Resource incentives for return to Mexico for older Mexicans with diabetes in the United States

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of family, health care, and economic resources on the relationship between diabetes and health in older Mexicans in the United States and Mexico. This investigation utilizes a mixed-methods approach in order to address the four research aims of this dissertation: first, to determine what familial, economic, and healthcare resources are available to older Mexicans with diabetes in the United States and Mexico; second, to establish the effect of familial, economic, and healthcare resources on the relationship between diabetic status and health in older Mexicans in Mexico and the United States; third, to determine if migration has an effect on the relationship between diabetic status and health in Mexico and the United States when taking into account familial and economic resources, as well as healthcare access; and finally, to establish if there is incentive for older Mexicans with diabetes to return to Mexico to care for their health. I conducted quantitative analysis using the Mexican Health and Aging Survey, the Health and Retirement Survey, and The Hispanic Established Population of Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly. In addition, I conducted in-depth interviews with Mexicans in Mexico who have diabetes and had previously migrated to the United States. Quantitative results demonstrate a health and mortality disadvantage for older Mexicans who live in the United States and Mexico. Resources had little to no effect on the relationship between diabetic status and health in the United States. Having resources did not have a positive impact in Mexico either; however, in certain cases Mexicans with diabetes were placed at a disadvantage without them. Economics had the largest effects and hold the largest incentive for return. Migrants who are able to tap economic resources from the United States are able to access the same resources as “better off” non-migrants, therefore giving them an advantage.