Child Mobility, Maternal Status and Household Composition in Rural South Africa

Sangeetha Madhavan, University of Maryland
Enid Schatz, University of Missouri at Columbia
Mark Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand

Using data from a demographic surveillance system from the rural northeast of South Africa, we examine the determinants of migration of children aged 0-14 followed up from 1999-2008. Of particular interest is the survival/residence status of the mother and the presence of potential maternal substitutes in the household in influencing child out migration. Event history analysis is used to estimate the risk of a child moving controlling for a set of time constant and time varying characteristics. Preliminary results show that when the mother is alive and part of the child’s household, the presence of an elderly female in the household increases the risk of a child moving but the presence of prime age females decreases the risk of a move. When the mother is dead or not part of the household, the presence of both elderly as well as prime age females decreases the risk of a child moving.