Internal Migration and Mental Health: Exploring Selection and Outcomes in a South African Cohort

Carren Ginsburg, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Tyler W. Myroniuk, Department of Public Health, University of Missouri
Chantel Pheiffer, University of Massachusetts at Boston
Bianca D. Moffett, MRC/Wits University Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of teh Witwatersrand
Michael J. White, Brown University

Migration is an important yet understudied social determinant of mental health. This paper employs two waves of data from the Migrant Health Follow-Up Study, a young adult cohort of internal migrants and residents of the Agincourt study site in rural northeast South Africa. Using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), we investigate whether migrants are positively selected on mental health and analyse categorised CES-D scores as a function of migration status. We observe lower average CES-D scores among migrants compared to Agincourt residents at both survey timepoints. However, we do not find evidence of a selection effect on depressive symptoms. In analyses of the CES-D outcome, the influence of migration status is reduced with the inclusion of controls such as employment status. While migration often raises concerns around potential negative mental health impacts, we find that being a migrant is associated with a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms.