Trauma in childhood drives emigration, ESRI research shows

Childhood trauma may be as strong a driver of emigration as unemployment, research shows.

A study of returned emigrants who were away from Ireland for periods between the 1950s and 1980s, found almost 16% of the men who stayed away long-term — 10 years or more — had suffered sexual and/or physical abuse as children, compared to 10% of those who never left.

Men who lived outside Ireland for up to 10 years were almost twice as likely to have parents with alcohol or drug problems as those who never left — a rate of 13.3% compared to 7.5%. For women, the difference was less pronounced, and only applied to short-term migrants.

However it was still significant, as 12.6% of those who stayed away long-term had suffered physical and/or sexual abuse compared to 8.3% of women in stayed in Ireland.

The figures were compiled by the ESRI from 8,000 interviews with people in their 50s up to their 90s which shows emigration to be a common feature of their lives.

One in four of the men (24%) and one in five of the women (21%) had lived away from Ireland for between six months and 10 years. Almost half of those (46% and 43% respectively) had stayed away for more than 10 years.

Given the return to high levels of emigration in the last few years, the ESRI said it was useful to see what could be learned about the experiences of older generations who had taken the same route.

“Economists have typically explained outward migration from Ireland in terms of depressed economic conditions but the data provides a new insight,” said researchers Alan Barrett and Irene Mosca.

They also looked at the impact of emigration on personal wellbeing and found higher levels of alcohol problems among returned male emigrants and higher levels of social isolation among both men and women.

Among men, 7.6% of those who never emigrated suffered from alcohol problems compared to 12.5% of long-term migrants and 15% of short-term migrants.

By contrast, women who left Ireland short-term were more likely to have had problems with alcohol than those who never emigrated, but those who stayed away long-term were the least likely of the lot to suffer in this way.

Feelings of isolation were very common among returned migrants. While 30% of men who never left said they felt socially isolated, the same was true for between 45% and 65% of those who emigrated.

For women, the figures were 33% for those who never emigrated and between 39% and 46% for those who had lived outside the country.

“Even though technology and low-cost airlines are likely to have altered the migration experience, the fundamental experience of removing oneself from the familiarity of home remains the same,” said the researchers. “The results described above point to the stresses that emigration can give rise to and the fact that return migration may not be a simple matter fitting in seamlessly to one’s home country.”