Transnational Migration's Psychosocial Impacts for Kaqchikel Maya Migrants' Wives

The impacts of undocumented transnational migration are complex and far-reaching. In rural indigenous Guatemala, wives of transnational migrants are particularly affected as they navigate changes in daily life. Eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork among Kaqchikel Maya transnational families reveals that men's migration decreases the psychosocial health of their wives. Managing economic changes, filling the role of both mother and father, isolation, and fears of abandonment result in mental stress and profound sadness among the women. However, these struggles faced by migrants' wives are often unacknowledged at the community level, as receipt of remittances position wives as “lucky.” This article highlights the ways in which the transnational migration of men alters the psychosocial health of their wives who do not migrate and suggests strategies for the implementation of psychosocial health interventions.