'I always wanted to go abroad. And I like children'. Motivations of young people to become au pairs in the USA.

Autor(en)

Christine Geserick

Abstrakt

For adolescents, to become au pairs in the United States is a popular, yet unique form of cultural exchange: For a limited time, young women and men aged 18–26 live with a host family while providing child-care. What are their motivations behind doing so? Using data from semi-structured interviews with 24 future au pairs from Germany and Austria, this article presents three categories of motivation: (a) the appeal of a foreign culture (pull factors), (b) the wish to leave home (push factors), and (c) the decision to do so as au pair. It shows that pull and push factors are dominant, while the au pair setting itself is of weaker attraction. Rather, it may serve as a ‘vehicle’ to fulfill other wishes.

Organisation(en)

Projekt: Familienforschung in Österreich

Journal

Young: Nordic Journal of Youth Research

Band

20

Seiten

49-67

Anzahl der Seiten

19

ISSN

1103-3088

Publikationsdatum

2012

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

504011 Familienforschung

Link zum Portal

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/i-always-wanted-to-go-abroad-and-i-like-children-motivations-of-young-people-to-become-au-pairs-in-the-usa(ba8691ca-9527-49ba-9733-243e4db1bdac).html