Volume 38 - Article 28 | Pages 737–772
Family reunification – who, when, and how? Family trajectories among migrants in Italy
By Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso, Laura Terzera
Abstract
Background: Family reunification of migrants in their destination country is often the result of a process that includes one or more steps and combines family and migration events. However, the lack of relevant data often limits the possibility of studying all these stages.
Objective: The paper aims to identify family migration models by means of the entire family migration trajectory, highlighting the relationship of these models with the migration project and with the family, cultural, and gender norms of the country of origin.
Methods: We used sequence analysis on a large sample of resident families with at least one foreign-born member in Italy, using data collected by the Italian Institute of Statistics in 2011–2012. We focused exclusively on migrants from less developed countries and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Results: Our results indicate that family characteristics and stability in the host country are not always relevant for family reunification. Family, cultural, and gender norms of the home country and the nature of the migration project itself determine the family migration model. When the migration project becomes orientated, or converges over time to settlement, family reunification is pursued regardless of the possible difficulties and conditions during emigration. Conversely, during the time that migrants are maintaining a temporary project, family reunification is not even considered.
Contribution: Adopting a longitudinal approach, we generalised and extended previous results, considering migrants from additional countries and studying the reunification of all family members. We compared family migration models and their association with gender, cultural, and family norms of the country of origin and the family migration project.
Author's Affiliation
- Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso - Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Italy EMAIL
- Laura Terzera - Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Italy EMAIL
Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research
The effect of migration and time spent abroad on migrants’ health: A home/host country perspective
Volume 50 - Article 37
Motherhood of foreign women in Lombardy: Testing the effects of migration by citizenship
Volume 33 - Article 23
Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research
Transitions to adulthood in men and women in rural Malawi in the 21st century using sequence analysis: Some evidence of delay
Volume 51 - Article 14
| Keywords:
Africa,
Health and Demographic Surveillance System,
longitudinal analysis,
Malawi,
sequence analysis,
transition to adulthood
A multidimensional global migration model for use in cohort-component population projections
Volume 51 - Article 11
| Keywords:
age dependency,
education,
international migration,
migration,
modelling,
population projection,
projections
Climate change and fertility desires: An experimental study among university students in Belgium and Italy
Volume 51 - Article 2
| Keywords:
Belgium,
climate change,
fertility desires,
Italy,
students,
young adults
Uncovering disability-free grandparenthood in Italy between 1998 and 2016 using gender-specific decomposition
Volume 50 - Article 42
| Keywords:
aging,
decomposition,
disability,
grandparenthood,
Italy
The effect of migration and time spent abroad on migrants’ health: A home/host country perspective
Volume 50 - Article 37
| Keywords:
Albania,
health,
Italy,
migrants,
propensity score
Cited References: 73
Download to Citation Manager
PubMed
Google Scholar