Household Composition and Longitudinal Health Outcomes for Older Mexican Return Migrants

Abstract

Mexican return migrant population is increasing, yet our knowledge about their lives after resettlement in Mexico remains fragmentary. Using 2001–2012 longitudinal data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study, we investigate difference in household composition for older migrants who returned from the United States compared to nonmigrants. Furthermore, we fit a Cox proportional hazards model to assess the relationship between household composition and health and functional trajectories of return migrants and nonmigrants. The results indicate that return migrants with long duration of U.S. stay have different household composition than nonmigrants or short-term migrants: On average, they have smaller household size, including fewer females who may be available to offer assistance to older adults. Presence of middle-age females in the household has positive effects on health and functional trajectories. We highlight implications of this research for policy makers in Mexico and the United States.

The Critical Need to Recognize That Families Matter for Adult Health: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…In line with the recommendations of Thomeer et al (2018), Denney, Gorman, and Barrera (2013) investigated the impact of children in the home for sexual minority adults, finding the presence of children to be protective for the health of married women in opposite‐sex relationships, but associated with worse health outcomes for cohabiting women in same‐sex relationships. Lastly, household composition has been found to be an important determinant of health for Mexican migrants (Mudrazija et al, 2016). Specifically, Mexico‐born adults who return to Mexico after a long residence in the United States are more likely to have a smaller home, with fewer women available to provide caregiving assistance, compared to nonmigrants.…”

“…Specifically, Mexico‐born adults who return to Mexico after a long residence in the United States are more likely to have a smaller home, with fewer women available to provide caregiving assistance, compared to nonmigrants. Mudrazija et al (2016) highlight that fewer middle‐aged (41–60 years) female (nonspousal) family members in the home is associated with a greater number of chronic conditions, as well as limitations in activities of daily living for their Mexican sample of adults over 50. Importantly, research by Zhang, Feng, Liu, and Zhen (2015), Huang et al (2015), and Pezzin, Pollak, and Schone (2013) also focused on household composition.…”

Impact of individual, household, and area characteristics on health and social care outcomes for people with multimorbidity: Protocol for a multilevel analysis

“…Existing studies have investigated the impact of the household composition on healthcare outcomes [ 13 ], for example through examining associations between the health status of co-residents and emergency hospital admission rates in two-person households [ 14 , 15 ]. Other household characteristics are known to affect the use of health care services including financial resources available to co-habitants [ 16 ], household food security [ 17 ], household tenure [ 18 ] and the availability of household co-residents to provide care [ 19 ] and to reduce social isolation [ 16 ]. Similarly, characteristics of the areas in which people live might impact healthcare outcomes through differences such as access to green space [ 20 ], distance to and accessibility of health care [ 21 ], and rates of crime and violence [ 22 ].…”