Abstract
The objective of this study is to assess whether adult children’s migration is associated with overall well-being of left-behind elderly parents in Nepal. A cross-sectional house-to-house survey was conducted among 260 community-dwelling elderly residents of Krishnapur municipality, Nepal. Binary logistic regression was used to identify whether migration of adult children was associated with elderly parent’s self-reported chronic diseases, depressive symptoms, perceived loneliness and social support. More than half of the study household (51.2%) had at least one adult migrant child. Compared to participants without a migrant child, participants with a migrant child had higher odds of self-reported chronic diseases (OR = 1.79, 95%CI: 0.91–3.54), presence of depressive symptoms (OR = 1.07, 95%CI: 0.64–1.77), and self-perceived loneliness (OR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.06–1.42) but except for loneliness, the odds ratio for other indicators of well-being were not statistically significant. Although the literature posits an inverse relationship between adult children’s migration and the overall well-being of the elderly parents, in our study, adult children’s migration was not associated with inverse health outcomes among study participants. However, from a policy perspective, it should be understood that these observations may be transient since the family structure of Nepalese society is rapidly changing.
Highlights
In 2010, the global population of elderly, aged 65 or older, was 524 million, representing eight percent of the world’s population [1]
A total of 260 elderly adults with a mean age of 69 years participated in the study Table 1
This study aimed to examine if adult children’s migration was associated with the physical, mental and social well-being of the left behind elderly parents and found that except for loneliness other indicators of well-being were not significantly associated with adult children’s migration
Summary
In 2010, the global population of elderly, aged 65 or older, was 524 million, representing eight percent of the world’s population [1]. In 2011, there were 2.1 million senior citizens in Nepal, comprising 8.1% of the total population, and showing a marked increase from the 2001 census [3,4]. Chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, and falls, are common among elderly populations [5]. In addition to physical and mental health problems, elderly adults face many social challenges; of which loneliness and social isolation are significant concerns [6].
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