The Life Satisfaction of Immigrants in Canada: Does Time Since Arrival Matter more than Income?

Monteiro, Laura; Haan, Michael

doi:10.1007/s12134-021-00899-x

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Safi (2010) provides the most comprehensive international evidence on this negative association: using data from the ESS, immigrants reported lower levels of LS in all of the 13 European countries included in the study, with LS being lowest among immigrants who arrived in the host country 5-10 years ago. Contrary to our findings, time since migration did not have a significant effect on immigrants' LS in Canada (Monteiro and Haan 2021), but the same study found income to be a predictor of their LS. Focusing on LS and life evaluation in a pooled sample of European and Anglo-Saxon countries that were included in the Gallup World Poll, Olgiati et al (2013) found that higher incomes are associated with higher well-being outcomes for immigrants in only a few countries, suggesting that other factors are important determinants of migrants' LS.…”

Section: Ls and Migrationcontrasting

confidence: 99%

Why do immigrants become less happy? Explanations for the decrease in life satisfaction of immigrants in Germany over time

2022

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We investigate the life satisfaction (LS) trajectories of immigrants in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1984 to 2015, we find that recently arrived immigrants are more satisfied with their lives than comparable German natives. However, their LS decreases more over time than that of their German counterparts; that is, we observe a negative years-since-migration (YSM)–LS association. We propose and test five possible explanations for this observation: (1) differential effects of declining health between natives and immigrants, (2) the stability of the YSM–LS association over time and across samples, (3) the effects of non-random sample attrition, (4) immigrants’ integration in German society, and (5) differences in the YSM effect across ethnic backgrounds. We find that the decrease in LS among immigrants over time is mostly explained by a combination of deteriorating health and an increase in the importance of health for LS. The extent to which immigrants’ LS changes over time in the host country partly depends on their country of origin. The results suggest that there is scope for policies targeted towards immigrants’ better utilisation of the healthcare system and their integration in host societies to improve immigrants’ LS.

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Section: Ls and Migrationcontrasting

confidence: 99%

Why do immigrants become less happy? Explanations for the decrease in life satisfaction of immigrants in Germany over time

2022

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“…Nonetheless, they are a heterogeneous population: They come from different origin countries, have different cultural backgrounds, and vary in their ability to form networks and integrate in the host country (Ciobanu et al 2017;King et al 2017). While existing research often groups migrants from different countries of origin (Arpino/de Valk 2018;Calvo et al 2017;Monteiro/Haan 2022), we focus on a very specifi c migration stream. This article thus aims to contribute to the scarce literature on older migrant well-being by 1) examining the difference in life satisfaction levels between three groups of older adults: Italian migrants living in Switzerland, Swiss natives, and Italian stayers living in Italy, and 2) analyzing the differences in the determinants of life satisfaction across these three groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, some studies revealed that the disparity between native-born Europeans and migrants does not diminish with time or across generations (Amit 2010;Kogan et al 2018;Safi 2010), while others found that this difference does diminish over generations (Arpino/de Valk 2018). Furthermore, Monteiro and Haan's (2022) research on migrants in Canada found no difference between the life satisfaction of migrants and that of Canadian natives when controlling for sociodemographic variables, and year of arrival in Canada has no signifi cant effect on life satisfaction. The implications of having a migration background are therefore still unclear, and migration may infl uence life satisfaction differently for different populations.…”

Section: The Migrant-native Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Satisfaction Among Italian Migrants, Italian Stayers, and Swiss Natives: Who Fares Better?

Dones

2023

CPoS

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Although reasons for migration may differ, it can be argued that international migrants have a common goal: improving the living conditions and well-being for themselves and their families. However, we still know relatively little about how older migrants evaluate their well-being and the implications of migration for their life satisfaction. This paper aims to contribute to this body of research. In a first part, we focus on two comparisons: 1) The life satisfaction level of older Italian migrants in Switzerland compared to that of older Swiss natives, and 2) The life satisfaction level of older Italian migrants in Switzerland compared to that of older Italian stayers in Italy. In a second part, we investigate the determinants of life satisfaction in each of these three groups. The article draws on an original survey carried out in Switzerland and Italy (N = 1,654). Against the current comparative literature on older migrants and non-migrants, we hypothesized that older Italian migrants in Switzerland display lower life satisfaction than older Swiss natives, and that older Italian migrants in Switzerland display higher life satisfaction than older stayers in Italy. We expected to observe these differences even when accounting for sociodemographic characteristics. While migrants’ average life satisfaction levels are lower than the levels of Swiss natives, this difference is fully mediated by sociodemographic variables. Migrants also report slightly lower life satisfaction levels than stayers; this difference remains significant at the p<0.1 level but diminishes as we control for sociodemographic characteristics. When investigating the life satisfaction determinants of each group, we find similarities among the three groups: being in good health and being able to make financial ends meet are positively correlated with life satisfaction, while experiencing age-related discrimination is negatively correlated with life satisfaction. Having a partner is only positively correlated with satisfaction for Swiss natives, and religiosity is only positively correlated with satisfaction for stayers. The importance of this paper is threefold: 1) it investigates older migrants’ life satisfaction, an area of research that is underdeveloped, 2) it compares migrants to stayers, a comparison that is seldom found in the current literature but necessary to understand the implications of having a migratory background, and 3) it highlights the importance of policy interventions addressing the socioeconomic inequalities of older migrants.

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What is the Relationship Between the Perceived Quality of Neighbourhood and the Self-reported Life Satisfaction in Immigrants Versus Natives in Europe?

Ambrosetti,

Paparusso

2023

Int. Migration & Integration

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Subjective well-being (SWB) is emerging as an important measure of individual and societal progress. Among the many individual factors associated with SWB, the quality of the neighbourhood is recently receiving growing attention as a factor shaping self-reported life satisfaction in contemporary societies. However, to the best of our knowledge, studies focusing on the perceived quality of the neighbourhood are still scant. We aim to fill this gap, comparing self-reported life satisfaction of different population groups (i.e., immigrants and natives) living in European countries, and to analyse the association between self-reported life satisfaction and the perceived quality of the neighbourhood, controlling for individual socio-demographic and human capital variables and socio-economic characteristics of the country of residence. The data are drawn from the cross-sectional European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) of 2016. Our findings reveal that first and second-generation immigrants report lower self-reported life satisfaction compared to natives. Moreover, our findings show that the positive subjective evaluation of the characteristics and services available in the immediate neighbourhood where people live is positively associated with self-reported life satisfaction. There is also a positive relationship between contacts and social networks in the neighbourhood and self-reported life satisfaction. Finally, the characteristics of the country of residence matter for both native and immigrants’ life satisfaction, with immigrants being more satisfied in countries with higher quality of life captured by country gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, life expectancy and unemployment rate.

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The Life Satisfaction of Immigrants in Canada: Does Time Since Arrival Matter more than Income?

Cited by 4 publications

References 53 publications

Why do immigrants become less happy? Explanations for the decrease in life satisfaction of immigrants in Germany over time

Why do immigrants become less happy? Explanations for the decrease in life satisfaction of immigrants in Germany over time

Life Satisfaction Among Italian Migrants, Italian Stayers, and Swiss Natives: Who Fares Better?

What is the Relationship Between the Perceived Quality of Neighbourhood and the Self-reported Life Satisfaction in Immigrants Versus Natives in Europe?

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