Successful Ageing among Persons with a Migration Background

Project Information

SAMBa

Grant agreement ID: 895537

DOI

10.3030/895537

Project closed

EC signature date 24 March 2020

Start date 1 February 2021

End date 2 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 187 572,48

EU contribution

€ 187 572,48

Coordinated by

ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAM
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SAMBa (Successful Ageing among Persons with a Migration Background)

Reporting period: 2021-02-01 to 2023-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Many countries in Western Europe have large and growing populations of older Turkish migrants. Turkish migrants tend to have relatively poor later-life outcomes in a broad range of areas. Efforts to improve the ways in which Turkish migrants age may be hampered by a lack of knowledge, given the limited attention to ageing in the study of immigrants and to immigrants in the study of ageing. Rowe and Kahn’s model of successful ageing (SA), which has for decades been presented as a benchmark of how people should ideally become older, may be of limited use for the case of older Turkish migrants, given the plausibly specific ageing preferences of this group, the fact that risk factors for adverse later-life outcomes may be different for migrants than for non-migrants, and the fact that migrants may be confronted with specific challenges, such as discriminatory practices. A redefined model of ageing well is therefore called for. The envisaged project will contribute to this through the pursuit of three sets of specific research objectives:
(1.) To provide insights (a) in the perceptions of SA held by older Turkish migrants, (b) in potential differences between these perceptions and the views of older non-migrants, and (c) in variation by gender in these views.
(2.) To assess (a) whether the impact of particular socio-demographic factors on (dimensions of) SA differs between older Turkish migrants and older non-migrants, and (b) whether differences by migrant status are gendered.
(3.) To explain variation within the group of older Turkish migrants on (dimensions of) SA.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In addition to secondary analyses of various survey datasets, I also collected and analyzed new data, both qualitative and quantitative, among middle-aged and older Turkish migrants in the Netherlands. The data collected specifically for this project have been made available for scholarly reuse through disposition in Erasmus University Rotterdam's open access data repository. In the last project year, access has been acquired to Norwegian register data to assess whether the health impact of lifecourse events in older age, e.g. spousal loss or later-life divorce, differ between older migrants and native Norwegians without a migration background.

As of July 2023, two articles based on research conducted as part of the project have been published in international peer-reviewed journals. Four more manuscripts based on project research (about, respectively, health selection into migration; trends (2003-2020) in later-life sports participation among five ethnic groups in the Netherlands; the contribution of parity to ethnic differences in mothers' body mass index; older migrants' projected demand for long-term care in the Netherlands) are under review at international peer-reviewed journals, and two manuscripts are in preparation.
I also presented project research at two academic conferences and co-organized a special session about ageing as a migrant in the Netherlands for the Dutch-Flemmish Sociology Day 2022 in Groningen and participated in and interdisciplinary research seminar on (ethnic differences in) the implications of divorce in Oslo. In May 2023, I gave an invited talk about the research conducted as part of the project at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

To generate impact beyond academia, I moreover co-authored a popular article based on project research for Geron, a non-academic outlet for policymakers and practitioners working with older people. Findings from the project were also used as input for lectures on, respectively, social determinants of health and older migrants that were delivered in Erasmus University Rotterdam's elective minor course Public Health.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship also enabled me to further develop myself as a scholar. For example, I applied new techniques during the project and gained experience with data collection and data management. I also participated in multi-day courses on Q-methodology and the analysis of Dutch administrative data. I moreover received a tailored hands-on introduction to the analysis of Norwegian register data. I furthermore started the University Teaching Qualification trajectory. During the project, my personal development was monitored semi-annual progress review meetings with my supervisor at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Critics have argued that the SA framework reflects a narrow, medicalized view of ageing. The perspective on ageing taken in the SAMBa-project was broader and interdisciplinary. Consistent with the principles of life course epidemiology, the project recognized that not only contemporaneous factors, but also circumstances and events experienced earlier in the life course shape how people age. Taking a more sociological approach, the study of the social engagement aspects of SA were as prominent as the study of the disease, disability, and function aspects on which most epidemiological SA studies tend to focus. The sociological perspective furthermore meant that the project went beyond the strong emphasis on individual agency that characterizes much of the SA literature. I examined potential structural barriers to SA posed by, for instance, discrimination. Also in line with sociological traditions, I investigated the meaning that older people with a migration background ascribe to the concept of SA.

Portrait Thijs van den Broek