Search

We investigated the link between migration, family structure, and the risk of dropping out of upper secondary school in Mexico. Using two waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey, which includes 1,080 upper secondary students, we longitudinally modeled the role of family structure in the subsequent risk of dropping out, focusing on the role of migration in single motherhood. We found that children living without a father because of international migration or divorce or separation are at a greater risk relative to children in 2-parent households. Economic characteristics of the household provide a partial explanation for children living in single-mother households because of divorce or separation but do not explain the greater risk of dropping out for children with fathers in the United States.

Since the emergence of Mexico's secretariat for public education following the revolution (1910-1920), reducing indigenous inequality in educational mobility has been a state objective. Recently, findings have been mixed, with some finding that indigeneity no longer limits educational mobility and others showing evidence of persistent in equality net of socioeconomic background. We draw from modernization theory and the theory of Maximally Maintained Inequality (MMI) to assess six decades of education policy. Using the Mexican Family Life Survey (n = 88,547), we find that indigenous disadvantage in terms of educational mobility, which marked cohorts immediately after the revolution, shifts to near parity in more recent cohorts. Contrary to what MMI would predict, indigenous disadvantage declines for lower secondary transitions, despite nearly a third of eligible students failing to transition. Rather than a single, targeted policy period, we observe a somewhat monotonic decline in inequality by indigeneity across all levels of schooling, even if saturation has yet to be attained. Modernization theory, rather than MMI, is a more reasonable match for the observed pattern. Although not the case in earlier decades, for recent cohorts we conclude that socioeconomic inequality rather than ethnicity per se has become the main source of indigenous inequality in educational mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Do aspirations to migrate predict subsequent behavior? Although research considers a migration orientation as indicative of future migration, no work establishes an empirical link in Mexico, which is the origin of a large number of migrants to the United States. Building upon the general model of migration decision-making proposed by De Jong (2000), this research uses two waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey to longitudinally assess two stages in the migration process. The first stage focuses on the moment at which an individual aspires to intermunicipal, interstate, and international migration but a move has yet to occur. The second stage longitudinally assesses the link between these three types of migration aspirations and subsequent behavior. Results show that aspiring to migrate to the US predicts subsequent migration to the US. Similarly, aspirations to intermunicipal and interstate migration are predictive of subsequent intermunicipal and interstate migration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives We investigate how the matrilineal versus patrilineal origin of Mexican couples' migrant networks are associated with the aspirations to migrate and the subsequent migration behavior of each spouse. Methods Using longitudinal data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (2002-2005) on 3,923 married couples across 139 municipalities, we estimate multilevel logistic regressions predicting aspirations to migrate to the United States for each spouse and the subsequent migration behavior of the couple in the interwave period. Results The networks of both ego and spouse are associated with U. S. migration aspirations although they matter more for the person from which they originate. Only matrilineal networks predicted a subsequent move to the United States. for men and women/couples who were assessed jointly. Conclusion Matrilineal networks are instrumental in the migration process, particularly of the couple. As such, they could prove instrumental in helping understand the migration motivations and dynamics of individuals and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is twofold: 1) to assess the link between migrant networks and becoming overweight or obese and 2) to explore the pathways by which migrant networks may contribute to the increasing overweight and obese population of children in Mexico. Using two waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), we find that children and adolescents (ages 3 to 15) living in households with migrant networks are at an increased risk of becoming overweight or obese over the period of observation, relative to their peers with no migrant networks. Sedentary behavior and household-level measures of economic wellbeing explain some of the association between networks and changes in weight status, but the role of extended networks remains significant. Community-level characteristics related to migration do not account for any of the observed relationship between household-level networks and becoming overweight or obese. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although many studies have attempted to examine the consequences of Mexico-U.S. migration for Mexican immigrants' health, few have had adequate data to generate the appropriate comparisons. In this article, we use data from two waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS) to compare the health of current migrants from Mexico with those of earlier migrants and nonmigrants. Because the longitudinal data permit us to examine short-term changes in health status subsequent to the baseline survey for current migrants and for Mexican residents, as well as to control for the potential health selectivity of migrants, the results provide a clearer picture of the consequences of immigration for Mexican migrant health than have previous studies. Our findings demonstrate that current migrants are more likely to experience recent changes in health status-both improvements and declines-than either earlier migrants or nonmigrants. The net effect, however, is a decline in health for current migrants: compared with never migrants, the health of current migrants is much more likely to have declined in the year or two since migration and not significantly more likely to have improved. Thus, it appears that the migration process itself and/or the experiences of the immediate post-migration period detrimentally affect Mexican immigrants' health.