https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3286-8977
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ABSTRACT
Much has been discussed in the international literature about the relationship between family arrangements and migration decision-making, although few studies have done so through the analysis of quantitative data from migrants’ countries of origin. Based on the theoretical contributions brought by the New Economics of Labor Migration and Transnationalism, we investigate how three intervening factors affect household living arrangements in the migrant’s country of origin: people’s life-cycle stages, migration regimes, and family normative systems. Using as case study the municipality of Governador Valadares, Brazil, the country’s main international emigration hotspot, we draw on a mixed-methods approach that includes the analysis of the Brazilian Census and novel survey data, in addition to 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with migrants’ relatives and returnees. The results point to clear differences between the structure of households with and without international emigrants. The reasons for these differences may be two-fold: (a) international emigration is an important factor leading to the rearrangement of family care systems, and (b) migration decision-making processes are dependent upon particular household structures, family norms and migration regimes.
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Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 According to the last Brazilian Census, GV had 263.689 inhabitants, of which 96,06% lived in urban areas (IBGE Citation2010).
2 Data from the 2010 Brazilian Census shows that all migrants from GV who left the country between 1980 and 1984 moved to the United States. This proportion has been gradually decreasing throughout the years. Among those who migrated between 2005 and 2010, 60.36% resided in the United States, 26.96% in Portugal, and 12.68% had settled in other destinations.
3 Indeed, while the Census information has generally been used to estimate the size of the migrant population (Campos Citation2014), much of the previous work on the configurations of migrant households has been conducted in destination countries – for which data is usually more complete and straightforward (Van Hook and Glick Citation2007; Valk Citation2015).
4 In particular, the absence of a question on the relationship between the head of the household and/or informant and the emigrant, might result in an overestimation of the number of emigrants; while the dissolution of a household due to divorce, death, or even migration, may result in an underestimation of the stock. In addition, there is a fundamental memory problem resulting from the fact that the longer the time that the emigrant has lived abroad, the greater the likelihood that the person will not be reported in the Census (Carvalho et al. Citation2016).
5 The sample size was calculated according to a 3% precision error and a 95% confidence level. The sample design comprised three stages: first, neighbourhoods were stratified based on SES and proximity; second, within each stratum interviewees were chosen proportionally according to age group and sex. Third, households in each stratum were randomly chosen based on the groups defined on stage 2. Probabilistic weights, primary and secondary units as well as strata variables were created to adjust for sample design. This survey was funded by the Minas Gerais Research Foundation (FAPEMIG Grants CSA-APQ-00244-12, CSA-PPM-00305-14, and CSA-APQ-01553-16), the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq Grants 4837/2012-7, 472252/2014-3, 431872/2016-3, and 314392/2018-1), and the Brazilian Network on Global Climate Change Research (FINEP/ Rede CLIMA Grant Number 01.13.0353-00). The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Protocol CAAE 12650413.0.0000.5149).
6 Such gender balance differs both from the predominantly male Mexican migration to the United States, and from the prevailing female Hispanic migration into Spain (Raphael Citation2013; Vidal-Coso and Miret-Gamundi Citation2014).
7 The differences between the dependency ratios of households with emigrants in the United States and Portugal were not statistically significant.
8 Historically, a very common strategy among Brazilians was to enter the U.S. and overstay their visas, while finding ways to legalise their situation.
9 The Census question is a measure of the stock of people currently living abroad, but it says nothing about the true flow. If an emigrant left but returned before 2010, they will not be captured by the Census question. Hence, the age and sex characteristics of the stock can be a good proxy for the flow, as long as return migration is not skewed by age or sex.
10 These findings are coherent with national figures that show grandchildren residing only with their mothers in grandparent-headed households (Wajnman Citation2012).
11 A study conducted in the GV region using life histories, found economic negotiations taking place between grandmothers and migrant mothers as part of the migration decision-making process (Francisco Citation2016).