Where to (next)? Family and childhood migration experience and migration aspirations in adulthood

Migration is increasingly recognized as a dynamic, often recurrent, and intergenerational process. Yet, little research has examined how childhood exposure to international migration, through one's own moves and through family history, shapes aspirations for future (im)mobility. In this article, we address this gap using a life course perspective to investigate how both direct and indirect migration experiences during childhood influence openness to international migration in adulthood. We distinguish between immobility, return migration, and onward migration aspirations, and explore underlying mechanisms such as socioeconomic status, transnational ties, multilingualism, experiences of discrimination, and identification with the country of residence. Using data from the French survey Trajectoires et Origines 2, we find that individuals with a more recent immigrant descent tend to express higher return migration aspirations but lower onward migration aspirations. Direct migration experiences in childhood are associated with greater openness toward migration overall, though differently by descent: among those with a distant immigrant background, childhood migration fosters openness to onward migration, while it increases return aspirations among those with a more recent immigrant descent. These results offer new insight into how migration and immobility aspirations are shaped early life experiences and family migration histories.