Family Matters: Social Networks, Social Support, and Mental Health for Non-migrant Women

• In Event: 546 - Section on Sociology of Population Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Families and Health

Abstract

International migration from Mexico to the US affects a significant number of Mexican households, yet most studies that examine this migration focus exclusively on the international migrant. When looking at mental health, considerable attention has been directed at understanding the implications of the migration process on international migrants, but much less is known about how processes associated with family migration impact the mental health of non-migrant women. This study examines how the composition of women’s social networks influences the expression of depressive symptoms for non-migrant women using the Social Networks and Health Information Survey (SNHIS) (n=343), a random household survey of mothers with young children from a migratory sending community in Mexico. Specifically, this study explores how the function of social ties may vary according to gender, relationship type, and migration status, revealing preliminary insights into how the types of ties matter for the well-being of non-migrant women.

Author

• Heather Ballinger Edelblute, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill