Transnational parenting and the well-being of Angolan migrant parents in Europe

Valentina Mazzucato*, Bilisuma Dito, M. Grassi, J. Vivet

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Studies on the transnational family highlight the emotional difficulties of migrant parents separated from their children through international migration. This article consists of a large-scale quantitative investigation into the insights of transnational family literature by examining the well-being of transnational parents compared with that of parents who live with their children in the destination country. Furthermore, through a survey of Angolan migrant parents in both the Netherlands and Portugal, we compare the contexts of two receiving country. Our study shows transnational parents are worse off than their non-transnational counterparts in terms of four measures of well-being - health, life satisfaction, happiness, and emotional wellbeing. Although studies on migrant well-being tend to focus exclusively on the characteristics of the receiving countries, our findings suggest that, to understand migrant parents' well-being, a transnational perspective should also consider the existence of children in the migrant sending country. Finally, comparing the same population in two countries revealed that the receiving country effects the way in which transnational parenting is associated with migrant well-being.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)89-110
Number of pages22
JournalGlobal Networks-a Journal of Transnational Affairs
Volume17
Issue number1
Early online date17 Jun 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2017

Keywords

  • CHILDREN
  • EUROPE
  • TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES
  • TRANSNATIONALISM
  • TRANSNATIONAL MIGRANTS
  • TRANSNATIONAL SOCIAL RELATIONS
  • SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
  • WORLD REGION
  • MENTAL-HEALTH
  • INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS
  • LATINO IMMIGRANTS
  • SOCIAL SUPPORT
  • UNITED-STATES
  • FAMILIES
  • CARE
  • MIGRATION
  • MOTHERS

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