Factors Related to the Resettlement of Migrant Adults in New York State

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore factors related to the resettlement of migrant adults in New York State. Differences among groups of resettled, intrastate, and interstate migrant adults were analyzed in the areas of formal education received, reading achievement, attitudes toward reading, and socioeconomic and cultural factors chosen as important reasons for resettlement. Two questionnaires were developed by the researcher to aid in this study. Possible relationships between attitudes toward reading and reading achievement, between reading achievement and formal education, and between attitudes toward reading and sex were also explored. Significant differences were found among the three groups in years of formal education completed. Significant differences were also found for eighteen of the twenty socioeconomic and cultural reasons for resettlement tested. From this study one can conclude that the majority of migrant adults sampled aspire to careers other than in agricultural labor for themselves and for their children but must overcome low levels of educational attainment and even lower levels of reading achievement in order to realize these goals.