California Center for Population Research

This study uses multistate life tables with data from the Mexican Family Life Survey to examine the contribution of migration to children’s time apart from their fathers. Other common sources of parental household absence, such as divorce, non-union fertility, and death are considered as well. Results suggest that more than a third of Mexican children experience some type of household disruption during childhood. As a population, Mexican children spend nearly equal amounts of time living with a single mother following a father’s migration as they do living with a single mother following union dissolution. Additionally, 7 percent of Mexican children in 2002 have migrating fathers, yet multistate estimates suggest that 17 percent of children born into two-parent homes are expected to experience a migrating father at least once during childhood. Other results highlight key differences in children’s experiences by urban status at birth and by the education level of their mothers.