Navigating Aging, Social Well-Being, and Cultural Expectations Among Migrant and Transnational Families

The issue of aging and social well-being among migrants and their family members is seldom looked at in migration literature. For many migrant and transnational families, aging is linked to issues of social well-being, which also is tied to intergenerational relationships, and the situational adjustment of family members. Changes in the family structure brought about by migration processes alter relationship quality within migrant and transnational families. In some cases, certain family members internalize or navigate cultural expectations different from their own. How do aging migrants cope with their own experiences of aging while being away from their adult children and kin? How do migrants deal with notions of well-being, care, and relationships with their aging parents back in their home countries/homeland? How can we problematize family relationships within migrant families, especially when the first generation is facing his/her twilight years in his/her new country? How, do parents perceive and live up to ethnocultural expectations of fatherhood or motherhood? This session would like to examine the concept of intergenerational ambivalence, cognitive boundaries, and its significance in problematizing family relations within the context of migration, particularly in issues pertaining to aging and social well-being, and internalizing cultural expectations. This session hopes to encourage further discussions on aging, well-being, and intergenerational ambivalence within these kinds of families. We welcome both empirical and conceptual papers exploring these issues.