Well-being of old natives and immigrants in Europe: does the socio-cultural integration matter

Abstract

The first aim of the study is to explore the determinants of socio-cultural integration and to compare the degree of this integration between natives and immigrants. The second aim is to examine the relationship between socio-cultural integration and the subjective well-being (SWB) of both natives and migrant populations. We use panel data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe across the period 2004-2017 in 29 countries. We apply seemingly unrelated regressions (SURE) to explore the simultaneous relationship between socio-cultural integration and well-being. We consider first and second-generation immigrants and also immigrants from different countries of origin. Our findings suggest that first-generation immigrants are less likely to participate in the socio-cultural activities explored. However, those who are engaged in those activities, participate more frequently than natives. Furthermore, even though immigrants report lower levels of SWB, the latter is significantly enhanced with socio-cultural integration.