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Parents in Mexico with Adult Children in the U.S.: Child Availability, Social Support, and
Social Engagement
Cesar Gonzalez-Gonzalez, PhD, [email protected], [email protected]
Anne R. Pebley, PhD, [email protected]
Rebeca Wong, PhD, [email protected]
Noreen Goldman, PhD, [email protected]
Brian Downer, PhD, [email protected]
Rapid population aging, Large scale international labor migration of working age adults, Old age care remains principally a family responsibility
Introduction
Concerns about the consequences of emigration for the care ofnon-migrant older adults in many poor and middle incomecountries.
Antman, 2010; Bohme, Persian, & Stohr, 2013; Geest, Mul, & Vermeulen, 2004; Kuhn, Everett, & Silvey, 2011; Nguyen, Yeoh, & Toyota, 2006; Zentgraf & Chinchilla, 2012; Frankenberg & Kuhn, 2004; Sana & Massey, 2005; Choi, Schoeni, Langa, & Heisler, 2014; Mazzuco, Meggiolaro, Ongaro, & Toffolutti, 2013
Our goal is to assess whether parents of emigrant adult children aremore socially isolated than those whose children are not emigrants.
(1) Is adult child emigration associated with less availability of adultchildren to care for older adults and lower levels of socialsupport for older adults?
(2) Are older adults with adult children in the U.S. more or lesslikely to be socially isolated or engaged than parents of non-emigrant children?
Objectives
Data for this study come from the Mexican Health and AgingStudy (MHAS)
Data and Methods
Our analytic sample is restricted to:MHAS respondents with at least two living adult childrenSelection of one spouse from each couple
Outcome variables
Adult child availability and frequency of contact(1) whether or not the respondents live with an adult child,(2) whether an adult child lives within the same city or community, and(3) whether an adult daughter lives within the same city or community(4) Contact in person, by mail, or by telephone with (ADULT CHILD)?
Perceived Social support(1) From spouse, (2) children or (3) friends/coworkers
Social engagement(1) Number of days chatting/social visits,(2) Worked for pay in the last week, and(3) Volunteering in the past two years
Explanatory variables
Whether or not the respondent had an adult child (15+) in the U.S.at the time of interview
Control variables: age, gender, education, living in high migrationstates, ever lived/worked in the U.S., and total number of adultchildren
No children 1 Child
2 or more
Children Total P-value 1 P-value 2
Number of cases 447 371 5,829 6,647
Percentage of Total Cases (Weighted) 8.6 5.0 86.4 100.0
Sex 0.001 0.615
Male 47.7 24.5 39.6 39.5
Female 52.3 75.5 60.4 60.5
Age group 0.154 0.001
50-59 41.6 39.8 45.9 45.2
60-69 27.9 28.5 31.0 30.6
70-79 20.8 23.3 17.9 18.4
80+ 9.8 8.5 5.3 5.8
Education 0.001 0.001
Average years of schooling 6.2 4.7 3.7 4.0
None 26.0 29.9 30.6 30.2
1 to 5 years 31.6 27.2 36.8 35.9
6 years 14.2 14.4 16.1 15.8
7+ years 28.3 28.5 16.5 18.1
Locality size of residence 0.009 0.492
Rural 54.3 41.5 52.3 52.0
Urban 45.7 58.5 47.7 48.1
Lives in a High Migration Area 0.563 0.203
% Yes 23.0 14.3 18.6 18.8
Ever Worked or Lived in the U.S. 0.602 0.957
% Yes 8.4 5.4 6.9 6.9
Has at least one child same community/city 0.040
% Yes 88.2 90.8 90.7
Has at least 1 child in the U.S. 0.001
% Yes 0.0 25.3 21.7
Of those with at least 1 child in the U.S.
% with at least 1 child in same community/city 92.4 92.2
Has at least 2 children in the U.S.
% Yes 2.5 2.5
Table 1. Descriptive Sociodemographic and Migration Characterisics of Adults Age 50 and Older by Number
of Living Children (15+), Mexican Health and Aging Study 2003, Weighted Results
P-value 1 compares No children versus 2 or more children
P-value 2 compares 1 Child versus 2 or more children
Results
No adult
children (15+) in
the U.S.
At least one adult
child (15+) in the U.S. P-value
Adult child availability (N=5,742)
Respondent lives with an adult child 71.0 65.1 <0.001
At least one adult child lives in same community or city as
respondent94.1 81.5
<0.001
At least one adult daughter lives in same community or city as
respondent94.1 81.0
<0.001
Percent who have contact with an adult child at least once a week 75.1 72.4 <0.001
Perceived support from children (N=5,772)
Understand your feelings 2.7 2.6 0.8948
Confide in them about serious problem 2.7 2.7 0.4114
How much do they listen 2.7 2.7 0.8827
How much do they disappoint you 2.5 2.5 0.3815
Average score 10.5 10.6 0.2459
Perceived support from spouse (For those with a spouse, N= 3,228)
Understand your feelings 2.6 2.6 0.8823
Confide in them about serious problem 2.7 2.7 0.5263
How much do they listen 2.7 2.6 0.3548
How much do they dissapoint you 2.5 2.4 0.6123
Average score 10.5 10.3 0.5147
Perceived support from friends/coworkers (For those with
friends/coworkers, N=4,062)
Understand your feelings 2.5 2.4 0.4908
Confide in them about serious problem 2.4 2.4 0.5053
How much do they listen 2.4 2.4 0.8020
How much do they dissapoint you 2.4 2.3 0.0690
Average score 9.7 9.5 0.5843
Social engagement (5,744)
Mean frequency of chatting with friends/social visits (Per month) 12.3 14.9 <0.001
Percent chatting with friends/social visits (every day) 32.4 41.2 <0.001
Percent volunteering in past two years 17.1 12.7 <0.001
Percent employed in past two weeks 40.1 37.3 <0.001
Table 2. Child Availability, Social Support and Social Engagement of the Mexican Adults Aged 50 and Older (With At Least Two Living
Children 15+, N=5,829), Mexican Health and Aging Study 2003, Weighted ResultsResults
At least one child in the U.S. (Ref: No)
R has child 15+ in same community - ***
R has daughter 15+ in same community - **
Contact at least once per week - ***
Child Support +
Spouse support - *
Friends/coworkers support +
Total support (combined score) -
# of chats with friends/ neighbors per month + **
Worked in past two weeks +
Volunteered in past two years + *
Results: Regression Models
Controlling for: Age, sex, education, locality size of residence, living in high migration states, ever worked/lived in the U.S. and total number of children
These findings suggest that while older adults withemigrant adult children have less access to children, theydo not appear to be (or perceive themselves to be)unsupported or socially isolated.
Discussion
If adult child emigration has a significant effect on olderparents, it is not readily apparent in social support andsocial engagement.
Discussion (2)
Volunteering provides an important social role and mayprovide opportunities for older adults to remain sociallyengaged.
Our analysis does not consider:
The complex process by which individuals and families decidewhether to migrate to the U.S. and, if so, which family membersdo so and for how long.
Limitations
These decisions are likely to be influenced, in part, by the healthand needs of older adult parents and the availability of otherfamily members.
The analysis does not take characteristics of adult children intoaccount.
Our results extend our knowledge of the lives of older adults inMexico and, particularly, the sizeable proportion whose childrenare in the U.S.
Conclusions
Consequences of international migration
Social engagement
Families in which parents already have strong social networks and activesocial contact
