Youth, Mobility and Generations – the Meanings and Impact of Migration and Mobility Experiences on Transitions to Adulthood

The article reflects on the role of mobility within transition to adulthood process. It will present the results of research focusing on the transitions to adulthood of representatives of the generation born at the beginning of the 1980s in Poland. This boom generation experienced both the transformation from a communist to a capitalist state, as well as the joyful and hopeful moment of Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004. Post-2004, faced with high unemployment, the representatives of this age cohort decided to leave Poland en masse in search of employment opportunities. Based on biographical interviews with young Poles born in the early 1980s and living in Poland, the article reflects upon the meaning of mobility and migration experiences in their young age. What was mobility impact on different transition to adulthood trajectories – employment, family or independent living? How has it affected the concept of adulthood? In the article, the mobility experience will be looked upon through the lenses of theories of youth studies, which is a recent trend in analyzing young people’s mobility or migration. The article points to the three meanings of mobility: mobility as an experience of semi-independence, mobility as time to gain adulthood, and mobility as a celebration of youth. As the experience of this cohort is unique in the historical sense, it is also exemplary for the growing importance of mobility in transitions to adulthood.