The view from back home: interpersonal dynamics of transnational Mexican families

Abstract

Recent studies of wives and young children of migrants to the USA highlight implications of migration for family members who remain behind. This emerging research on transnational families is beginning to address multiple perspectives within the family system, especially beyond the nuclear family. The current phenomenological study explores the perceptions of adapting to familial transnationalism of: parents of migrants, spouses of migrants and return migrants in Mexico. Ten focus groups (N = 51) were conducted focusing on the experiences of transnational families. An inductive, comparative method was used to analyse the data and identify emerging themes. Within the global theme of interpersonal dynamics, three salient subthemes emerged: cohesion, disclosure and criticism. Findings highlight the importance of examining multiple perspectives surrounding familial transnationalism including during and after migration, those who migrate and those who stay behind, as well as immediate and extended family members.

Keywords:

• Interpersonal Dynamics
• Family
• Mexico
• Migration

Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge my research assistant team in Mexico and the US who made this project possible, Toni Antonucci for her helpful guidance and feedback on previous versions of this article, and the participants who openly and bravely shared their joys and sorrows with us.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by the US State Department's Fulbright Program (Fulbright Robles Garcia Grant) and the Daniel Katz Dissertation Fellowship from the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan.