The duration of residence spells among Malawians: the role of established family and friend connections at migrants’ destinations

ABSTRACT

It is well-documented that established networks in a destination increase the chances of an individual moving to that destination, but rarely have migration scholars examined how these networks are linked to the duration of one’s stay. This paper examines whether the presence of kin and/or friends known at a location prior to moving is associated with one’s duration of residence. Presumably, having both kin and friends already at a destination will be associated with the longest residence spells, since migrants would likely maximise their access to diverse network resources. Using residence history data on 1069 Malawians from the Migration and Health in Malawi (MHM) Project from 2013, subtle gender differences emerge in this relationship via discrete-time event history analyses. Women who knew some friends, but no kin, prior to migrating have a significantly lower likelihood of moving away in any year compared to those who did not know anyone, or only kin. For men, knowing some friends, but no kin, does not represent a significantly lower likelihood of leaving compared to those who knew no one or only kin prior to migrating.

KEYWORDS:

• Family
• friends
• migration
• networks
• Malawi

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Philip Anglewicz for access to these data and his invaluable comments and insight into Malawi, alongside the criticisms of Sangeetha Madhavan, Feinian Chen, Reeve Vanneman, Ken Leonard, and Matthew Hall that have substantially improved this manuscript. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2015 American Sociological Association meeting.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The Migration and Health in Malawi Project has been funded by National Institute of Child Health and Development R21 HD071471-01, The Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH) has been supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Child Health and Development (grant numbers R03 HD058976, R21 HD050652, R01 HD044228, R01 HD053781), the National Institute on Aging (grant number P30 AG12836), the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Security at the University of Pennsylvania, and the National Institute of Child Health and Development Population Research Infrastructure Program (grant number R24 HD044964), all at the University of Pennsylvania. The MLSFH has also been supported by pilot funding received through the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), supported by NIAID AI 045008, and the Penn Institute on Aging. I gratefully acknowledge indirect support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Center for Child Health and Human Development grant R24 HD041041, Maryland Population Research Center, and grant R24 HD041020, Brown University Population Studies & Training Center.