The effect of adult children living in the United States on the likelihood of cognitive impairment for older parents living in Mexico

Abstract

In summary, having one or more adult children living in the United States was associated with characteristics that may increase and decrease the risk for cognitive impairment. This may contribute to the non-significant relationship between migration status of adult children and likelihood for cognitive impairment for older parents living in Mexico.

Migration of adult children and mental health of older parents ‘left behind’: An integrative review

“…Other countries included Thailand (n = 3), Moldova and India (n = 2), and Mexico and Ireland (n = 1). Four studies were longitudinal [ 26 , 30 , 35 , 53 ] with the remainder cross sectional with the exception of one qualitative study [ 64 ].…”

“…Thirteen articles were related to ‘empty nest’ [ 18 , 26 , 33 , 38 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 50 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 60 , 62 ] while the remaining 12 discussed the ‘left behind’ [ 12 , 22 , 28 , 30 , 35 , 41 , 48 , 49 , 53 , 56 , 59 , 64 ]. There was uniformity on the use of the term ‘empty nest’, as elders who living alone, or with a spouse only, were defined as empty nest and those living with family members were considered non-empty nest across all studies.…”

“…He et al [ 41 ], for example, defined ‘left behind elderly’ as those with adult children having left for more than 6 months while two studies [ 22 , 53 ] defined migrant children having left home for more than 3 months. Antman [ 12 ] and Downer et al [ 35 ] defined parents as left behind if any of their children were living in the USA. Sekhon and Minhas [ 49 ] considered families which had at least one member who had permanently emigrated abroad.…”

“…Depression was measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) [ 30 ], Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) [ 41 , 45 , 50 , 55 , 58 , 60 , 62 ], European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) [ 46 , 57 ] and the European Version of Depression Scale (EURO-D) [ 53 , 59 ]. Cognitive function of the elderly was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) [ 26 , 43 ], Cross-Cultural Cognitive Examination (CCCE) and the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) [ 35 ]. Instruments used to measure mental health included the Mental Health Inventory (MHI) [ 22 , 28 ], University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS) [ 30 , 45 , 60 , 62 ], Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) [ 33 ], Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scale (PHQ-9) [ 38 , 43 ], Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) [ 50 ], Short Form Health Survey (SF) [ 18 , 62 ] and the Life Satisfaction Index (LSI) [ 60 , 62 ].…”

Longitudinal associations between having an adult child migrant and depressive symptoms among older adults in the Mexican Health and Aging Study

“…[14][15][16] For example, while the migration of adult children may impact the mental health of parents who remain, adult children may make migration decisions based on their parents' mental health status. 17 Scholars have used a variety of methodological approaches to estimate the impact of adult child migration on health outcomes of older adults who remain while addressing these concerns about endogeneity, 15,[18][19][20][21][22] including instrumental variables analyses; 18,20 fixed effects regression models; 10,19 and propensity score matching methods. 21,22 No prior approach allows for evaluation of the longitudinal relationship between adult child out-migration and depressive symptoms of older adults in a way that allows for both exposure and outcome to vary over time -while also accounting for time-varying confounders affected by prior exposure.…”