Point of Reference: A Multisited Exploration of African Migration and Fertility in France

Abstract

A considerable literature explores whether the fertility of migrants from high-fertility contexts converges with that of women in lower fertility destinations. Nonetheless, much of this research compares migrants’ reproductive outcomes to those of native-born women in destination countries. Drawing on research emphasizing the importance of transnational perspectives, we standardize and integrate data collected in France (the destination) and in six high-fertility African countries (the senders). We show that African migrants in our sample had higher children ever born (CEB) than native French women but lower CEB than women in corresponding origin countries. These findings suggest that socialization into pronatalist norms is an incomplete explanation for migrant fertility in the first generation, an insight that is overlooked when analyzing destination settings only. Next, we conduct multivariate analyses that weight migrants’ background characteristics to resemble women in both origin and destination countries. Findings indicate that observed differences between African migrants in France and women in African origin countries help explain differences in CEB between the two groups, which supports selection. We also demonstrate that African migrants in France had delayed transitions into first, second, and third births and lower completed fertility compared to women in origin countries, thus disputing the disruption hypothesis. Finally, we show that observed differences between African migrants in France and native French women explain differences in CEB between the two groups, which supports adaptation. These multifaceted findings on selection, disruption, and adaptation would be obscured by analyzing destination settings only, thus validating a multisited approach to migrant fertility.

State‐Level Immigrant Policies and Ideal Family Size in the United States

“…Given considerable geographic and temporal heterogeneity in policy implementation (Weitzman, Behrman, and Ascherio 2023), we consider multiple time‐varying policy environments including far reaching and extremely punitive (i.e., omnibus immigration policies), less expansive and punitive (i.e., E‐verify mandates), and protective (i.e., sanctuary policies). To this end, each state‐year in the analysis is assigned to one of the below four categories; for the purposes of analyses (described in the next section), our categories need to be mutually exclusive.…”

Rural–Urban Migration and Fertility Ideation in Senegal: Comparing Returned, Current, and Future Migrants to Dakar to Rural Nonmigrants

“…A. Behrman and Weitzman 2022). Because migration flows, both internal and international usually occur from high to low fertility settings, this often translates into lower migrant fertility when compared to nonmigrants at the origin, but higher than that of nonmigrants at the destination (Baykara-Krumme and Milewski 2017;Lindstrom 2003;Wilson 2019).…”

“…Migrants’ fertility behavior, beliefs, and attitudes, including use, acceptability, and knowledge of contraception, generally lie in between those of the host and origin societies, as they are influenced by both settings (J. A. Behrman and Weitzman 2022). Because migration flows, both internal and international usually occur from high to low fertility settings, this often translates into lower migrant fertility when compared to nonmigrants at the origin, but higher than that of nonmigrants at the destination (Baykara‐Krumme and Milewski 2017; Lindstrom 2003; Wilson 2019).…”

Migrating to New Contraceptive Contexts: The Case of Migrants from Turkey to France

“…Given that longitudinal studies of this sort are almost non-existent, a next best approach is to adopt a multi-sited approach that include respondents from both origin and destination (Beauchemin 2014;Jiménez and Fitzgerald 2007). Micro-level empirical explorations of migrant reproduction that include information on respondents from both origin and destination countries have focused on fertility (Behrman and Weitzman 2022;Impicciatore, Gabrielli, and Paterno 2020;Lübke 2014;Singley and Landale 1998), but quantitative studies that conduct multi-sited analyses of migration and contraception outcomes have been more limited (Behrman et al 2021;White and Potter 2013).…”