Migration and father absence: shifting family structure in Mexico

Abstract

Despite many changing demographic processes in Mexico-declining adult mortality, rising divorce, and rising nonmarital fertility-Mexican children's family structure has been most affected by rising migration rates. Data from five national surveys spanning three decades demonstrate that since 1976, migration has shifted from the least common to the most common form of father household absence. Presently, more than 1 in 5 children experience a father's migration by age 15; 1 in 11 experiences his departure to the United States. The proportions are significantly higher among those children born in rural communities and those born to less-educated mothers. The findings emphasize the importance of framing migration as a family process with implications for children's living arrangements and attendant well-being, particularly in resource-constrained countries. The stability of children's family life in these regions constitutes a substantial but poorly measured cost of worldwide increases in migration.

Fig. 1

Percentage of Mexican children living apart from fathers because of migration, divorce, nonmarital fertility, and death, 1976–2009. Percentages from 1976–1977 World Fertility Survey are drawn from Richter (1988). The estimate of children living with married mothers and migrant fathers in 1976 is calculated using De Vos (:Table A2) and Richter (:Table 5). Other percentages are calculated using data from the 1992, 1997, and 2009 Encuesta Nacional de la Dinámica Demográfica (INEGI 1999, INEGI 2010) and the 2002 and 2005 Mexican Family Life Survey (Rubalcava and Teruel 2008). Because of changes to the ENADID 2009 survey, the 2009 estimate of U.S. migration (3.71 %) is calculated by applying the observed ratio of children living apart from fathers in the United States to children living apart from all migrants in 2002 and 2005 to the percentage of children living apart from all migrants observed in 2009. All estimates are weighted

Fig. 2

Percentage of childhood spent in selected living arrangements between birth and age 15 in Mexico. Estimates are calculated with increment-decrement life tables. Births stratified by region and mothers’ education exclude children living apart from mothers. Source: Mexican Family Life Survey