Peer-reviewed article
Household Migration and Adolescent Marriage Choice in Settings with Changing Marriage Systems
Erick Axxe, Sarah R. Hayford, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study investigates how household migration affects adolescents' views on who should decide their marriage partner in Mozambique and Nepal. The research finds that adolescents in Mozambique living in migrant-sending households were more likely to prefer family involvement in choosing spouses, whereas migration experience had no significant effect on adolescent preferences in Nepal. The findings suggest that migration's impact on marriage practices depends on local family structures and social systems in each context.
Key points
- Mozambican adolescents in migrant-sending households were more likely to prefer families choose their spouse compared to those without migration experience
- In Nepal, household migration experience was not associated with adolescent spouse-selection preferences
- Migration may reshape family relationships and interdependencies, influencing adolescents' ideas about family-formation decisions
- The relationship between migration and marriage preferences is complex and varies by context and local family structures
- Study controlled for adolescent characteristics and other theoretically relevant predictors
Limitations
The paper does not indicate whether it examined actual marriage outcomes or only stated preferences, and the cross-sectional nature of the analysis limits understanding of causal mechanisms. The study focuses on two specific regions and may not be generalizable to other migration contexts or marriage systems.
Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between family experiences of migration and adolescents' preferences about who should make the decision about who to marry in two migrant-sending regions. Shifts in parental involvement in spouse choice, like other changes in marriage and family systems, are connected to broader social and economic changes that reduce the centrality of family relationships. Migrant household members may contribute to these changes by reorienting family relationships and interdependencies or by exposing adolescents to new ideas and values. This study uses data collected in Gaza Province, Mozambique and Chitwan Valley, Nepal as part of the Family Migration and Early Life Outcomes (FAMELO) project. Using logistic regression, the authors analyze variation in adolescents' preferences for parental spouse choice by multiple aspects of migration (e.g., timing, reason), controlling for adolescent characteristics and other theoretically relevant predictors. Mozambican adolescents in migrant-sending households were more likely to prefer families choose their spouse than those in households without migration experience. In Nepal, household migration experience was not associated with adolescent spouse-selection preferences. The findings point to how a complex association between migration systems and local family structures may shape adolescents' ideas about family relationships and their family-formation preferences.