Migration Contexts, Social Support, and Return Migration -- Evidence from the Nang Rong, Thailand, Migrant Follow-up Survey

Kim Korinek, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Barbara Entwisle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Aree Jampaklay, Mahidol University

There have been few analyses of the migration process that delineate the impact of social capital on migrants' decisions to return to origin communities or settle in places of destination. We address the question of settlement versus return among a population of urban Thai migrants who originate from Nang Rong, a mostly agrarian, poorly developed district in northeastern Thailand. Descriptive data demonstrate that urban Thai migrants differ markedly in their access to and sources of social support in the destination. Using longitudinal, multinomial logistic regression analyses to determine the return and settlement patterns of migrants between 1994 and 2000, we find that the decision to return or stay in the destination rests, in part, upon the strength of migrants' ties to persons who can provide support in times of hardship.