series of shared publications.