Where are they going? A comparison of urban and rural youths' locational choices after leaving the parental home

The decision for adolescents and young adults to leave their parents and their home community is complex and difficult. This study of youth migration focuses on the geographical location to which urban and rural youths relocate upon exiting their parental household. Little is known about destination choices of youths, especially how they differ for youths from urban and rural areas. A multinomial logit model of migration destination choices that incorporates individual, household, and community-level factors is estimated with data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Results indicate that while the local economy and labor market are important to the migration decision, the magnitudes of these effects are generally small. Non-economic individual, household, and community factors play an important role in the migration process, as well. The magnitudes of non-economic factor effects generally are greater for rural youths compared to urban youths. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.