Table 1 Review findings
Author(s) | Context | Methods | Key themes |
|---|---|---|---|
Category 1: Policy discourses and young migrants/refugees’ high aspirations and resilience | |||
Allsopp et al. (2015) [59] | Young immigrants in adulthood transition in Britain | Critical review | Time, immigrant control, young people’s agency and determination to secure their future, contested rights and entitlements |
Gateley (2015) [44] | Young refugees in UK | Qualitative ethnographically oriented approach, based on semi-structured interviews and observations | Importance of supportive structures for transition to higher education |
Allsopp and Chase (2019) [41] | Unaccompanied minors in the European Union | Critical review | Policy, political bias towards return, impacts on adulthood transitions and willingness to take risks |
Dånge (2022) [60] | Young refugees in Denmark | Qualitative longitudinal study, photovoice and in-depth interviews | The resilience of young refugees, effects of extended uncertainty on future aspirations |
Esaiasson et al. (2022) [61] | Asylum seekers in Sweden | Quantitative data by use of repeated surveys | “Acceptance” leads to positive attitudes to personal lives and host country, “rejection” and “in limbo” are connected with negative attitudes |
Category 2: Effects of residential segregation and regional inequalities within countries | |||
Lindgren (2010) [57] | Young refugees from segregated disadvantaged areas in Sweden | Life history interviews with small samples of refugee youth from disadvantaged segregated areas | High aspirations, utopian diaspora biography, social, temporal and spatial dynamics of the biography |
Ledwith and Reilly (2014) [62] | Youth living in different areas near Galway, Ireland | Survey data collected from over 500 students and 230 parents from Galway city and urban-rural fringe | Effects of residential and school segregation on educational achievement, capital and aspirations |
Meyer (2018) [63] | Adolescents in Altenburger Land, a rural district in Germany | Case study, fieldwork, 21 focus group conversations | Social relations, family expectations, personal emotions and opportunities for work and education relate to outmigration |
Category 3: Construction of youth aspirations and expectations | |||
Vervliet et al. (2015) [64] | Afghan unaccompanied refugee minors in Belgium | Semi-structured questions, self-report questionnaire, quantitative and qualitative analysis | Comparing aspirations before departure and on arrival |
Eide and Hauge (2020) [65] | Young refugees in upper secondary schools in Norway | Qualitative, ethnographically oriented approach, based on semi-structured interviews and observations | Psychosocial transitions, dissonance between the demands of the educational system and student aspirations |
Lynnebakke and Pastoor (2020) [45] | Youth with refugee background in Norway | Semi-structured interviews | High educational aspirations, temporal aspects as different stages of the refugee experience |
Rodan and Huijsmans (2020) [66] | Highly educated young Portuguese post-austerity migrants in London | Qualitative study using ethnography and narrative discursive analysis | Generation discourse, narrative construction of subjectivities and aspirations |
Katartzi (2021) [67] | Youth with migrant background in Greece | Qualitative study using narrative discursive analysis of in-depth interviews | Aspirations, transnational habitus, generational aspirations |
Sprong and Devitt (2022) [68] | Adolescents enrolled in school in Ireland | Longitudinal study, survey of large cohort, quantitative analysis | Significance of national context for educational and occupational expectations |
Vitus (2022) [69] | Students at upper secondary school with refugee background in Denmark | Qualitative study using interviews | Differing ways and motivations in envisioning the future |
Category 4: Fluid mobilities | |||
Nijhoff and Gordano (2017) [70] | Young adult Polish citizens in the Hague and Spanish citizens in London | In-depth interviews | Intra-European mobility and migrant typologies |
King et al. (2018) [71] | Early-career graduates from the Baltic States in London | In-depth interviews | Reasons to move, experiences and future plans |
Landolt and Thieme (2018) [72] | Young graduates from Spain in Switzerland | In-depth semi-structured interviews | Strategies to cope with deskilling, migration and life projects |
Lulle et al. (2018) [73] | Young EU students and workers in the London region | Interviews and reinterviews | Compares migration motivations and future plans of different groups before and after the Brexit vote |
Category 5: Coping with limbo and broken mobilities | |||
Spiteri (2015) [74] | Minor asylum-seeking migrants attending a vocational college in Malta | Qualitative interview study using phenomenological analysis | Resilience while waiting for and aspiring to a future elsewhere, studies as part of their lifelong education and personal growth |
Ottosson et al. (2017) [75] | Accompanied children in asylum process in Sweden | Ethnographic, semi-structured interviews | Tactics of hope in how children shape their everyday lives |
Thommessen et al. (2017) [76] | Unaccompanied refugee minors in England | Individual assessments using Personal Construct Theory techniques | Importance of social support and reflective discussions for mental health |
Waardenburg et al. (2019) [77] | Young adult refugees living in a reception centre, Netherlands | Semi-structured interviews, informal conversations | The role of sport for feelings of belonging in host society and coping with uncertainty |
Vuilleumier (2021) [78] | Illegalised male migrants in transition to adulthood in Switzerland | Qualitative study using biographical analysis and participant observations | Impoverished migrants and autonomy in illegality |
Category 6: In between cultural and personal aspirations | |||
Tørslev et al. (2017) [79] | Young adolescents at a school in Denmark | Ethnographic, photo-elicited interviews, two periods of fieldwork over three years | Factors influencing ethnic minority students’ choice of ethnic belonging over personal interests |
Meloni (2020) [80] | Unaccompanied young Afghans in the UK | Ethnographic fieldwork, biographical interviews | Migration as a space of freedom and loneliness, tension between family expectations and independence |
Takvam Kindt (2022) [81] | Young adult daughters of immigrants attending higher education studies in Norway | Qualitative study using in-depth interviews | Capability of successful occupational integration without full liberation from family expectations |
Category 7: Constructing and reconstructing masculinities | |||
Deuchar et al. (2016) [82] | Young male delinquents in boxing rehabilitation centre in Copenhagen | Ethnographic, semi-structured interviews, life interviews | Process of reconstructing masculinity |
Mendoza Pérez and Morgade Salgado (2018) [83] | Unaccompanied minor boys in residential centre in Bilbao | Ethnographic | Identity expression through hair style and clothing |
Fathi (2022) [84] | Young male refugees and international students in Cork | Walking interviews, photovoice, narratives | Belonging and masculinity in their real and aspired homes |