Analysing first migration-marriage/marriage-migration sequences

Fernando Riosmena, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the timing and sequencing of marriage and U.S.–bound migration decisions of five cohorts of Mexican males while considering the context in which these choices (and their timing) are made. I use retrospective labor, migration, marriage, and fertility histories of male household heads from the Mexican Migration Project database to: 1) analyze the timing and sequencing of marriage and migration, and the spacing between both events; 2) sketch a general socio-demographic profile of people engaging in each sequence vis-à-vis those only engaging in marriage (i.e. non-migrants); 3) test for the state- and duration dependence of migration on marriage, (along with family formation and its lifecycle); while 4) exploring if the sequencing of the two events varies according to local contexts.