Poster #101 - Latino migrant youth as “breadwinners”: Underlying motivations for work, migration, and family financial provisions

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Introduction. “Migrant youth” is a phenomenon whereby youth from underdeveloped and developing nations leave some vestige of home to better themselves (Cortina et al., 2014). Specifically, family and community experiences (e.g., poverty and unemployment) may contribute to Mexican and Central American’s youth migration to the U.S. (Juarez et al., 2013) searching for better job opportunities (Zenteno et al., 2013). In the U.S., Latino migrant youth (LMY) can be found in agriculture wherein youth aged 14 to 24 years old account for 14% of the total farmworkers labor force (National Agricultural Workers Survey [NAWS], 2022). While it is well-documented that LMY support their families through financial remittances (Carlos Chavez et al., 2022), there is evidence to suggest that unaccompanied LMY are living as “adults” despite being adolescents (Carlos Chavez et al., 2021). If true, LMY’s “adult-like” decisions and behaviors likely challenge the adolescent normative development literature and bring to surface and alternative pathway to adulthood that has yet to be explored in adolescent development. Furthermore, living away from family and taking on adult-like responsibilities may pose various forms of stressors and emotional strains among LMY. Therefore, the main goal of the present research was to better understand the different contributing factors behind Latino migrant youth’s working in U.S. agriculture. We address three core questions:
1. What are the underlying motivations of LMY for working in the U.S.?
2. What are some of the stressors LMY confront by being a family “breadwinner”?
3. How are LMY trying to break the family cycle of poverty?
Method. A qualitative approach was utilized to analyze the adult-like behaviors, experiences, demands, and unique characteristics of LMY. In-depth audio-recorded interviews were conducted in Spanish with 31 youth in the Southeast. A subsample (n=7) was utilized for the present study. We used pseudo names to protect participants’ information.
Results. Preliminary analysis highlighted the following themes: “I have a sense of responsibility towards my family because they gave me life”, “Most difficult situation was having no money”, and “I feel happy that I can provide.” LMY shared a commonality that their family back home is dependent, either partially or completely, on the remittances they send which ranged from $200 to $1000. We are working to confirm these thematic patterns across the complete sample.
Conclusion. Migrant youth prove to be a vulnerable group within the subset of Latino migrant farmworkers in the U.S. Specifically, findings showed that LMY often make the decision to migrate to the U.S. with hopes of bringing their family out of poverty even if they have to deprive themselves of their parents’ physical presence. These findings also highlighted how the majority of LMY in agriculture are working out of a sense of responsibility and fulfillment that providing for their family gives them. The highlighted themes indicate a need for further developmental research to identify how similar, recurrent experiences amongst migrant youth from different Latin American countries influence the decision to migrate to the U.S. for work.

Authors

• Tracy Tang, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Fiorella L. Carlos Chavez, Arizona State University