Parenting from abroad: Migration, nonresident father involvement, and children's education in Mexico

Type Journal Article - Journal of Marriage and Family
Title Parenting from abroad: Migration, nonresident father involvement, and children's education in Mexico
Author(s)
Volume 73
Issue 4
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2011
Page numbers 729-746
URL http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/jomf/2011/00000073/00000004/art00006
Abstract
In Mexico, a country with high emigration rates, parental migration matches divorce as a contributor to child–father separation. Yet little has been written about children's relationships with migrating parents. In this study, I use nationally representative data from the 2005 Mexican Family Life Survey to model variation in the interaction between 739 children in Mexico and their nonresident fathers. I demonstrate that, from the perspective of sending households, parental migration and parental divorce are substantively distinct experiences. Despite considerable geographic separation, Mexican children have significantly more interaction with migrating fathers than they do with fathers who have left their homes following divorce. Further, ties with migrant fathers are positively correlated with schooling outcomes, which potentially mitigates the observed education costs of family separation.

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