Migration, Care, and the Linked Lives of Dual-Earner Households

Abstract

In this paper we explore how family relations influence the migration decisions of partners in dual-earner households. Specifically, we focus on how care responsibilities link the lives of partners, their children, and their parents, and how these ‘linked lives’ enable and constrain migration. We adopt a grounded theory approach and interview partners in two suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. The results have two implications for the development of family migration theory. First, as dual-earner households make family migration decisions in the context of linked lives, these migration decisions cannot be understood as either economically driven or care driven, being contextualised by both spheres. Second, the importance of intergenerational links may increase the incidence of return migration of later-life dual-earner households.