Migranten van het eerste uur: Een verloren generatie op leeftijd?

Abstract

Scholarly attention for the position of older Moroccan and Turkish migrants has been rising in recent years. The focus lies on their relatively high vulnerability, as compared to non-migrant older Dutch their financial situation and living conditions are less comfortable and they have more physical and psychosocial health problems. Still, they have benefited from taking the step to migrate. Compared to age peers in the home country they are more prosperous and have access to better medical care, their (grand)children can look forward to a better future, and there is more space for personal freedom here. Moreover, the general picture of vulnerability does not do justice to the many older Moroccan and Turkish migrants who do have the right resources to grow old in a resilient manner. There is also increasing attention for the best type of care for those who need it the most. The dominant norm within the Moroccan and Turkish communities of children being their parents’ caregivers is increasingly clashing with the busy professional and family lives of the informal carers. One has to learn to accept that informal care is not always the only good or even the most suitable type of care. The current problem is that although there are culture-specific and multicultural (residential) care facilities, these are not enough to meet future care demands. Structurally fostering cultural sensitivity in regular care institutions is really needed too. A hallmark showing that migrant-friendly policies are being implemented can speed up this process.

Subjective well‐being of older migrants in the Netherlands: A conceptual and methodological discussion

“…For instance, Morocco is generally considered to be less secular than Turkey (Smits et al, 2010). Furthermore, the migration histories of different groups exhibit variations: Moroccan Dutch more frequently originated from rural areas in their home country (Dagevos et al, 2006; Fokkema et al, 2009), while family reunification proceeded at a faster pace among migrants from Turkey (Beets et al, 2008). Differences are also reflected in outcomes of health and well‐being.…”

Cross-Cultural Mental State Reading Ability in Antillean Dutch, Moroccan Dutch, and Dutch Young Adults

“…The bicultural groups in the Netherlands are characterized by this positioning of the three cultures, which is intensified by their migration histories, immigration policies, and demographic factors (de Valk & Billari, 2007; Merz et al, 2009; Stupar et al, 2014). Early Moroccan migrants (who came mostly as migrant workers, many from the Berber subculture of the Rif area) were encouraged to maintain their culture of origin because of the temporary intention of their stay (Fokkema, Harmsen, & Nicolaas, 2009; Stupar et al, 2014; van Ditzhuijzen, 2005). Migrants from the Dutch Antilles (a former colony and [mostly] still part of the Dutch Kingdom) came for educational purposes, have been exposed to the Dutch culture for much longer, and tend to have higher educational levels than Moroccan Dutch individuals (de Valk & Billari, 2007; Ooijevaar, Bloemendaal, & Boerdam, 2016; Schalk-Soekar et al, 2004).…”