title: New evidence on the effects of international migration on the risk of low birthweight in Mexico.
abstract: The purpose of this article is to provide new empirical evidence linking migration of Mexican households to the USA with infant health outcomes. By using new data for Mexico, the Encuesta Nacional de la Dinamica Demografica 2006, this research focuses on the effect of migration on birth weight. Multivariate logistic regression methods are used to model low birth weight (LBW) as a function of a set of proximate, intermediate and socioeconomic determinants. In analyzing the channels through which migration affects birth outcomes, the findings provide no conclusive evidence for remittances as the only mechanism associated with lowering the odds of LBW. Given the limitations of the data, the study results showed new empirical evidence explaining the significance of both financial and social remittances associated with international migration and infant health outcomes in Mexico.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78249, USA. thankam.sunil@utsa.edu
authors.forename: Thankam S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Sunil
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: Ginny E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Garcia
mesh_terms: D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology; D005195:Family Relations / Q000208:ethnology; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D008954:Models, Biological; D012306:Risk; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology