Father Absence, Social Networks, and Maternal Ratings of Child Health: Evidence from Mexico

• In Event: 231 - Section on Sociology of Population Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. Social and Genetic Influences on Health of Youth and Adults

Abstract

Objectives: To bridge the literature on parental absence and social networks on child health, we assess the association between fathers’ status/absence type and maternal ratings of child poor health (MCPH). Next we test whether social networks kin mediate the relationship between father’s status and MCPH.

Methods: Nested logistic regression models predicting MCPH are estimated using the 2013 Social Networks and Health Information Survey (SNHIS), collected in a migrant-sending community in the state of Guanajuanto, Mexico.

Results: Descriptive results suggest that one-quarter of children with migrant fathers are assessed as having poor health, significantly more than the other groups. In the multivariate models, father’s absence is not predictive of MCPH. However, the presence of both immediate and extended kin ties for the mother was associated with approximately a 50 percent reduction in the odds of MCPH. Additionally, mother’s poor self-assessed health was associated with increased odds of MCPH while household size and the presence of a co-resident adult lowered the odds of MCPH. In sensitivity analysis of only children with migrant fathers, the receipt of paternal remittances lowered the odds of MCHP though the duration of spousal separation raised it.

Conclusions: These unique data allow us to distinguish among father absence due to migration versus other reasons and between immediate or extended kin ties and suggest that kinship ties are directly associated with MCPH rather than mediating the father absence-MCPH relationship. Furthermore, kinship networks in the local community are salient for positive child health.

Authors

• Heather B Edelblute, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Claire E. Altman, University of Missouri