Building a new life and (re)making a family

This article presents results of a qualitative analysis based on biographic narratives of three young, well-educated women from Syria. They arrived in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2017 in the context of family reunion. The central question is how young Syrian women navigate between two major projects that ask for their agency, being family and work. It is argued that both occupational career development and the building of a family are ‘agentic projects’ that aim to contribute to the establishment of a new life and to regain continuity. The analyses demonstrate that both projects are closely intertwined. Agency emerges as highly relational and intersecting with the women’s position in the life course, timing of life events, ability to adapt career goals to the new situation, and impact of social contexts on family relations.

Dynamics of change in transnational families ̶ Biographical perspectives on family figurations between Spain and Ecuador

This paper explores the figurational process in transnational families through the study of the biographical self-presentations and the life courses of family members who live apart (in Bilbao, Spain and Guayaquil, Ecuador) but remain interdependent. It asks which factors inside and outside the family figuration influence the negotiation of the fragile power balances along gender and generational lines, with what effect for the structure of positions, family norms, mutual expectations and the division of tasks. Special attention is given to the deep financial and economic crisis affecting Spain between 2008 and 2014 and how this sudden change of the context in one national society impacts the transnational family life. Results highlight the importance of the long-term pre-migration family figurational process for the way transnational family life is being shaped. They also show how a variety of influencing factors, observed during the migration period and located in different national societies and the transnational social space, is intertwined with the logic of this long-term process.

Together or apart? Spousal migration and reunification practices of recent refugees to Germany

This study examines migration and reunification processes among recent male and female refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria in Germany. Specifically, we analyse different types of spousal migration practices (joint arrival versus arriving alone) and the probability of reunification with the left-behind partner after one year of geographic separation, and to what extent this is shaped by socio-economic conditions, children, family networks, and the legal situation of married men and women. Using data from the first and second wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees, collected in 2016 and 2017 in Germany, and applying logistic regression models, we disentangle the heterogeneity of refugees’ migration processes. The results show that couples with minor children are more likely to migrate together compared to childless couples or those with adult children only, and that men and women’s solo migration is associated with the presence of other family members at the destination country. The probability of reunifying with the left-behind partner after one year of separation mainly depends, again, on family networks, with differential effects for men and women. Furthermore, male first-movers’ legal status in Germany is important for a quick reunification with their wives. Our research shows that forced migration in the here studied geographic context is a gendered process and that several characteristics of male migration do not apply to women. Furthermore, conventional explanations for economically motivated migration decisions and patterns must be adapted to the case of forced migration.

What role does timing play in migrants’ transition to marriage? A comparison between endogamous and exogamous marriages

Couple formation and migration are the result of interrelated decision-making processes in the life cycle. Using data from the “Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens (SCIF)” survey, conducted in Italy in 2011-2012 by Istat, we aim to investigate how the timing of migration events affects the type and timing of marriages in the destination country. Time-related models investigate the competing-risk transitions to endogamous and exogamous marriages with Italian spouses. Obtained results provide evidence of the complexity of today’s migrations, and they indicate the coexistence of various patterns among first-generation migrants in Italy, characterised by a plurality of origins, with different projects and behavioural models. The “interrelation of events” hypothesis explains the transitions to both endogamous and exogamous marriages among women, while men usually spend more time finding a partner and achieving economic stability. Despite this general picture, our analysis shows different and original pathways shaping transitions to marriage by reason of migration and considering a number of demographic and migratory characteristics.

A different perspective on exogamy: Are non-migrant partners in mixed unions more liberal in their attitudes toward gender, family, and religion than other natives?

Classic assimilation theory perceives migrant-native intermarriage as both a means to and a result of immigrants’ integration processes into host societies. The literature is increasingly focusing on marital exogamy of immigrants, yet almost nothing is known about their native partners. This explorative study contributes to the literature on migrant integration and social cohesion in Europe by asking whether the native partners in exogamous unions have different attitudes toward gender equality, sexual liberalization, family solidarity, and religiosity/secularization than natives in endogamous unions. Our theoretical considerations are based on preference, social exchange, and modernization theories. We use data of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) of seven countries. The sample size is 38,447 natives aged 18 to 85, of whom about 4% are in a mixed union. The regression results of the study are mixed. Persons in exogamous unions show greater agreement with family solidarity, are thus less individualistic than those in endogamous couples. Yet, mixing is associated with greater openness to sexual liberalization and gender equality as well as more secular attitudes. These findings can only partially be explained by sociodemographic control variables. Hence, immigrants in exogamous unions with natives may integrate into the more liberal milieu of their host societies, in which natives continue to place a high value on providing support to family members.

Introduction to the Special Issue on “Family migration processes in a comparative perspective”

This paper provides an introduction to this Special Issue on “Family migration processes in a comparative perspective”. Following an introduction to the topic, we provide summaries of the papers in this Special Issue and discuss afterwards some overarching theoretical perspectives. This Special Issue contains papers that explore how family lives and intimate relationships are constituted and re-constituted under conditions of transnationality. The authors of the contributing papers, although they have followed very different theoretical and methodological paths, underscore the effect of conducting and facilitating family life and couple relationships during or after an international migration process. They show that the couples and multigenerational families in transnational contexts are constantly undergoing processes of constitution, negotiation, and reconstitution. We conclude that future research should shift from focusing solely on the individual to examining couples and families, and it should adopt dynamic, rather than static perspectives when studying family migration.

Exploring the role of family ties on life satisfaction in later life in Europe

We analyzed the relationship between family ties and the life satisfaction of people between the ages of 50 and 85 years in 13 European countries. We aim at determining the effects of partnership (being currently in a partnership) and parenthood (having remained childless). We use individual-level data from the sixth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The analyses are restricted to respondents who are partnered or who have ever been married. We apply a multivariate analysis to examine the association of life satisfaction with family ties for men and for women. We add controls for age groups and education level, and we pay special attention to the role of individuals’ network size. Our findings indicate that in all countries, having no partner has the strongest and most negative association with life satisfaction. However, there was no clear association between not having children and life satisfaction across countries. We also find an important role of some protector variables, such as having a strong network which, in most countries, significantly increase one’s life satisfaction. We find that there is a relationship between individuals’ family situation and life satisfaction, but it is restricted to being in a partnership. The protection factor of having a partner improves one’s life satisfaction at older ages much more than protection by having children. This finding can reduce the concern about the long run implications of increasing childlessness among younger cohorts as it is not necessarily associated to a higher risk of low life satisfaction.

Grandparenthood, grandchild care and depression among older people in 18 countries

Due to the increasing central role of grandparenthood in later life, sound knowledge about its effects on older people’s health is more and more important. This paper examines the impact of becoming a grandparent, having more grandchildren, and engaging in grandchild care on depressive symptoms. Moreover, based on the structural ambivalence theory, we expect that such effects differ across contexts as (grand)childcare is differently organised across Europe. Taking advantage of the longitudinal structure of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we estimate fixed-effects models. Our results show that women face a decline in depressive symptoms when becoming grandmothers, but neither an increase in the number of grandchildren nor changes in grandchild care are associated with changes in depressive symptoms. The analyses by country highlight differences across Europe, without, however, drawing a clear pattern. Our results show that depression consequences of grandparenthood also vary between countries characterised by similar roles of grandparents. This suggests the need to make available more refined questions about grandparenthood in surveys on older people.