Lupulyak P.V. The impact of motivation for continuing to migrate on the psychological well-being of migrants from vulnerable groups

In today´s world of globalization and transitivity, a significant increase in migration flows leads to the need for a serious and urgent analysis of specific “migration problem areas”. The article is devoted to the current problem of the vulnerability of migrants. The purpose of the article is to identify the connection between “vulnerabilities” – pre-migration traumatic events, the self-explanation of the meaning behind continuing migration and the psychological well-being of the migrant. The object of the study consists of migrants, and the subject is the self-explanation of the meaning behind continuing migration among groups of migrants with and without vulnerabilities in the pre-migration period.

The article discusses the concept of “vulnerability”, identifies and describes various approaches to the study of this issue. The typology of vulnerable groups is considered in detail. Particular attention is paid to the results of cross-cultural studies comparing groups of migrants and non-migrants. Such qualities of migrants as resilience and vitality are highlighted. The importance of the motivational sphere as a link between vulnerability and psychological well-being of migrants is noted. The study involved 477 Russian-speaking migrants living in Spain and other EU countries, with migration experience ranging from six months to several decades. Methods of the Psychological Well-Being Scale by С. Ryff were used, adapted by L.V. Zhukovskaya and E.G. Troshikhina, projective methodology “Biography of the Future”, author’s questionnaire. Cluster analysis, correlation analysis, frequency analysis of data using contingency tables and the χ² test, two-factor analysis of variance and the general linear model (GLM) method were carried out. Statistically significant differences were discovered between indicators of actual motivation for migration and the level of psychological well-being of migrants. It was revealed that the factors of vulnerability and self-explanation of meaning for continuing migration influence psychological well-being individually, but they do not have a joint effect. The author comes to the conclusion that the psychological well-being of a migrant is influenced by the justification of meaning for continuing migration, regardless of whether the migrant has had traumatic experiences in the past. A new approach to the problem of vulnerability during migration is proposed based on an empirical model aimed at identifying the motivational component in self-explanation of the reasons for continued migration. It has been demonstrated that the motivation to continue migration is a key element in studying the psychological well-being of migrants belonging to vulnerable groups and requires further research.

Key words: vulnerability of an immigrant, psychological well-being, motivation for continuing migration, motivation for emigration, the sphere of meanings of a migrant

For citation: Lupulyak, P.V. (2025). The impact of motivation for continuing to migrate on the psychological well-being of migrants from vulnerable groups. New Psychological Research, No. 1, 149–168. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2025_05_01_06