{"id":2207,"date":"2018-10-05T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2207"},"modified":"2018-10-02T19:54:44","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T00:54:44","slug":"the-rationale-and-risks-of-child-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2018\/10\/05\/the-rationale-and-risks-of-child-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rationale and Risks of Child Migration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Eva Cristescu, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unaccompanied minors have been migrating to the <\/span>United States from Central America<\/span><\/a> for decades, but media coverage of this harrowing journey rarely focuses on the reasons behind migration. Though violence and economic peril <\/span>tend to drive these migration patterns<\/span><\/a>, the journey from Central America is dangerous itself, and the backgrounds of child migrants are not always well understood. Fortunately, sociological research on migration can provide context on the difficulty of the decisions and experiences involved in migration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Structural conditions, like violence or poverty, do not alone predict unaccompanied child migration. Recent analysis finds that when a parent migrates, their child is more likely to follow them — especially compared to children who do not have parents that migrated. Indeed, unaccompanied migrant children are most likely to migrate the same year as their parents. Gender is also a factor — girls are less likely than boys to migrate when they had parents who migrated, and even less likely when these were unauthorized trips.<\/h5>\n