Culture, Migration and Aging: European Perspectives

In the next years, a large number of first generation immigrants of the 1970s will approach retirement age in many European countries. As a permanent return to the country of origin seems to be enacted more seldom by today’s immigrants after retirement than in the past, aging and migration have become key issues in many receiving societies.
The present symposium has the aim to address the impact of earlier migration experiences and further life choices on the process of aging and in particular on well-being of older immigrants, and to identify particular needs and resources of older migrants and their families.
It brings together researchers from four different European countries which are characterized by a large share of immigrants in their population, namely Germany, UK, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Contributions focus on several country specific immigrant (and national) groups, and different life domains are addressed (the situation of older workers; the roles of ethnic identity, acculturative stress, social networks and family relations for different aspects of well-being; future plans and preferences of immigrants regarding future care arrangements). Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are applied. The presented studies will be integrated with respect to similarities and differences between immigrant groups and acculturation contexts, and it will be discussed how Europe-specific findings might be transferable to the US context. Implications for policies regarding aging and migration will be considered. Further, lacks in current knowledge will be addressed and suggestions for future research activities will be presented.