Is migration in later life good for wellbeing? A longitudinal study of ageing and selectivity of internal migration

Abstract

Migration scholarship has recently paid attention to lifecourse and non‐economic effects of moving house. Yet consideration of the effects of internal migration in later life has been relatively neglected despite their implications for social and spatial inequalities. Thus we address two questions: how trajectories of wellbeing in later life vary for movers and non‐movers, and how the event of moving affects wellbeing. In both cases we distinguish between “voluntary” and “involuntary” movers. We use 10 years (2002–2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) to analyse trends in wellbeing for age cohorts and to examine how wellbeing changes through the event of moving. The Control, Autonomy, Selfrealisation and Pleasure (CASP‐19) measure of wellbeing is used. We find that, after controls for demographic and socio‐economic characteristics, involuntary movers have lower levels of wellbeing than stayers or voluntary movers; and involuntary movers experience a stabilisation in the decline in wellbeing following migration which is not seen for voluntary movers. So, migration in later life is good for wellbeing, maintaining advantageous wellbeing trajectories for voluntary movers and improving wellbeing trajectories for involuntary movers. These findings imply a rich potential of ELSA and similar longitudinal datasets for examining residential mobility; the need for ageing inequalities studies to take more account of residential mobility; the need for internal migration scholarship to pay greater attention to reason for move; and for policy to consider the potentially beneficial effects of residential mobility in later life, particularly for those in adverse circumstances.

The gringos of Cuenca: How retirement migrants perceive their impact on lower income communities

“…This gives heightened meaning to their ageing process, allowing them to use their economic advantages in ways that highlight their roles as providers and patrons, rather than as gentrifiers and settlers. This no doubt affects their sense of well‐being, a theme more fully explored by other contributors to this special section (Finney & Marshall, ).…”

Perspektiva životnog puta u istraživanjima starenja i migracija

“…Autori, baveći se raznim temama pri istraživanju mobilnosti stanovništva, razlikuju unutarnje migracije (Čipin, Strmota i Međimurec, 2016;Finney i Marshall, 2018) i seljenje preko državnih granica (Edmonston, 2013). S obzirom na perspektivu životnog puta migranata pregledna je klasifikacija istraživačkih tema G. Jasso (2003: 334), koja ih je grupirala u: karakteristike migranata pri doseljenju, a koje utječu na prilagodbu -dob, spol, zemlja podrijetla, razina obrazovanja (Finney i Marshall, 2018;Podgorelec, Klempić Bogadi i Gregurović, 2020); stupanj uspješnosti -od asimilacije, akulturacije i prilagodbe do integracije u društvo primitka (Berry, 1990; Amit, 2012; Amit i Bar-Lev, 2014; Podgorelec, Gregurović i Klempić Bogadi, 2019) odnosno neuspješnosti -odustajanje i povratak u zemlju podrijetla ili seljenje u treću zemlju; uspjeh migranata u dječjoj dobi ili druge generacije migranata (djetinjstvo i školovanje u zemlji doseljenja) (Pivovarova i Powers, 2019); demografski i ekonomski učinci na društva podrijetla i primitka -studije gubitka i dobitka (seljenje kvalificiranih migranata, umjetnika, poduzetnika) (Gregurović, 2019), doznake (Nzima, Duma i Moyo, 2017) i sl. Edmonston (2013: 3) oslanja se u objašnjenju prednosti uporabe perspektive životnog puta u istraživanjima (i)migracije na radove jednog od vodećih teoretičara perspektive životnog puta Glena Eldera (1994,1998).…”

“…Povezanost pojedinčeva života s drugima koncept je koji naglašava povezanost migranata s obitelji, prijateljima, susjedima i društvenom mrežom, koji pomažu pri iseljavanju iz zemlje podrijetla (sponzoriranje migracije i sl.) ili pak pri doseljavanju u zemlju primitka (Finney i Marshall, 2018;Podgorelec, Gregurović i Klempić Bogadi, 2019;Podgorelec, Klempić Bogadi i Gregurović, 2020). Djelovanje pojedinca odnosno odluka za seljenje ovise o utjecaju društvenih institucija tijekom raznih životnih etapa, o migracijskim politikama u zemlji podrijetla i zemlji primitka koje određuju »poželjne« karakteristike doseljenika -dob, spol, obrazovanje, znanje jezika i sl.…”

Geographies of the ageing–migration nexus: An introduction

“…Walsh deploys “critical geographies of home” and uses in‐depth repeat interviewing with older Britons to explore their home‐making practices back in Britain; Cela and Bettin's study draws on German Socio‐Economic Panel data to provide a detailed quantitative analysis of subjective and objective wellbeing‐related factors implicated in the decision to return to the country of origin in older age. Wellbeing in later life is also at the core of Finney and Marshall's () paper, which, based on data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, discusses the potentially advantageous effects of residential mobility in later life, and how this can help to explain ageing inequalities at various scales.…”