Linking the family context of migration during childhood to the well‐being of young adults: Evidence from the UK and France

Abstract

Families often undergo separations during the migration process. A body of literature has explored the consequences of these separations for children "left behind" and, more recently, children reunified with their parents at the destination. However, little attention has been given to whether this experience during childhood is associated with well-being into adulthood. This paper adopts a life course perspective to explore well-being amongst youth (18-25 years) who migrated as children to the UK and France. Drawing on national household surveys, Understanding Society (UK) and Trajectories and Origins (France), we analyse whether which of the parents migrated and whether the young person migrated with them or experienced a period of separation are associated with self-rated health (both countries) and mental well-being (UK) or conflict with parents (France). Our findings show that whilst the majority of youth migrated with their parents (86% in the UK and 69% in France), those who did experience long-term parental separation (6+ years) have poorer psychosocial well-being in both destinations. This suggests that disruption to the parent-child relationship amplifies the risk of poorer outcomes in early adulthood and highlights that the context of family migration is not only important for understanding migrants' well-being during childhood, but also as they progress into adulthood.

Engaged parenting, gender, and children's time use in transnational families: An assessment spanning three global regions

“…However, and unexpectedly, in the case of the Philippines, it is migrant mothers who are less likely to practice engaged parenting. To some extent, this provides contrary evidence to what Eremenko and Bennett () posit regarding a lack of engagement by migrant fathers. It further contrasts with the findings of previous, mainly ethnographic, studies on gender and the use of ICT among migrant groups (Cabanes & Acedera, ; Chib et al, ).…”

“…Among Mexican migrant fathers, remittance intensity is high overall (85% send sufficient remittances), and higher than for Nigerian migrant fathers, but lower than for migrant fathers from the Philippines. The remittance intensity of fathers across the study countries echoes the findings of DeWaard et al (), drawing further attention to the need to better understand structural determinants of migrant practices (see also Eremenko & Gonzales, ) including remittances.…”

Experiences of migration, parent–child interaction, and the life satisfaction of children in Ghana and China

“…This echoes an emotional vulnerability to migration found by previous transnational family studies in China (Hu et al, ; Wen & Lin, ; Wu et al, ), Ghana (Bledsoe & Sow, ; Mazzucato & Cebotari, ), and elsewhere (Dreby, ; Jordan & Graham, ; Vanore, ). Recent evidence shows that emotional vulnerability of children in transnational families is likely to persist as children progress into adulthood (Eremenko & Bennet, ). Thus, the context of separation due to migration is worthy of further consideration as it is likely to affect youths in different stages of their life cycle.…”

“…First, no comparative study has been done to understand how the life satisfaction of children is affected by their experiences of parental migration and by being, at one point in life, migrants themselves. Although studies have documented aspects of child mobility in the context of migration (Arthur, ; Bledsoe & Sow, ; Eremenko & Bennet, ), the empirical evidence from large‐scale studies is still limited. Similarly, we know little of the relationship between parent–child interactions and children's life satisfaction in the two contexts under examination in this study.…”

Transnational families and child migration to France and Spain. The role of family type and immigration policies

“…A better understanding of how immigration policies impact children's migration and integration prospects once at destination is also needed. Long‐term separations from parents can affect the emotional well‐being of children having been left‐behind, including when then have been reunified at destination and as they transition into adulthood (Eremenko & Bennet, ). Our results indicate that child reunification is quicker within open legal contexts offering more opportunities for legalisation of migrants, both parents and children, in irregular situations.…”