Family Separation and Reunification as a Factor in the Educational Success of Immigrant Children

In Central America and Mexico, it is common practice for a mother or father (or both) to migrate to the United States and leave their children behind. Then, after the parents have achieved some degree of stability in the host country, the children follow. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we examined the hypothesis that separation during migration results in problems at school after reunification. We found that children separated from parents during migration are more likely to lag behind their peers academically, and are more likely to drop out of high school.