Transnational Motherhood: Health of Hispanic Mothers in the United States Who Are Separated From Children.
Brian E McCabe, Emma M Mitchell, Rosa Maria Gonzalez-Guarda and 2 others
PMID 27093905WHAT IT FOUND
Of 425 Hispanic mothers, 37 were separated from minor children.
Those mothers more often reported lifetime abuse. Separated mothers also more often reported immigration and work stress, but other measured health risks did not differ.
Key findings
01Of 425 mothers, 328 (77%) were not separated from children, 60 (14%) were separated from adult children but not minor children, and 37 (9%) were separated from minor children.
02Lifetime abuse was the only health risk measure related to separation type, and mothers separated from minor children were more likely to report past abuse than mothers with no separations.
03Mothers with no separations had lower work stress and immigration stress than mothers separated from adult or minor children.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were not randomly sampled from the community and were women interested in an educational intervention trial, so they may not represent all Hispanic mothers. The analysis excluded 123 of 548 women because they were not mothers, leaving 425 mothers, and the separated groups were small: 60 separated from adult children and 37 separated from minor children. The data were cross-sectional, so the study cannot show whether abuse or stress led to separation, or whether separation led to abuse or stress. Measures were self-reported, only the mother's perspective was assessed, and recall or social desirability could bias reports of abuse, sexual risk, and partner risk. The lifetime abuse measure was broad and may have underestimated true abuse frequency, and recent immigration policy changes may limit how well the findings apply now.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that separating from children causes abuse or other health risks. These data are cross-sectional, and only lifetime abuse differed by separation type; the study cannot show whether abuse came before or after separation.