Our study drew on original data collected in Durham, NC, and four sending communities in Mexico to examine differences in women's relaionship power that are associated with migration and residence in the United States. We analyzed the personal, relationship, and social resources that condition the association between migration and women's power and the usefulness of the Relationship Control Scale (RCS)for capturing these effects. We found support for perspectives that emphasize that migration may simultaneously mitigate and reinforce gender inequities. Relative to their nonmigrant peers, Mexican women in the United States average higher emotional consonance with their partners, but lower relationship control and sexual negotiation power. Methodologically, we found that the RCS is internally valid and useful for measuring the impact of resources on women's power. However, the scale appears to combine diverse dimensions of relationship power that were differentially related to migration in our study.

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education Models, Psychological educational status psychological model Interpersonal Relations psychological aspect human Factor Analysis, Statistical Women's Rights middle aged statistics sex difference North Carolina comparative study social dominance ethnology Mexico human relation United States Humans Occupations Hispanic Cross-Cultural Comparison Adolescent occupation Acculturation Socioeconomic Factors female Behavior socioeconomics questionnaire cultural factor Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Article group process Group Processes Questionnaires adult Women migration Sex Factors Emigration and Immigration factorial analysis decision making Power (Psychology) attitude to health Mexican Americans