The Costs?

Source: kinston

A study of immigrant families conducted in Lenoir County and Eastern North Carolina shows the influx of migration has negative effects on the traditional Mexican family.

The year-long study is the first of its kind on the sociological effects of mass migration; most have focused on economic aspects of migrant populations.

More than 35 Mexican immigrants and 10 immigrant families living in and around Lenoir County are part of the study, conducted by Olivia Resendiz and Blanca Ivett Vázquez, social psychology graduate students at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City.

Research shows that fathers and males typically leave family behind to come to America and earn money to send home. Consequently, there is a high rate of divorce and emotional disturbances in children of migrant families.

“Many children drop out of school to follow their fathers to the United States,” Vázquez said, through the aid of an interpreter Thursday at Lenoir Community College. “What we are finding in children and youth is that they often develop psychosomatic diseases as a result of the stress.”

The effects on children can be more profound if siblings are forced to split up – with some remaining in Mexico and some living in the U.S.

Sounds about right.

H/T beyond borders

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