DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36178.v1
title: Caribbean Migrations: Jamaica Returned Migrants Study, 2010-2012
title: Version 1

description: This study is the current arm of the Caribbean Migration Project, designed to generate a database of Jamaicans, returned residents and those with no international migration history, across the income classes and residential areas
in Kingston and St. Andrew, Manchester and St. Ann. Jamaica was chosen as the inaugural country for investigation as a pilot for the processes involved in the data collection and fine-tuning the protocols to be extended to other Caribbean countries. The four parishes in Jamaica were purposively selected because of their proportion of returning residents in comparison with the country's other parishes. Respondents were thought to represent a sample of persons from a range of parishes in which there is a high proportion of returned residents (St. Andrew and Manchester) to others in which the majority of the population has no international migration history (St. Ann and Kingston). Demographic variables in this study include age, family size and structure, ethnicity, education, and travel and migration history.
description: The study had three broad aims:

To investigate the phenomenon of health selectivity or why subgroups of persons from within the same ethnic group (Jamaicans) have different physical and mental health outcomes, examining similarities and differences of Jamaicans who remain "at home" versus those who travel abroad;
To explore the differences in and predictors of racial, ethnic, class and color identities of individuals who are natives living in Jamaica and those lived outside of Jamaica; and
To examine Jamaican family ties and transnational community linkages, including remittances and outward-bound monies, or financial assistance sent from Jamaican-based family members to others in other countries, looking linkages between the psychosocial and the financial factors, the implications of these ties, and some of the factors that facilitate similarities and differences in these connections for the Jamaican diaspora.
description: Since this study gathered a wide range of information from the participants, there are several other arms/topics of interest to be examined including:

The complexities of migration amongst Jamaicans;
Differences in perceived discrimination amongst Jamaicans with and without international migration history;
Issues of poverty, trauma, violence, and health (physical and mental);
Prevalence of interpersonal partner violence and sociodemographic, physical and mental health correlates;
Resilience among Jamaicans, prevalence and correlates;
Meaning of mental health and illness in a Jamaican sample; and
Living conditions and prevalence of risk factors for CNCDs among various poverty levels.
description: Weights include non-response weights, post-stratification weights, and unequal probability of selection weight. Please refer to "Documentation on Weights" for more information on the weights in this study.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Scales include Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, CYRM-28 scales, and TIPI subscales.
description: Men and women, ages 18 years and older were sampled from communities in the four parishes using a multi-stage sampling strategy. A combination of a Proportionally Stratified Multistage Random Cluster Sampling and Quota Sampling Strategy was used. The sample frame was stratified on the basis of community poverty level, using the Deprivation Quintiles as the indicator; a total of two communities randomly selected from each poverty quintile; and a minimum quota of respondents (20 voluntarily returned migrants and 7 persons with no international migration history) was determined, from which one household member would be sampled from each household within the communities until the quota for each community was met.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Restricted-Use Dataset
DS2: Public-Use Dataset
description: Adults living in Jamaica. Smallest Geographic Unit: Community