Father's Labor Migration and Leaving the Parental Home in Rural Mozambique

Sophia Chae, Arizona State University

Migration across and within national boundaries is an increasingly common demographic phenomenon. While extensive research has examined the impact of parental labor migration on school-age children, less is known about its effect on adolescent transitions to adult roles. This paper uses longitudinal survey data collected in Mozambique to assess the association between father’s migration and leaving the parental home, an important transition that is linked to other events including schooling, marriage, and labor migration. We account for the economic success of migration and examine differences in the impact of migration on boys and girls. Results show that paternal migration delays home-leaving for adolescent girls, but not for boys, and that the effects of migration are not mediated by school enrollment. These findings suggest that the effects of paternal migration on adolescent transitions out of the parental home are primarily due to the absence of the father, rather than the economic consequences of migration.