Rural–urban migration and depression in ageing family members left behind

It has been suggested that rural-urban migration will have adverse consequences for older parents left behind. To describe correlates of outmigration and to estimate any association between outmigration of children and depression in rural-dwelling older parents. Population-based survey of 1147 paren...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of psychiatry 2009-07, Vol.195 (1), p.54-60
Main Authors: Abas, Melanie A., Punpuing, Sureeporn, Jirapramukpitak, Tawanchai, Guest, Philip, Tangchonlatip, Kanchana, Leese, Morven, Prince, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Children
Depression
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Emigration and Immigration
Female
Humans
Intergenerational Relations
Male
Middle Aged
Migration
Parents
Parents - psychology
Population Dynamics
Rural communities
Rural Health
Rural-Urban migration
Social Support
Socioeconomic Factors
Thailand
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Summary:It has been suggested that rural-urban migration will have adverse consequences for older parents left behind. To describe correlates of outmigration and to estimate any association between outmigration of children and depression in rural-dwelling older parents. Population-based survey of 1147 parents aged 60 and over in rural Thailand. We randomly oversampled parents living without children. We defined an outmigrant child as living outside their parent's district, and measured depression as a continuous outcome with a Thai version of the EURO-D. Outmigration of all children, compared with outmigration of some or no children, was independently associated with less depression in parents. This association remained after taking account of social support, parent characteristics, health and wealth. Parents with all children outmigrated received more economic remittances and they perceived support to be as good as that of those with children close by. Outmigration of children was not associated with greater depression in older parents and, after taking account of a range of possible covariables, was actually associated with less parental depression. This could be explained by pre-existing advantages in families sending more migrants and by the economic benefits of migration.
ISSN:0007-1250
1472-1465
DOI:10.1192/bjp.bp.108.056143