Migration Decision-Making, Intergenerational Care Expectation and Ageing Futures

Global migration and population aging are two pressing social issues worldwide. As the migration of younger generations impacts the extent to which aging parents can receive old-age care, decision-making regarding migration within the intergenerational care context has gained significance both socially and academically. Despite its importance, migration research has rarely explored how different generations negotiate migration decisions and formulate intergenerational care plans before migration occurs. Situated at the intersection of migration and aging, this paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the decision-making dynamics between aging parents and their adult children in Hong Kong, a region currently experiencing a new wave of migration.

Using a mix of qualitative in-depth interviews and visual care mapping, this study captures the perspectives of both generations on migration and intergenerational care expectations. Specifically, this paper investigates how the intergenerational migration decision-making process impacts the older generation’s care expectations and their envisioning of aging futures. It focuses on factors such as consensus or discrepancies in care expectations between generations, intergenerational intimacy, care resources and constraints, and power dynamics. By elucidating aging parents’ involvement in, influence on, and autonomy (or lack thereof) over decisions concerning migration and post-migration care arrangements, the paper discusses the readiness of aging parents to embrace independent aging while adapting to changes brought by their adult children’s migration.

Overall, the findings of this paper contribute to the ongoing intellectual debate about the evolving intergenerational contract and shed light on the dynamic relationship between migration and intergenerational care. The findings will also inform social and migration policies, as well as family and elderly service provision, providing insights into how aging parents and adult children can be better supported to ensure older parents’ old age wellbeing and maintain intergenerational care relations both locally and transnationally.