(Family) Ties That Bind: The Pressures of Family‐of‐Origin Expectations on Adult Relocation Decision‐Making

Objective This study examines how families‐of‐origin influence couples' relocation decisions during doctoral training, when institutional demands and family expectations often pull in different directions. Background Research on adult mobility often assumes that the influence of families‐of‐origin recedes once couples form independent households, leaving little attention to how families‐of‐origin remain involved in major decision‐making. Doctoral training—practically a requirement for entry into high skill STEM research and academic professions—provides an analytically revealing context for observing these dynamics: the move is institutionally required, uncertain in duration, and culturally ambiguous for many families. Understanding how family systems respond to these ambiguous transitions expands theories of intergenerational influence beyond conventional models of support or independence. Method The study draws on 40 in‐depth interviews with spouses and long‐term partners of STEM PhD students who relocated with their partners at the start of graduate training. Respondents represented a range of conjugal and consensual partnerships and were interviewed using a semi‐structured protocol focused on relocation, career decision‐making, and family influence. Data were coded inductively in ATLAS.ti. Results Analysis revealed three dynamics: (a) structural openness, where permeable boundaries allow advice and norms to cross between families; (b) process regulation, where feedback loops interpret relocation as continuity or change; and (c) emergent relational capacity, where elasticity and attachment patterns condition adaptation. Together, these dynamics show how family systems remained engaged by recasting relocation through familiar emotional and cultural logics. Conclusion Findings demonstrate that families‐of‐origin continue to structure adult relocation and career decision‐making in contexts of institutional ambiguity, extending family‐systems theory to account for the interplay of permeability, regulation, and capacity when institutional and familial logics intersect.