Father's Migration and Leaving the Parental Home in Rural Mozambique
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12295 |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Author | Sarah R. Hayford,Victor Agadjanian,Sophia Chae |
S C Guttmacher Institute
S R. H The Ohio State University
V A University of Kansas
Father’s Migration and Leaving the Parental Home
in Rural Mozambique
Migration is an increasingly common global
phenomenon and has important implications for
the well-being of family members left behind.
Although extensive research has examined
the impact of parental labor migration on
school-age children, less is known about its
effect on adolescents. In this study, the authors
used longitudinal survey data collected in rural
Mozambique (N=515) to assess the association
between father’s migration and adolescent chil-
dren’s leaving the parental home, an important
component of the transition to adulthood. The
results showed that father’s migration delays
home-leaving for adolescent girls and that these
effects are not mediated by school enrollment.
The results for boys were inconclusive. The
authors also found that remittances and longer
durations of paternal migration were negatively
associated with the transition out of the home.
On the basis of the ndings, they argue that
father’s migration delays girls’ marriage.
Guttmacher Institute, 125 Maiden Ln., 7th Floor, New
York,NY 10038 (schae@guttmacher.org).
Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, 238
TownshendHall, 1885 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH
43210.
Department of Sociology, Universityof Kansas, 722 Fraser
Hall, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045.
Key Words: marriage, migration, Mozambique, remittances,
sub-Saharan Africa, transition to adulthood.
Adolescence is a “demographically dense”
(Rindfuss, 1991) stage of the life course—a
period when individuals may enter and exit
school, begin working for pay, take on new
domestic responsibilities, form sexual and
romantic relationships, marry or cohabit,
leave the parental home, and have their
own children. The timing, sequencing, and
context of these transitions into adult roles
set the stage for adult lives and the degree
to which they are healthy, productive, and
fullling (National Research Council & Insti-
tute of Medicine, 2005; UNICEF, 2011). In
most contexts—particularly those without
well-developed public institutions—family is
the primary source of social, practical, and nan-
cial resources for taking on adult roles (Brown
& Larson, 2002; Steinberg, 2001). Therefore,
family processes are central to understanding
variation in transitions to adulthood.
Parental labor migration, particularly by
fathers, is widespread and increasing worldwide
(UNICEF, 2008). In many developing coun-
tries, parental labor migration is an important
determinant of family context for children
left behind. The economic remittances sent
by migrant workers can transform economic
conditions for their families, and the father’s
absence can alter both parent–child relationships
and the relationship between spouses. Paternal
migration can thus have a substantial inuence
on the social, economic, and health conditions
in which children are raised. Although extensive
Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (August 2016): 1047–1062 1047
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12295
1048 Journal of Marriage and Family
research has examined how these conditions
affect child well-being (e.g., Antai, Wedren,
Bellocco, & Moradi, 2010; Kiros & White,
2004; Yabiku, Agadjanian, & Cau, 2012), less
is known about how paternal migration shapes
adolescents’ transitions to adult roles. These
impacts are likely to differ because adolescents
have different opportunities and responsibilities
than younger children, and so they are likely to
be affected differently by additional household
resources and by parental absence.
Leaving the parental household is one of
the key events that occur during the transition
to adulthood. It is a theoretically important
marker of adulthood because the physical sepa-
ration between parents and children is linked to a
decline in direct parental care and supervision of
children and in the level of resources providedby
parents to children. In rural Mozambique, where
this study was carried out, it is rare for young
people to establish households alone. Instead,
leaving the parental household is usually part of
another transition, such as marriage or migra-
tion. Both marriage and migration decisions, in
turn, are closely linked to educational enroll-
ment and attainment. Thus, decisions about
home-leaving are made jointly with decisions
about other adolescent roles and transitions.
In this study we used rich longitudinal survey
data collected from rural households in Gaza
Province in southern Mozambique, an area
characterized by high rates of male labor migra-
tion, to assess the association between father’s
migration and adolescent children’s departure
from the parental home. Models used multi-
variate logistic regression to predict residential
transitions across two waves of survey data. We
accounted for several dimensions of migration,
including whether remittances were sent and
duration of migration, as well as the migration
itself. In addition, because adult roles are highly
gender differentiated in this context, we consid-
ered differences in the impact of migration on
boys and girls.
B
Parental Migration and Children Left Behind
A growing body of literature has examined the
impact of parental migration on child well-being
in origin communities. Various aspects of
child well-being have been studied, including
schooling, physical health, mortality, and
emotional health. Studies have produced mixed
ndings regarding whether parental migration
benets children’s outcomes (Frisancho Robles
& Oropesa, 2011; Hu, 2012; Jordan & Graham,
2012; Lee, 2011; Vogel & Korinek, 2012).
These inconsistent ndings are likely due in
part to heterogeneity in families’ experiences
with migration. For example, whether fami-
lies receive remittances from migrant family
members and whether they are invested in child
well-being could affect whether migration has
a positive inuence on child well-being. Other
factors, such as how families cope with the
physical absence of a migrant parent and the
inuence a migrant parent has on children’s
educational and career aspirations, could also
play a role.
A primary goal of migration is to increase
and diversify household resources (Stark, 1991).
Most studies of the impacts of migration on ori-
gin communities focus on the economic returns
received by left-behind families asthe key mech-
anism that alters family environments and out-
comes for children. Remittances may be used to
improve housing; purchase consumer goods; or
invest in land, livestock, or other domestic pro-
duction. Studies of the impact of migration on
children also indicate that remittances are fre-
quently invested in children’s welfare, particu-
larly in schooling (Adams, Cuecuecha, & Page,
2008; Cortes, 2008; Mueller & Shariff, 2011;
Vogel & Korinek, 2012; Yao & Treiman, 2011).
Where school fees are required, remittances can
be directly invested in children’s schooling, per-
mitting children living in households with a
migrant parent to attend school. Children living
in households receiving remittances also may
stay in school longer because there is a reduced
need for children to enter into wage labor. In
turn, greater educational attainment would be
associated with later home-leaving for children.
However, migration does not always lead to
investment in children. First, not all migrants
send remittances, and, second, even migrants
who do send remittances may also have other
inuences on their children. Viewingthe success
and wealth that migration brings, some children
may aspire to become migrants themselves
(Thorsen, 2010). This phenomenon is observed
particularly in contexts where the returns to edu-
cation are low (Kandel & Kao, 2000; McKenzie
& Rapoport, 2011). Migrant fathers may also
facilitate children’s migration by providing
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