Risk Propensity as a Personality Antecedent of Emigration Attitudes Among Bulgarian Millennials and Zoomers

Abstract: This paper examines the predictive power of risk propensity as a personality tendency over emigration attitudes among young Bulgarians regarding their generational belonging and differences. Although the correlation between risk propensity and migration attitudes has been studied in some countries, to date, it has neither been examined in Bulgaria – an Eastern European economy in transition – nor scrutinized in the light of generational differences. As part of a national survey ( N = 1,200) carried out in September-October 2021, young Bulgarians aged 18–35 years – Zoomers ( N = 444) and Millennials ( N = 756), we measured risk propensity both as a general tendency and as individual responses to different risk domains, using a revision of Jackson’s Risk-Taking Scale (1994) . We studied the emigration attitudes using an original 5-item Attitudes Toward Emigration Scale. The findings suggest that risk propensity, mostly in the social risk domain, is a powerful predictor of emigration attitudes among young Bulgarians, even more powerful for Millennials than Zoomers. The higher risk propensity is associated with more positive attitudes toward emigration. The findings have important interdisciplinary implications for psychological theory and demographic policy.