Mexico-U.S. Migration and Stages of the Family Life Cycle

David P. Lindstrom, Brown University
Silvia E. Giorguli Saucedo, El Colegio de México

We use retrospective life history data for married men and women collected in 93 Mexican communities by the Mexican Migration Project to examine how the likelihood of migration to the United States and return migration to Mexico changes as couples progress through the family life cycle. We define four migration states based on the migration status of the husband and wife: (1) husband and wife together in Mexico; (2) husband in the U.S. and wife in Mexico; (3) husband in Mexico and wife in the U.S.; and (4) husband and wife in the U.S. together. Corresponding to each state is a set of possible transitions into each of the other states, which represent distinct types of migration. Using these states and transitions, we estimate multinomial discrete-time hazards models to identify the relative influence of prior migration experience and socioeconomic status on the migration of husbands and wives as they progress through the family cycle.