Youth temporary mobility occurs for purposes such as volunteering, Erasmus exchanges and linguistic stays. Although it is increasingly common, a large proportion of young adults are not mobile. This study is based on a large-scale survey among young adults in Switzerland. It draws on the concept of motility to analyse the barriers to temporary mobility, where motility may be defined as a set of mobility resources that refer to three dimensions: access (e.g., financial means or time), skills (e.g., languages and self-confidence) and appropriation (e.g., level of interest). A typology places nonmobile young adults on a continuum between 'stillness' (no desire to move) and 'stuckness' (unable to move) and identifies four groups: 'the constrained' and 'the financially challenged' are often constrained to a varying extent by their socio-economic background, their educational pathways and their family network. 'The locally anchored' and especially 'the satisfied stayers' face fewer constraints and draw more on their own agency to be nonmobile.

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Temporary mobility experiences, such as linguistic stays, volunteering, or backpacking have become popular among young adults. This article takes a life-course perspective to understand young adults' motivations for becoming temporarily mobile, as well as the perceived benefits. We analyse data from an almost entire cohort of Swiss men (N = 40,503) and a representative sample of 2,000 young women. First, we provide a descriptive analysis of young adults' motivations for and perceived benefits of temporary mobility. Second, we focus on the young men and establish a typology of motivations, revealing utilitarian, hedonistic, and opportunistic dimensions. Three groups of young adults with different motivations and perceived benefits are identified: the Professionals, the Curious, and the Pragmatic. Our results highlight that motivations relate to young adults' life-course trajectories and vary mainly according to previously accumulated mobility capital. Many young adults with low mobility capital seek to accumulate it in order to gain professional advantage.

Although educational temporary mobility, such as language stays or student exchanges, are increasingly popular among young adults, participation rates remain uneven. But whereas previous academic studies have identified gender as an important factor—young women participate more than young men—little has been written on the mechanisms behind this disparity. This article uses a mixed-method triangulation approach to analyze the impact of gender on motivational factors influencing the participation of young adults in travel programs. Using a large-scale survey of young Swiss adults (ch-x survey), we validate a set of hypotheses based on fourteen interviews conducted with male and female students attending the University of Lausanne. We begin by comparing the motivational factors influencing female and male students. Then, we consider the motivating factors influencing young adults with different educational backgrounds. The results highlight two critical dimensions of how gender affects the decision-making process: first, the acquisition of mobility capital in support of employability and, second, the increased independence gained through temporary mobility.