Conducting Empirical Research With Older Migrants: Methodological and Ethical Issues.

This special section brings together a set of four articles containing novel quantitative and qualitative research on older migrants in Europe. Detailed reporting and reflection is presented on fieldwork decisions and how certain challenges were tackled, and their implications. This introductory article aims to lay the groundwork for a better understanding and awareness of methodological and ethical challenges researchers face when designing and conducting empirical studies involving older migrants. Highlighted are the main methodological issues and ethical dilemmas we observe in studying older migrants, which can serve as a wake-up call for researchers to be more critical throughout the process. We end with a plea for more collaboration between researchers in the field of older migrants, by sharing their data despite potential methodological and ethical problems.

The isolation paradox: A comparative study of social support and health across migrant generations in the U.S.

Social isolation and international migration have potentially adverse effects on physical and mental health, and may compound each other when migrants have limited access to supportive social networks. This problem may be particularly serious in older age groups, who are more vulnerable to illness and isolation. We analyze population representative data from a detailed survey of social networks and health in the San Francisco Bay Area, U.S., to compare access to different types of social support and health outcomes among first-generation migrants, second-generation migrants, and nonmigrants between 50 and 70 years old (N = 674). We find that first-generation migrants report systematically lower levels of social support and poorer self-rated health compared to nonmigrants, even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. While social support is strongly and positively associated with health in the general population, this relationship is null or, in some cases, reversed among migrants in the first and second generations. These results provide further evidence that migration operates as an adverse social determinant of health, and suggest an isolation paradox: migrants are healthier than nonmigrants only at very low levels of social support, and they do not experience the same beneficial health effects of social support as nonmigrants.

A Closer Look at Loneliness: Why Do First-Generation Migrants Feel More Lonely Than Their Native Dutch Counterparts?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Along with the current aging demographics in the Netherlands, the number of older first-generation migrants is also increasing. Despite studies suggesting a higher quantity of social contacts of migrants, loneliness is more common among migrants as compared to native Dutch. We theorize that migrants experience more emotional and social loneliness due to a lower satisfaction with social relationships and lower participation in social activities, respectively, compared to their native counterparts. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We use data from Statistics Netherlands (N = 7,920) with first-generation migrants aged 40 years and older and their Dutch counterparts. Contact frequency, household composition, satisfaction with social relationships, relationship quality with the partner, and social activities, are used as main predictors and separate regression models for social and emotional loneliness are analyzed. RESULTS: Compared to the native Dutch, first-generation migrants are both socially and emotionally more lonely. Migrants have a similar contact frequency as the native Dutch, but are less satisfied with their social relationships, which contributes to their higher emotional, social, and overall loneliness. Migrants engage less in social activities but this does not put them at additional risk of loneliness. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Migrants experience more social and emotional loneliness and are less satisfied with their social relationships compared to their native counterparts. Interventions should focus on reducing both social and emotional loneliness among older migrants. Specific attention should be paid to fostering satisfying social interactions. Additionally, encouraging migrants to broaden their social network may reduce social loneliness.