Mental Health and Risk Behaviors of Rural-urban Migrants: Longitudinal Evidence from Indonesia

摘要

Using longitudinal data from Indonesia and drawing on the literature on the stress process, social support, and migration assimilation, this paper examines the consequences of rural-to-urban labor migration for mental health (as measured by depressive symptoms) and risk behaviors (as measured by smoking). The study also addresses two analytic difficulties facing previous studies—the choice of appropriate comparison group and potential migration selection. Results demonstrate considerable mental health and behavioral costs of migration, which manifest differently for women and men: female migrants tend to internalize the stress experienced in migration and display depressive symptoms, whereas male migrants tend to externalize various stressors by increasing the level of smoking but not initiation of smoking. Nevertheless, factors including family-level social support and a high degree of migrants’ incorporation serve to mitigate the negative impacts of migration.