Attitudes of young Italians towards mobility experiences

Abstract

The research carried out by Euroguidance Italy aimed at exploring behaviours, practices and meanings attributed by Italian young people to international and national mobility experiences, outside their regional areas, for studying and working reasons. A sample of 1787 individuals, between the age of 15 and 30, living in different Italian regions were interviewed through the CATI methodology. The outcomes show that only 16% of the sample spent a period in studying and working abroad and only 17% spent a period in studying and working in Italian areas different from where they live. The mobility experience for those that moved to an other Country was mainly linked to the interest towards a cultural exchange and involved mostly young people resident in Regions of the North and Centre; while, for those that leaved for other Italian Regions, the mobility experience was related to the need to find a job and involved mostly young people resident in Southern Regions and Italian islands. Besides, the effective mobility experience, the attitude towards that experience is much more marked concerning more then 60% of the interviewed sample. The motivation is related above all to cultural elements (to enrich the own knowledge, to learn a foreign language, to compare different cultures). All results gathered stress the importance to realise guidance actions aimed at fostering a mobility culture and to monitor the phenomenon throughout longitudinal studies in order to assess changes and diversities in the attitudes towards a similar experience and the consequent approach of the Italian population.