CHILDREN MIGRATION AND THE EMPTY NEST PARENTS: INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND THE ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF THE ELDERLY LEFT BEHIND IN RAWALPINDI PAKISTAN

Abstract

Pakistan is encountering a massive adult migration that is affecting its social fabric in various aspects. The present study has been carved out in context of the adult migration impacts on the elderly left behind in Pakistan. Particularly, the study examines the social, psychological, and economic reciprocity of the elderly left behind owing to their adult (children) outmigration. It has focused to explore the prevalence of social, psychological, and economic well-being of the elderly left behind, to find out the dynamics of the social, psychological, and economic well-being of elderly left behind by demographic variables e.g., gender, residence, etc. To identify the interrelation of the social, economic, and psychological well-being of the elderly left behind in District Rawalpindi, and considering this, to propose a Tridimensional Model of the well-being of elderly left behind and to suggest some measures to improve the social, psychological and economic wellbeing of elderly left behind. The tri-dimensional model of well-being employed the quantitative research design in order to map out the adult migration impact on parents. The study has been conducted in the Rawalpindi district of Punjab Pakistan. The researcher used the self-administered questionnaire and collected the data from the targeted elderly left behind through the multistage sampling technique. The sample size of the study was 400 elderly left behind from the different areas of Rawalpindi. The study concludes through its findings that its findings there is higher reciprocity between social well-being and psychological well-being, economic and social well-being has a strong association, but economic and psychological well-being has not been found significant. The study suggests there is a dire need to devise policies for the well-being of the increasing elderly population. Keywords: Social well-being, psychological well-being, Economic Well Being. Migration.