The desires to live in another country or to emigrate from one's country of origin was examined in a sample of 3200 university students from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and Slovenia. All of these countries have been experiencing economic difficulties during their transition from socialist to market-driven economies. It was hypothesized that students who wanted to emigrate would score higher in Achievement and Power Motivation and would also show higher levels of Work Centrality and lower levels of Family Centrality than those who wanted to stay in their country of origin. Motive predictors were further expected to be most important for those with high Work Centrality. As predicted, high Work Centrality and low Family Centrality were found to differ for those who wanted to leave as compared to those who wished to remain in their country. The predicted interactions for motivation and Work Centrality were supported. Achievement Motive levels alone did not relate to emigration desires, but Power Motivation did differ for the two groups, as predicted.

Relevance of current research is determined by insufficient focus on the prevention of deviant economic socialization in children and adolescents in the conditions of high uncertainty of socio-economic prospects for Russian society and high risks of economic shocks. Objective. To justify the importance of prevention of deviant economic identity at the stage of formation of the “economic ethos of culture” in the senior preschool age and the subsequent “technological ethos of culture” in primary school age and adolescence and to determine the main directions of prevention. Method. Theoretical and methodological analysis, comparative and critical analysis, as means of clarifying the concept of “deviant economic identity” and defining its place in the context of such close concepts as “economic socialization,” “economic deviance,” “professional identity” etc.. Results. The concept of “deviant economic identity” is clarified. It is understood as the association of a person not only with a given economic activity or specific professionals (as role models to follow), but also with values and ideological positions underlying such activities. The “paradoxicality” of deviance can be a discrepancy between the norms of a particular society and general cultural norms, as well as the discrepancy between the generally accepted ideas about deviance and ideas about the deviance by the particular individual or group (at the level of families, collectives), which often provokes an identity crisis. Conclusions. Psychological and educational work with children and adolescents in order to prevent deviant economic identity is especially important because of the susceptibility of this age to socially dubious variants of economic relations and weak propaganda of worthy examples of economic behavior in the society. The article highlights the psychological and pedagogical conditions for the emergence, development and prevention of deviant economic identity in children and adolescents, which can be used in the psychological practice, associated not only with an orientation towards established values, but also with the culture (method) of the search for these values.