"Going home" or "leaving home"? The impact of person and place ties on anticipated counterstream migration.

PURPOSE The probability of anticipated return migration in retirees is explored. DESIGN AND METHODS Survey data were analyzed from interviews with a sample of elderly European Americans who migrated to a metropolitan city on Florida's east coast following retirement. RESULTS Results are consistent with the specification of the 2nd move in E. Litwak and C. F. Longino's (1987) life course model of retirement migration. Respondents were unlikely to anticipate a return move unless ties to the back home community made such a move possible. IMPLICATIONS Ties with children, both back home and in Florida, significantly influence consideration of a return move.