Transnational Families and the Well-Being of Children: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges

Family research and scholarship on immigrant families has evolved in the past decade to include factors such as community context, family environment, and individual attitudes to explain immigrant family formation and functioning (see Glick, 2010, for a review). Nevertheless, methodologically and theoretically, families are still predominantly conceived of as nuclear, living together, and bounded by the nation state. Family studies emphasize geographical proximity as a prerequisite for interaction and exchange within families, thereby eliding family ties that cross national borders. As a result, family practices across borders are ignored or assumed to be unfeasible (Baldassar & Baldock, 1999; Mazzucato & Schans, 2008) and transnational families—conceived of as families with members living in different nation states—have been treated as a temporary phenomenon, with family reunification in the host society as the preferred outcome for all family members (Landolt & Da, 2005). In contrast, research from the past decade in the areas of migration and development has demonstrated that individuals' migration-related choices are related to their family members' needs and that migration affects migrants' origin countries. This area of research, however, largely focuses on the economic effects of remittances on households as a whole and rarely analyzes the differential impact of remittances on individual family members (Adams & Page, 2005; Ratha, 2003). Moreover, studies from this field do not consider noneconomic effects such as the impact of migration on the well-being of family members who live apart. In this special section, we broaden analyses in the fields of both family and migration studies by examining the effects that migration has on the well-being (defined as psychological, educational, and health outcomes) of children who are left in the country of origin. Here, we use the word children to emphasize the relationship between a young person and his or her parent or caregiver; however, the contributions to this special section examine children and youths up to 18 years of age. Transnational family arrangements are prevalent worldwide because of stringent migration policies in migrant receiving countries that make it difficult for families to migrate together, families' attempts to escape violent conflict or persecution, or family members' preferences, especially in societies where child fostering is a common practice, such as in many places in Africa. The exact prevalence of transnational family arrangements is unknown, however, because of a scarcity of quantitative evidence caused by the lack of academic and policy attention to this phenomenon. Reports by nongovernmental organizations and international organizations such as Save the Children and UNICEF indicate that approximately 25% of children in selected migrant-sending countries have at least one parent abroad. This estimate appears sufficiently large to justify further research on transnational families and the well-being of children. As a consequence, scholars have begun to turn their attention toward transnational families, though most of the scholarship thus far is in the form of qualitative case studies. This introduction begins with an overview of current scholarship on transnational families from different disciplinary backgrounds and identifies important contributions to the literature and gaps in our knowledge. In the next section, we highlight three conceptual and methodological challenges and discuss how the articles in this special section advance our understanding of transnational families and the well-being of children. We conclude by discussing important elements of an agenda for future research on transnational families in general and their impact on child well-being in particular. In the last decade, studies on transnational families have emerged in which scholars from different disciplines have engaged with the topic of families with members who live across national borders and the effects of such transnational living arrangements on children (Borraz, 2005; Dreby, 2007; Parrenas, 2005; Schmalzbauer, 2008). These studies have shown that whether children benefit from their parents' migration depends not only on the outcomes that are studied (economic vs. psychological outcomes) but also on the characteristics of the parent and child. Children might benefit from remittances while suffering emotionally from prolonged separation (Borraz; Dreby; Heymann et al., 2009; Kandel & Kao, 2000; Lahaie, Hayes, Markham Piper, & Heymann, 2009; Suarez-Orozco, Todorova, & Louie, 2002; Schmalzbauer, 2004). Moreover, these economic and psychological processes are gendered (Aranda, 2003). For example, Abrego (2009) found that families in which the mother migrated are more likely to thrive economically than father-migrant families because of the extreme sacrifices mothers make to send remittances home. However, Parrenas found that children experience more emotional problems when their mother migrates compared to when their father migrates because of traditional gender norms related to care. The role of the caregiver of the child in the country of origin is understudied, but the scant studies on the topic suggest that the caregiver is extremely important for the well-being of the child. Lahaie et al. (2009, p. 308) showed that children who take care of themselves (self-care) are three times as likely to experience behavioral and academic problems as children in other care arrangements. In a study by Dreby (2007), children felt abandoned by their parents and in some cases responded by detaching themselves from the parent that left. Such feelings might lead to unwanted behavior such as quitting school or gang involvement. Thus, for migrants who left to ensure better opportunities for their children, the unintended consequences of their migration might include a strained relationship with their children and a loss of educational opportunities for their children. The aforementioned studies show that some exciting work has recently emerged in the field of transnational families and child well-being. Indeed, as Glick (2010, p. 507) mentioned in her recent review of research on immigrant families, “[r]esearchers have become increasingly aware of the bi-national realms in which many immigrant families operate and the strategies they employ.” Despite this progress, some significant gaps remain in scholarship on transnational families. First, most studies in this area are small-scale qualitative studies that do not collect systematic data on the topic of child well-being. It is therefore difficult to assess and verify the information presented in these studies. The second gap is related to a more general criticism of studies on transnationalism: “They study cases of the phenomenon itself so it is difficult to say anything about the extent of the phenomenon and whether it is increasing” (Portes, 2001). There is usually no comparison group of children in nonmigrant families or of children who migrated together with their parents, which makes it impossible to determine whether the observed phenomena are particular to transnational families or affect a wider group of people than just those in families that live across borders. Moreover, most data are collected at one end of the transnational spectrum, with only the parents in the host country or only the caregivers and children in the country of origin as subjects (Mazzucato, 2008). In addition, children are mostly not interviewed themselves; rather, their caregivers are asked to evaluate the well-being of the child. Finally, the majority of studies on the well-being of children who are left behind have focused on one particular stream of migration: from Latin America (specifically Mexico) to the United States. This focus ignores increasing trends in transnational families in other migrant sending areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. With the exception of the Philippines, however, little is known about the effects on children in these parts of the world (see Huang, Yeoh, & Lam 2008, for a special issue on Asian transnational families). The contributions in this special section are the result of a workshop organized by Mazzucato to address the gaps identified above, entitled “Researching Transnational Families, Children and the Migration-Development Nexus,” held at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands in December 2008. The workshop brought together experts from various disciplines who have approached these issues from diverse perspectives using various methodologies. The articles in this special section were written by authors who conduct cutting-edge research on the topic of transnational families and children within the disciplines of family sociology, anthropology, demography and geography (Bernardi, 2011; Bledsoe & Sow, 2011; Donato & Duncan, 2011; Graham & Jordan, 2011; Nobles, 2011). Below, we discuss the methodological and conceptual challenges we have identified and address how the articles in the special section help overcome some of these challenges. The gaps in current scholarship on transnational families are caused by methodological and conceptual challenges that are particular to the study of families across borders. These challenges are threefold: conceptualizing families across borders and the consequent need for multisited research designs, taking cultural norms of family into account and the consequent need to incorporate anthropological insights about migrants' origin cultures, and moving beyond the nuclear family and the consequent need to incorporate new units of analysis into research. Transnational families, like all transnational phenomena, encompass multiple national contexts. This presents a challenge to research on migration that had, until the turn of the 21st century, been predominantly characterized by methodological nationalism, that is, research in which the units of analysis were located in one nation state (Wimmer & Glick Schiller, 2002). As discussed above, the dominant focus of research on the family has been on families living in one location, and in cases where transnational families were examined, data were collected mostly in just one nation state. Even transnational scholarship, which has highlighted the importance of taking both migrant sending and receiving countries into consideration, focuses predominantly on either one context or the other (Mazzucato, 2008). This leaves part of the family out of focus and provides researchers with only a partial view of the factors that impact children's well-being. To advance scholarship on transnational families, multisited research and data collection in different nation states are necessary. Scant data of this type are available, however. Qualitative studies that collect data from different family members in binational settings (e.g., Dreby, 2007; Schmalzbauer, 2004) are a step in this direction, but to systematically analyze the effects of transnational family arrangements, data on relevant comparison groups are also needed. Donato and Duncan (2011) fill a gap in the literature by comparing health outcomes for children in three types of families: children living with their migrant parents in the United States, children living with parents who migrated and returned to Mexico, and children who live in Mexico with parents who never migrated. Their finding of different outcomes for each of these groups of children highlights the importance of both collecting binational data and including nonmigrants and return migrants as comparison groups in studies on transnational families. Different cultural norms regarding the family exist in different places around the world. This means that the nuclear family cannot be assumed to be the best option for all families. It is important to recognize that not all families that are separated by borders have family reunification as their ultimate goal. Transnational family life may not necessarily lead to family disintegration and may be part of a strategy for social mobility for all members (Olwig, 2002). Furthermore, transnational family forms may be the preferred option for migrant parents depending on their child raising norms (Bledsoe & Sow, 2011). A balanced focus on both sending and receiving countries allows the researcher to gain a thorough understanding of the institutions and cultural norms that guide family relationships in the migrant sending country. This understanding is lacking in studies that mainly assume a Western nuclear family model without explaining the culturally relevant notions of family that influence family relationships in the particular case under study (Mazzucato, forthcoming). Bledsoe and Sow's (2011) exploratory paper on the phenomenon of children of West African immigrants in Europe and North America being sent back to their home country offers new insights into the dynamics of transnational child raising. Disciplinary problems at home and in school in the host country can lead parents to send their children back to the country of origin to reconnect them to their culture and family, even if this means that they will be separated from their parents for an extended period of time. A better understanding of socialization norms may help explain why parents sometimes leave their children behind or even send them back to the country of origin to be raised. Cross-country comparisons are largely missing in transnational migration studies, even though such comparisons would provide useful means to understand the effect of different family norms on child well-being. Graham and Jordan (2011) address this gap when they compare the psychological well-being of children left behind in countries in Asia. Their show that children of migrant in and are more likely to have psychological health compared to children in nonmigrant this is not the case for children in the or These emphasize the that context be into account when comparing the effects of migration on child well-being around the by to beyond methodological is to the In the case of transnational families, this means the various family members to where they are where migrants live and where their family members This researchers to understand the effects of transnational family life on all family This has been in some of the studies above, especially those in the fields of of the family and gender studies, but the focus of these studies has been on only a of the family mothers and children. To a of transnational family it is important to to the not just on the but as (2011) at the consequences of separation for children in Mexico migrated to the United States. separation has been a in family research, it has been in of than as a of international even though it is known that the and of children's living arrangements are of children's these factors are rarely studied in research, especially not using quantitative this gap in the literature by using data to compare the effects of separation caused by and by migration and that these forms of separation are from the perspectives of children. that of interaction with are when the separation is caused by migration of of the separation that migration Moreover, ties with migrant are with family members who are important for children's well-being in transnational families are take on when parents and children do not live in the country. may be such as the or the There are also of taking care of migrants' children, such as or This that new units of analysis beyond the nuclear family to include these new (2011) offers methodological insights for the study of transnational families the analysis of social related to care. that a research in which both quantitative and qualitative are to assess children's and their functioning offers for the area of child well-being in transnational families. analyses to the and that is to children in a context where may be by temporary or prolonged of Qualitative analyses can address family strategies to relationships across borders and geographical The use of allows the of units that are than the nuclear family, which is relevant when the extended family is the dominant which is and The articles in this special section make important in the study of transnational families in general and of the well-being of children in particular. of the contributions address at least one of the methodological and conceptual challenges we have that families are not bounded by the nation that cultural norms around the family are important to understanding transnational families' the forms they and the effects they and that it is to include more than just the nuclear Bledsoe and (2011) show that family reunification is not necessarily the end of transnational family life and that dynamics within and the family can lead parents to send their children back to their country of origin. in her study of transnational area that focuses on Graham and Jordan are the scholars to have collected data on the well-being of children who are left behind in an international and Donato and Duncan compare outcomes for migrant children and children who are left behind with nonmigrant children to be to make more about the effect of transnational family Finally, the importance of the extended of transnational nuclear families using both quantitative and qualitative research all of the articles to of the gaps we them and some challenges have only begun to be Thus, we important elements that we be in an agenda for future research on transnational families. we that it is important to studies of transnational families in cultural of the norms that guide family It is also however, to recognize that in these norms as a result of The study of child fostering is a case in fostering have been studied by especially in the West African where the is an Bledsoe & These studies attention to different in child fostering thus most studies have focused on the of fostering children between and areas of the country. In this parents either migrate to for work and their children to extended family members in or they send their child to extended family in the in the that a future will the child in an In this parents are who their children with family in the who use the children as help These studies show that fostering arrangements are on about the and of each of the These and are to and are on and between extended family members & international migration some for the study of child fostering because many of the that in traditional fostering are not First, and make it difficult for parents and caregivers to relationships of caregivers to live in where they cannot on the help of extended family with the of as is in a migrant parents do not their children to be for but them to a migrant parents are as more economic than caregivers and therefore are to provide help to the caregiver and his or her on transnational families can to anthropological studies on child fostering by how institutions that guide family norms as a result of of international migration (see 2010, as an To is about how migration affects transnational family qualitative research & that migrant mothers in and challenges in their role as transnational mothers because of their migration to family back home or to children to they have to with of and with feelings of and to and is in different nation states and by national origin within a country. The effects of parents' migration on both parents and children be studied further in research. The children of parents who are left behind in the country of origin might be to their parents for extended of and parents' may also affect the of or they are to parents a to their children to the host children may to and health care and may become migration in the analysis of transnational family dynamics will only become more important as migration policies in most countries become In recent family reunification has become more and in all Western countries. As et al. p. the to leave a child behind the that are to a family in their context of The factors that result in a prolonged separation or a however, are largely the result of the context at including the migration policies that on family migration and Bledsoe and (2011) beyond the and attitudes of the people in the host societies will influence regarding where to their children. in both the sending and receiving countries are to the with transnational family arrangements. Indeed, migration policies transnational families by opportunities for family policy have reunification more and of separation between parents and children. of separation might in turn lead to more problems with reunification for both parents and children, even though social reunification as the end of families' need for and et al., 2008). In migrant-sending no policies exist that children who are left behind by their parents & The most studies in the field of transnational families are those that quantitative with qualitative of how relationships The of is however, and even when both are mainly from one part of the study or the with little of We that an literature on transnational families has contributions in of raising the issues by such families, is a need to collect more systematic data on transnational families to understand the extent of these issues and their effects on the various members A of important research have to be for are transnational effects do they have on all of the not only children, and how do the effects and issues that affect transnational families from those of families who live of systematic analysis on transnational families is to between different types of transnational families. This is important are many different types of transnational arrangements, of the studies these types in a systematic arrangements can take different including those in which children are by a caregiver in the extended family, those in which children are by their mother or those in which children are by a and those in which children take care of It is therefore important to are the different types of transnational arrangements and do they have differential on the various Finally, is a need for data collection that members of transnational families to overcome issues of in the analysis of the effects of transnational and of how whether to live or to are by both at home and abroad. There are some studies that and multiple that anthropological work with is of the in which migrants are to people back home not at the that This is the that is for the study of transnational families, their and that cross national borders. A of studies use of around which are especially to the study of transnational families because they who are across multiple This has been by who studied behavior for Dreby (2007), who studied family relationships between migrants and their children back and for the case of migrants and their family Mazzucato a to the by using a of researchers to study a of people at the time. This the study of the and that influence how transnational relationships take but that when researchers multiple and need to on The further development of such can research on transnational families and broaden our understanding of the contributions of migration to the development of migrant sending countries and especially to migrants' families. current Transnational and Transnational between Africa and which are by the Netherlands for and use of researchers from different migrant-sending and countries in Europe and Africa to study the effects of transnational families on the different members in transnational care arrangements. study of parents, and children across and use to the various outcomes and study institutions in both sending and receiving to the within cultural of The both quantitative and qualitative data on migrant parents, children who are left and caregivers in and African countries to for multiple outcomes related to and emotional thus that migration various not just the economic The also include a focus on the institutions that affect how such as in the country of origin and migration in the country. particular attention to the role by norms around family, and relationships in general in the analysis of the effects of on the different Such by of researchers who collect and data is a step toward the gaps identified in this special