The role of family support and other factors in returning home: Migrants from Nang Rong district, Thailand

Abstract

The present study focuses on the effect of social and other support from the family in the place of origin of migrants and how it impacts upon migrants' propensity to return. The study uses longitudinal data from a project in Northeastern Thailand called the Nang Rong Project. The analysis shows that monetary support from the family left behind has a significant effect on migrants' propensity to return home. Household strategies of migration have played an important role in explaining migration in the Nang Rong setting. At the individual and household level, education, occupation and household size were strongly associated with migrants' propensity to return to their original village. Among the social support variables, duration of migration has significant effects on migrants' likelihood of returning home. Three variables-marital status, wealth index and whether the person came with an immediate family member-were found to have weak associations with the dependent variable. A major finding from this study was that migrants who have higher education are more likely to stay at the destination. © 2012 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.