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Understanding family migration in rural South Africa: exploring children's inclusion in the destination households of migrant parents

Understanding family migration in rural South Africa: exploring children's inclusion in the destination households of migrant parents
Understanding family migration in rural South Africa: exploring children's inclusion in the destination households of migrant parents
Despite the removal of restrictions on movement and increasing female participation in migration, only a minority of migrant parents in South Africa include their children in their destination household. Quantitative analyses of the circumstances in which children accompany a migrant parent have been limited by the lack of available data that document family arrangements from the perspective of more than one household. This paper uses data about members of rural households in a demographic surveillance population in KwaZulu-Natal and a linked sample survey of adult migrants to examine factors associated with children's inclusion in the destination household of migrant parents, analyse the timing and sequence of children's moves to parental destination households, and describe the composition of parental origin and destination households. The findings confirm that in contemporary South Africa, only a small percentage (14%) of migrants' children who are members of the parental origin household are also members of the parental destination household. Membership of the parental destination household is associated with parental characteristics and the child's age, but not measures of socio-economic status, and children most commonly migrate several years after their migrant parent. Children included in the destination household of migrant fathers frequently live in small households, which also include their mother, whereas children included in the destination household of migrant mothers live in larger households. This study contributes to understanding the contexts of children's inclusion in parental destination households in South Africa and demonstrates the potential of data collected in migrants' origin and destination households.
children, migrant parents, family migration, destination household, south africa
1544-8444
310-321
Bennett, Rachel
53222607-43bd-46d3-9448-1599fd785ac0
Hosegood, Victoria
c59a89d5-5edc-42dd-b282-f44458fd2993
Newell, Marie-Louise
87caf679-14d9-405d-b5b3-e00ae33728e3
McGrath, Nuala
b75c0232-24ec-443f-93a9-69e9e12dc961
Bennett, Rachel
53222607-43bd-46d3-9448-1599fd785ac0
Hosegood, Victoria
c59a89d5-5edc-42dd-b282-f44458fd2993
Newell, Marie-Louise
87caf679-14d9-405d-b5b3-e00ae33728e3
McGrath, Nuala
b75c0232-24ec-443f-93a9-69e9e12dc961

Bennett, Rachel, Hosegood, Victoria, Newell, Marie-Louise and McGrath, Nuala (2015) Understanding family migration in rural South Africa: exploring children's inclusion in the destination households of migrant parents. Population, Space and Place, 21 (4), 310-321. (doi:10.1002/psp.1842).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Despite the removal of restrictions on movement and increasing female participation in migration, only a minority of migrant parents in South Africa include their children in their destination household. Quantitative analyses of the circumstances in which children accompany a migrant parent have been limited by the lack of available data that document family arrangements from the perspective of more than one household. This paper uses data about members of rural households in a demographic surveillance population in KwaZulu-Natal and a linked sample survey of adult migrants to examine factors associated with children's inclusion in the destination household of migrant parents, analyse the timing and sequence of children's moves to parental destination households, and describe the composition of parental origin and destination households. The findings confirm that in contemporary South Africa, only a small percentage (14%) of migrants' children who are members of the parental origin household are also members of the parental destination household. Membership of the parental destination household is associated with parental characteristics and the child's age, but not measures of socio-economic status, and children most commonly migrate several years after their migrant parent. Children included in the destination household of migrant fathers frequently live in small households, which also include their mother, whereas children included in the destination household of migrant mothers live in larger households. This study contributes to understanding the contexts of children's inclusion in parental destination households in South Africa and demonstrates the potential of data collected in migrants' origin and destination households.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 8 January 2014
Published date: May 2015
Keywords: children, migrant parents, family migration, destination household, south africa
Organisations: Social Sciences, Primary Care & Population Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 354284
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/354284
ISSN: 1544-8444
PURE UUID: f78d10d3-a122-4a3a-abb4-f56ae91fe766
ORCID for Victoria Hosegood: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2244-2518
ORCID for Nuala McGrath: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1039-0159

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Jul 2013 10:43
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:46

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Contributors

Author: Rachel Bennett
Author: Marie-Louise Newell
Author: Nuala McGrath ORCID iD

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