Gender and Health in Mexico: Differences between Returned Migrants and Nonmigrants

Abstract

This study considers gender differences in the health of Mexican migrants who return to Mexico from the United States, and Mexican nonmigrants. We use health data before and after migration to examine disparities in women’s and men’s childhood and adult health, comparing returned migrants and nonmigrants in Mexico. Using data on more than 14,000 household heads and their spouses interviewed between 2007 and 2016 in the Mexican Migration Project, we find evidence of only a few gendered patterns of health among migrants. Specifically, women migrants are more positively selected on height than are male migrants. We also find a stronger, positive association between migration and smoking among women: although women are less likely to smoke than men, the difference is smaller among returned migrants than among nonmigrants. In contrast, we find no evidence that the positive migrant selection on self-rated health at age 14, or negative migrant selection on emotional disorders, varies by gender, or that there is an association among migration and obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.