Narratives: a review of concepts, determinants, effects, and uses in migration research

Narratives are increasingly cited by scholars, international organisations, NGOs, and governments as one of the most powerful factors in migration politics and policymaking today. However, narratives are typically conceptually underspecified, with relatively little known about why some narratives become publicly popular or the nature of their effects. This article reviews recent scholarly advances to specify what narratives are and to offer a novel theoretical framework to better explain variation in their public popularity and effects. It is argued that the popularity of a narrative, defined as a generalisable, constructed and selective depiction of reality across time, is determined by a combination of contextual factors, such as issue complexity and salience, the plausibility of the narrative and the traits of the recipient of the narrative. These findings are relevant for policymakers and, particularly, communicators. However, although significant work has gone into explaining how narratives affect migration policymaking, the often-assumed effects of narratives on attitudes to immigration and migration behaviour have rarely been robustly tested.

Family Complexity and Parents’ Migration: The Role of Repartnering and Distance to Non-Resident Children

Recent research suggests that the increasing complexity of family life could be a factor in declines in internal migration (long-distance moves within countries). As many separated parents continue to share childcare responsibilities or have visiting arrangements, their mobility is naturally constrained. However, the relationship between family complexity and individual migration behaviour has never been studied explicitly. We compare separated parents with parents in two-parent families in their likelihood of migrating within the Netherlands. We use detailed records of parents’ partnership status and children’s residential situation. An event-history analysis was performed using register-based population data (N = 442,412). We find that separated, single parents are more likely to migrate than those in two-parent families. The same is true for repartnered mothers, while repartnered fathers are about as likely to migrate as fathers in two-parent families. Separated parents’ migration behaviour depends on where their children live. Having non-resident children who live some distance away is associated with a much higher likelihood of migrating than having resident children or non-resident children who live nearby. Having both resident and non-resident children who live nearby—shared residence (i.e. joint physical custody) is likely common in this situation—is associated with a considerably lower likelihood of migrating than having resident children only. Based on our findings, one would expect family complexities stemming from parental separation to be associated with higher rather than lower levels of migration. However, potential future increases in the number of parents who share physical custody after separation might lead to lower migration levels.

Migration behaviour of 2 clinically excellent cementless stems with different design rationales: 5-year follow-up of a randomised RSA-study

Introduction: Excellent long-term survival has been reported for both the Taperloc and the Mallory-Head cementless stems. However, little is known about the migration behaviour of these stems which have different design rationales. The purpose of this randomised clinical trial was to compare the migration and clinical outcomes of these stems during 5 years of follow-up. Methods: 42 consecutive hips in 38 patients scheduled to receive cementless THA were randomised to either a Taperloc or a Mallory-Head stem. Evaluation took place preoperatively and postoperatively on the second day, at 6, 12, 26, and 52 weeks, and annually thereafter. Primary outcome was stem migration measured using roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA) and secondary outcomes were the Harris Hip Score (HHS) and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). No patients were lost to follow-up; in 1 patient the THA was removed due to deep infection 3 months postoperatively. In 6 hips migration measurements were not possible due to insufficient marker configuration. Results: Throughout the follow-up period of 5 years, 3-dimensional migration was comparable between the Taperloc and the Mallory-Head stems ( p-values > 0.05). However, at the 5-year follow-up point the retroversion of the Mallory-Head stem was 0.9° more than the Taperloc stem ( p = 0.04). Initial subsidence and retroversion were respectively as large as 6.8 mm and 3.6° for the Taperloc stem and 5 mm and 3.6° for the Mallory-Head stem. After the first postoperative year, both implants had stabilised. The mean increment of HHS, as well as the SF-36 scores during the 5-year follow-up, were comparable between the 2 stems. Conclusions: The excellent long-term survival of both designs was confirmed in this study showing comparable initial migration with subsequent stabilisation. However, the Taperloc design with a flat, wedged geometry showed better rotational stability.