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Beyond Poverty: Socially Embedded Push Factors in Adolescent Rural-Urban Migration

5 March 2026, 2:00 - 3:30 pm | Room 626, Kaneff Tower

Rural-urban migration among adolescents in the Global South is often explained through narrow economic frameworks that emphasize poverty and household survival. Drawing on qualitative data from adolescents who migrated from rural areas to urban centers, this paper examines the multiple, socially embedded factors shaping adolescent migration decisions. The findings reveal that migration is driven not only by livelihood insecurity linked to poor harvests and unpredictable weather, but also by adolescents’ forward-looking aspirations related to education, vocational training, and preparation for socially recognized transitions into adulthood. Adolescents described migrating to earn money for school necessities, vocational apprenticeships, and marriage-related items such as cooking utensils and household containers, highlighting migration as a strategic investment in future social and economic roles. Gendered expectations were particularly evident, with girls’ migration closely tied to preparation for marriage and domestic responsibility. In addition, kinship networks and social relationships played a central role, as some adolescents migrated following invitations from friends or relatives to provide childcare or domestic assistance. Experiences of emotional strain and difficult living conditions at home further shaped migration decisions. By situating adolescent migration within a life-course and social reproduction framework, the paper argues that adolescents are active agents negotiating structural constraints, family obligations, and culturally defined expectations of responsibility. The study challenges reductive push-factor models and calls for policy and scholarly approaches that recognize adolescent migration as a complex social process shaped by environmental change, education systems, gender norms, and kinship relations.