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Migration and the Health of Non-migrant Family: Findings from the Jamaica Return(ed) Migrants Study

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Abstract

Research on the association between migration and health among nonmigrant family in Jamaica is limited. Data from the 2012 Jamaica Return(ed) Migrants Study (N = 621) and weighted regression models were used to investigate the association between migration and health among left-behind women (n = 323) and men (n = 298) in Jamaica. Compared to women whose children lived in Jamaica, women who had a child abroad reported lower odds of good mental health (OR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.21, 0.97). Men in this situation were less satisfied with their lives (b = − 2.370, p = 0.031). Women reported better physical (b = − 2.113, p = 0.010) and mental (b = − 3.119, p = 0.039) health scores when a parent, but not a grandparent, lived abroad. Men with a migrant spouse/partner reported significantly more physical illness symptoms than men whose spouse/partner lived in Jamaica (b = 3.215, p = 0.013). Migration exerts disparate health impacts on left-behind family and may disrupt social relationships.

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Acknowledgements

Ezinne Nwankwo was supported by the UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship award, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars program. Ishtar Govia received support for data collection from a University of the West Indies Mona Principal’s New Initiative Grant and a Society for Community Research and Action Mini-Grant. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of any of the funders. We thank Jennifer K. McGee-Avila, Shannon Frattaroli, and the anonymous reviewers whose feedback helped improve this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, 650 Charles E Young Dr. S., Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Ezinne M. Nwankwo

  2. Epidemiology Research Unit, Caribbean Institute for Health Research, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston 7, Jamaica

    Ishtar O. Govia

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  1. Ezinne M. Nwankwo
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Correspondence to Ezinne M. Nwankwo.

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Nwankwo, E.M., Govia, I.O. Migration and the Health of Non-migrant Family: Findings from the Jamaica Return(ed) Migrants Study. J Immigrant Minority Health 24, 689–704 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01239-y

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