Seminar: Helga de Valk – NIDI/RUG

Relationship trajectories and (international) migration

> In this talk I will present some of the recent work carried out as part of the ERC FaMiLife project in which we study, among others, relationship formation and dissolution among migrants and non-migrants. Despite the linked nature of life events, the existing literature mainly analyses union formation/dissolution, living arrangements, and international migration and mobility separately. In this presentation I aim to combine and link these events in order to get a better understanding of how they are related and what the specific role of the migration experience is in family life paths of individuals. I will first present the findings of a recent study on Ghanaian couples’ relationship trajectories and how they are related to international migration. Second I will focus on union dissolution and residential paths of the four largest migrant groups and the majority population in the Netherlands. My presentation draws on both survey data (the Migration between Africa and Europe-Ghana survey) capturing unique retrospective life histories of Ghanaians as well as the population registers in the Netherlands including all legal residents in the country. Our results show that relationships and living arrangements evolve in a variety of ways, underlining the importance of a dynamic approach. Our findings further suggest that both socialisation and disruption of family behaviours are occurring among migrants.

Helga de Valk
NIDI/RUG

Seminars are open to the general public, registration is not necessary.