Analyzing Marriage-US Migration Behavioral Sequences in Mexico

Fernando Riosmena, University of Pennsylvania

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the timing and sequencing of marriage and U.S. –bound migration decisions of various cohorts of Mexican males. I use household heads’ marital and migration histories from the Mexican Migration Project database to analyze the order and timing of these transitions; 2) sketch and compare a general socio-demographic profile of people engaging in each sequence vis-à-vis those only engaging in marriage ; and 3) consider how are individuals conforming to or deviating from the prevailing behavior (if any) on these respects in their community of origin. Among other results, I expect to find that –conditional on having engaged in both transitions- most people in a community choose the same one as their first. This may be especially true in communities with a high prevalence of international migrants, where migration itself becomes normative.