Mothering from afar: the subjective well-being of Eastern European migrants in Italy

Transnational parenthood is a strongly gendered experience. Both emigrated women and men sustain their left-behind children’s needs through material provision and remittances. However, mothers in particular are expected to continue providing emotional care from a distance. Such pressure placed on migrant mothers is reported to negatively affect their well-being and limit their chances of integration in host societies. This chapter aims to provide the first quantitative appraisal on the relationship between transnational motherhood and Eastern European migrant women’s subjective well-being in Italy. By applying heteroskedastic ordered modelling to the Istat Survey on Social condition and integration of foreign citizens 2011-2012, twelve health-related subjective well-being indicators are analysed in relation to migrant women’s family status. Findings show that, compared to childless migrants and migrant mothers living with their children in Italy, transnational mothers suffer from lower subjective well-being in both the physical and the mental health domains. The chapter concludes by discussing the need to promote radical improvement in migration data production and collection by consistently assuming a transnational and gender-sensitive perspective in survey design to increase awareness of the gendered nature of many aspects of migration, including family relations across borders.