Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T18:03:43.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Residential Independence of Elderly Immigrants in Canada*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2014

Sharon M. Lee  and
Barry Edmonston
Sharon M. Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Population Research Group, University of Victoria
Barry Edmonston
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Population Research Group, University of Victoria
*
†Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to/ La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Sharon Lee, Ph.D. Department of Sociology University of Victoria PO Box 3050, STN CSC Victoria, BC V8W 3P5 (sml@uvic.ca)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article addresses three questions: Are elderly immigrants less likely than Canadian-born elderly people to reside independently? What are the effects of economic, cultural, and life course factors on residential independence among elderly immigrants? What are the effects of immigrant-specific characteristics such as duration of residence and cultural background? Descriptive results show that elderly immigrants are less likely to reside independently, but the large gap of over 15 per cent is reduced to 5 per cent once economic, cultural, life course, and other factors are considered in the multivariate analysis. Effects of economic, cultural, and life course factors are mostly as expected, as are those of immigrant-specific characteristics such as duration of residence. Although aging immigrants have more-varied living arrangements than their Canadian-born peers, these are likely to increasingly include residential independence.

Résumé

Cet article traite trois questions: les immigrants âgés sont-ils moins susceptibles que les personnes âgées, nées au Canada, de vivre de façon autonome? Quels sont les effets que les facteurs économiques, culturels et du parcours de vie exercent sur l'indépendance résidentielle chez les immigrants âgés? Quels sont les effets des caractéristiques propres aux immigrants, tels que la durée de résidence et le contexte culturel? Les résultats descriptifs montrent que les immigrants âgés sont moins susceptibles de vivre de façon autonome, mais le grand écart de plus de 15 pour cent est réduit à 5 pour cent quand les facteurs économiques, culturels, du parcours de la vie, et d'autres sont pris en compte dans l'analyse multivariée. Les effets des facteurs économiques, culturels et du parcours de vie sont pour la plupart comme prévu, de même que ceux des caractéristiques propres aux immigrants, comme la durée de résidence. Bien que les modes de vie des immigrants âgés sont plus variés que ceux de leurs pairs nés au Canada, ceux-ci sont de plus en plus susceptibles d'inclure l'indépendance résidentielle.

Keywords

ageingCanadaelderlyimmigrantsresidential independencevieillissmentCanadaaînésimmigrantsindépendence résidentielle
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 33 , Issue 4: Special Issue on Aging Families , December 2014 , pp. 359 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the International Symposium on Aging Families, 3– 4 June 2013, University of Victoria, organized and sponsored by the Committee on Families and Family Well-being, Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster, an initiative funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). We thank reviewers for their helpful comments. The findings and interpretations are the sole responsibility of the authors.

References

Blank, S. (1998). Hearth and home: The living arrangements of Mexican immigrants and U.S.-born Mexican Americans. Sociological Forum, 13, 35–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blank, S., & Torrecilha, R. S. (1998). Understanding the living arrangements of Latino immigrants: A lifecourse approach. International Migration Review, 32, 3–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, A., Crouter, A. C., & Landale, N (Eds.) (1997). Immigration and the family: Research and policy on U.S. immigrants. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Boyd, M. (1991). Immigration and living arrangements: Elderly women in Canada. International Migration Review, 25, 4–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, M. (2011). Immigrants in Canada: Trends and issues. In Edmonston, B. & Fong, E. (Eds.), The changing Canadian population (pp. 207–231). Montreal, QC: McGill-Queens University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, M., & Vickers, M. (2000). 100 Years of immigration in Canada. Canadian Social Trends, Autumn. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 11–008.Google Scholar
Burch, T., & Matthews, B. (1987). Household formation in developed countries. Population and Development Review, 13, 495–511.Google Scholar
Burr, J. A., & Mutchler, J. E. (2007). Residential independence among older persons: Community and individual factors. Population Research and Policy Review, 26, 85–101.Google Scholar
Cameron, L. (2000). The residency decision of elderly Indonesians: A nested logit analysis. Demography, 37, 17–27.Google Scholar
Costa, D. L. (1999). A house of her own: Old age assistance and living arrangements of unmarried women. Journal of Public Economics, 72, 39–60.Google Scholar
Edmonston, B. (2013). Introduction to special issue on lifecourse perspectives on immigration. Canadian Studies in Population, 40, 1–8.Google Scholar
Edmonston, B., & Lee, S. M. (2013). Immigrants’ transition to homeownership, 1991 to 2006. Canadian Studies in Population, 40, 57–74.Google Scholar
Elder, G. H. Jr. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychological Quarterly, 57(1), 4–15.Google Scholar
Gaymu, J., S., & Stringer, L. (2012). How does living alone or with a partner influence life satisfaction among older men and women in Europe? Population, English Edition, 67(1), 43–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gee, E. M. (2000). Living arrangements and quality of life among Chinese Canadian elders. Social Indicators Research, 51, 309–329.Google Scholar
Gelfand, D. E. (1989). Immigration, aging, and intergenerational relationships. The Gerontologist, 29, 366–372.Google Scholar
Glick, J. (2000). Nativity, duration of residence, and the lifecourse pattern of extended family living in the U.S. Population Research and Policy Review, 19, 179–198.Google Scholar
Glick, J., & Van Hook, J. (2002). Parents’ coresidence with adult children: Can immigration explain racial and ethnic variations? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64, 240–253.Google Scholar
Gurak, D. T., & Kritz, M. M. (2010). Elderly Asian and Hispanic foreign- and native-born living arrangements: Accounting for differences. Research on Aging, 32, 567–594.Google Scholar
Hays, J., Pieper, C., & Perser, J. (2003). Competing risk of household expansion or institutionalization in later life. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 58B, 11–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jasso, G. (2011). Migration and stratification. Social Science Research, 40, 1292–1336.Google Scholar
Kaida, L., Moyser, M., & Park, S. Y. (2009). Cultural preferences and economic constraints: The living arrangements of elderly Canadians. Canadian Journal on Aging, 28, 303–313.Google Scholar
Kamo, Y. (2000). Racial and ethnic differences in extended family households. Sociological Perspectives, 43, 211–229.Google Scholar
Klinenberg, E. (2012). Going solo: The extraordinary rise and appeal of living alone. New York, NY: Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Kramarow, E. A. (1995). The elderly who live alone in the U.S.: Historical perspectives on household change. Demography, 32, 335–352.Google Scholar
Lai, D. W. (2005). Cultural factors and preferred living arrangement of aging Chinese Canadians. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 19, 71–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, S. M. (2011). Ethnic origins of Canadians. In Edmonston, B. & Fong, E. (Eds.), The Changing Canadian Population (pp. 293–312). Montreal, QC: McGill-Queens University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, S. M., & Edmonston, B. (2011). Age-at-arrival’s effects on Asian immigrants’ socioeconomic outcomes in Canada and the U.S. International Migration Review, 45, 527–561.Google Scholar
McDonald, J. T., & Kennedy, S. (2004). Insights into the “healthy immigrant effect”: Health status and health service use of immigrants in Canada. Social Science and Medicine, 59(8), 1613–1627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, B. A., & Gee, E. M. (1996). “Boomerang kids” and midlife parental marital satisfaction. Family Relations, 45(4), 442–448.Google Scholar
Musick, K., & Bumpass, L. (2012). Reexamining the case for marriage: Union formation and changes in well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74, 1–18.Google Scholar
Myers, D., Gao, X., & Emeka, A. (2009). The gradient of immigrant age-at-arrival effects in socioeconomic outcomes in the U.S. International Migration Review, 43, 205–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newbold, K. B. (1982). Self-rated health within the Canadian immigrant population: Risk and the healthy immigrant effect. Social Science and Medicine, 60(6), 1359–1370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, K. S. (2012). The accordion family: Boomerang kids, anxious parents, and the private toll of global competition. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Priest, G. E. (1985). Living arrangements of Canada’s elderly: Changing demographic and economic factors. The Gerontology Research Center, Simon Fraser University, Occasional Paper no. 85–1.Google Scholar
Ruggles, S. (2007). The decline of intergenerational coresidence in the United States, 1850 to 2000. American Sociological Review, 72, 962–989.Google Scholar
Sarma, S., Hawley, G., & Basu, K. (2009). Transitions in living arrangements of Canadian seniors: Findings from the NPSH longitudinal data. Social Science and Medicine, 68, 1106–1113.Google Scholar
Schneider, D. (2011). Wealth and the marital divide. American Journal of Sociology, 117, 627–667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shapiro, A., & Keyes, C. L. M. (2008). Marital status and social well-being: Are the married always better off? Social Indicators Research, 88, 329–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. P. (2007). The impact of socioeconomic status on health over the lifecourse. Journal of Human Resources, 42, 739–764.Google Scholar
Stata, . (2011). Stata 12 data analysis and statistical software, base reference manual: Vol. 2. College Station, TX: Stata Press.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2007). Total fertility rate in Canada, provinces, and territories, 1981 and 2005. Ottawa, ON: Author. Retrieved 24 August 2012 fromwww.statcan.gc.ca.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2010). Projections of the diversity of the Canadian population: 2006 to 2031. Minister of Industry, Catalogue no. 91-551-X. Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2011a). 2006 census public use microdata file-individuals file documentation and user guide. Catalogue no. 95M0028XVB. Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2011b). Pension plans in Canada and labour force survey. Retrieved 5 December, 2013 fromhttp://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/cst01/labor26a-eng.htm. Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2012a). The daily, Canada’s population estimates: Age and sex, July 1, 2012. Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2012b). The daily, Canada’s population: Age and sex, May 29, 2012. Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2012c). Living arrangements of seniors, 2011, census in brief no. 4. Catalogue no.98-312-X2011003. Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2013). Immigration and ethnocultural diversity in Canada. National household survey, 2011. Catalogue no. 99-010-X2011001. Retrieved 6 November, 2013 fromwww.statcan.gc.ca. Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Turcotte, M., & Schellenberg, G. (2007). A portrait of seniors in Canada, 2006. Ottawa, ON: Ministry of Industry, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 89-519-XIE.Google Scholar
United Nations. (2005). Living arrangements of older persons around the world. New York, NY.Google Scholar
Waite, L., & Hughes, M. E. (1999). At risk on the cusp of old age: Living arrangements and functional status among black, white, and Hispanic adults. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 54B, S136–S144.Google Scholar
Wilmoth, J. M. (2001). Living arrangements among older immigrants in the United States. The Gerontologist, 41, 228–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wingens, M.,Windzio, M., de Valk, H., & Aybek, C. (Eds.). (2011). A life-course perspective on migration and integration. New York, NY: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wister, A. (1990). Living arrangements and informal social support among the elderly. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 6, 33–43.Google Scholar
Wolf, D., & Soldo, B. (1988). Household composition choices of older unmarried women. Demography, 25, 387–404.Google Scholar