The Impact of U.S. Migration on the Health of Older Adults in Mexico

Author

Nidya Velasco Roldan, University of Massachusetts BostonFollow

Date of Award

12-2024

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Gerontology

First Advisor

Jan Mutchler

Second Advisor

Jeffrey A. Burr

Third Advisor

Rosalyn Negrón, Qian Song

Abstract

Migration has long term implications for the lives of migrants as well as their family members. The U.S. is the main destination for Mexican migrants. As well, Mexicans have an increasing representation in terms of the relative size of the population in the U.S. As a result, the causes and consequences of Mexico-U.S. migration is an active area of research for social scientists. Prior research on the association between migration and health suggests that migration is an important factor contributing to the health disparities observed among Mexican migrants. However, most research exploring the impact of migration on health focuses on Mexicans in the U.S. and excludes two important groups of Mexicans whose health may have also been impacted by migration: older Mexican return-migrants (those who ever worked or lived in the U.S. and now are aging in Mexico) and older Mexicans left behind (those who are in Mexico and have migrant children in the U.S.). The purpose of this dissertation is to expand the literature on the intersection of migration and health by using a life course approach to assess the impact of U.S. migration on older adults in Mexico, whether they previously migrated to the U.S. and are currently aging in Mexico or were left behind by a migrant family member who is currently living in the U.S. From a life course perspective, the health status of today’s older adults is the result of exposure to environmental, socioeconomic, and behavioral factors over their life span, including their experiences with migration. Yet, a life course approach has been generally excluded from the research literature exploring the association between migration and health. This dissertation includes three studies based on information from the Mexican Health and Aging Study. Each study focuses on specific aspects of the linkage between migration and health among older adults in Mexico. Study 1 compares self-rated health trajectories of older non-migrants and return-migrants in Mexico over a 9-year period and explores the association between early- and late-life socioeconomic status and self-rated health trajectories. Findings from Study 1 suggest that there is no difference in 9-year self-rated health trajectories for older Mexican non-migrants and return-migrants. However, poor socioeconomic conditions in early and late life are positively associated with poorer health over time for older adults in Mexico regardless of their migration status. Study 2 considers social determinants of older Mexican return-migrants’ physical and mental health before, during, and after migration. Findings suggest that pre-, during, and post-migration factors are associated with return-migrants’ physical and mental health. However, the way migration characteristics are associated with older Mexican return-migrants’ chronic conditions, functional limitations, and depressive symptoms does not show a consistent pattern, suggesting more research in this area is required. Study 3 analyzes the association between having adult children in the U.S. and risk of depression among older adults left behind in Mexico, with an emphasis on gender differences in this association. Additionally, this study assesses the moderation effect of financial support provided by children in the U.S. Findings from Study 3 suggest that older Mexican women are more than twice as likely as older Mexican men to be depressed. The association between receiving remittances from migrant children and older Mexicans’ risk for depression was not statistically significant. Yet, gender differences in such association are as expected: receiving remittances from migrant children slightly reduces the risk for depression among older Mexican women left behind but exacerbates depression risk for older Mexican men left behind. In sum, this dissertation expands on the migration and health literature by focusing on two understudied groups of Mexicans: older Mexican return-migrants and older Mexicans left behind by migrant children. As well, this dissertation fills a gap in the migration and health literature by incorporating a life course approach to assess the impact of U.S. migration on the health of older Mexicans. Altogether, findings from this dissertation suggest that migration may have important implications for the physical and mental health of older adults in Mexico, whether they previously migrated into the U.S. or experienced the migration of their children. Moreover, this dissertation demonstrates that social determinants of health as well as changes in socioeconomic conditions at different points in life impact the association between migration and health for older adults in Mexico.

Comments

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Recommended Citation

Roldan, Nidya Velasco, "The Impact of U.S. Migration on the Health of Older Adults in Mexico" (2024). Graduate Doctoral Dissertations. 1039.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/doctoral_dissertations/1039