Determinants of the Possession of Legal Documents among Mexican Women Who Have Migrated to the U.S.

Silje Pettersen, Georgetown University

The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants of migration with documents among Mexican women who have migrated to the U.S. By focusing on Mexican women migrants only, this study attempts to fill some of the gap in the literature on U.S.-Mexican migration. Cumulative causation and network theories are used as the theoretical framework, while the findings and methodology of Douglas S. Massey and his colleagues are used as the basis for the theoretical model. Regression analysis is used to examine two hypotheses and to statistically determine which variables are significant in predicting Mexican women’s documented moves to the U.S. The data come from the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INEGI) and a large nationally representative survey of Mexican households (ENADID) conducted in 1997. The research findings indicate that Mexican women may behave differently than Mexican men, particularly when repeat migration is included in the analysis.