Project Description
The Project on “Collaborative Research: Migration and Fertility” is a joint effort between researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin. The project starts from the premise that international migration corresponds with many changes to women’s reproductive lives.
- Migration exposes women to new norms about the acceptability of contraceptive use and desired family size; new information about different types and efficacy of modern contraceptive methods; access to new healthcare infrastructures; and new economic opportunities that may also facilitate contraceptive access and use.
- At the same time, women who migrate internationally may lack access to healthcare, social networks, and/or financial resources that might be important for decisions about their fertility and family planning.
This study, led by social demographers Julia Behrman of IPR/Northwestern and Abigail Weitzman of UT Austin, compares international migrants to women in their countries of origin who have similar backgrounds but did not migrate. In doing so, the researchers investigate whether international migration is associated with fertility change and explore the mechanisms through which fertility change occurs.
Learn More
Migration and Family Planning
Can migrating to a very different society affect a woman’s contraceptive use?
A new study in Demography by IPR sociologist Julia Behrman and her colleagues shows that it can. They find women from West and Central African countries who migrated to France came to use contraceptives in ways similar to French women.
To make comparisons, the researchers created a novel data set using two existing surveys conducted between 2008–09 of women in sub-Saharan Africa and in France. The surveys asked about their contraceptive use, including long-acting, short-acting, and traditional methods.
The new data set compares the contraceptive use of 277 migrant women from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to that of 1,483 women in their origin countries and 1,393 native French women.
Migration and Childbearing
A new report shows that African women who migrate to France have more children than French-born women—but not as many as women in their home countries. The migrant women’s use of contraception also comes to resemble that of French women more than the practices of women in the countries they left.
Migrants’ adaptation to French culture and their integration into French society are key issues in the upcoming April 2022 presidential election.
Led by IPR sociologist Julia Behrman and Abigail Weitzman of UT Austin, the Project on Collaborative Research: Migration and Fertility is investigating how women migrants’ reproductive lives are affected by their relocation. The report is based on published findings in the journals Demography and International Migration Review.
Funding
This work is supported with grant SES 1918274 from the National Science Foundation to Drs. Julia Behrman and Abigail Weitzman and is also supported by grant, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.