Klok Jolien, van Tilburg Theo G, Suanet Bianca, Fokkema Tineke, Huisman Martijn
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI-KNAW), Lange Houtstraat 19, 2511 CV Den Haag, The Netherlands.
Eur J Ageing. 2017 Mar 30;14(4):341-351. doi: 10.1007/s10433-017-0420-9. eCollection 2017 Dec.
This research investigates how a sense of belonging functions as protective mechanism against loneliness. Inspired by the work of Berry (1980) on acculturation strategies (i.e. integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization), we distinguish migrants who feel a relatively strong or weak sense of belonging to larger society and those who feel a strong or weak belonging to the "own group." We expect that more national belonging contributes to less loneliness. We add a transnational perspective by arguing that feelings of belonging to the own group can take place in the country of settlement, but can also be transnational, i.e. a feeling of belonging to the country of origin. Transnational belonging can protect against loneliness, as it acknowledges the importance of place attachment. Using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam on older migrants aged 55-66, we employ latent class analysis and find five national belonging clusters, interpretable in terms of Berry's acculturation strategies. Further analyses reveal mixed evidence: some aspects of transnational belonging vary with belonging to the own group, but other aspects point to a third dimension of belonging. Regression analysis shows that those marginalized are loneliest and that a transnational sense of belonging contributes to more loneliness. We conclude that Berry's (1980) typology is useful for interpreting older migrants' national belonging and that a transnational sense of belonging is apparent among older migrants, but needs to be explored further.
本研究探讨归属感如何作为抵御孤独的保护机制发挥作用。受贝里（1980年）关于文化适应策略（即融合、同化、分离和边缘化）研究的启发，我们区分了那些对更大社会归属感相对较强或较弱的移民，以及那些对“本群体”归属感较强或较弱的移民。我们预计更强的国家归属感会减少孤独感。我们引入了一个跨国视角，认为对本群体的归属感既可以在定居国产生，也可以是跨国的，即对原籍国的归属感。跨国归属感可以抵御孤独，因为它承认了地方依恋的重要性。利用来自阿姆斯特丹纵向老龄化研究中55 - 66岁老年移民的数据，我们采用潜在类别分析，发现了五个国家归属感类别，可根据贝里的文化适应策略进行解释。进一步的分析揭示了复杂的证据：跨国归属感的某些方面因对本群体的归属感而异，但其他方面指向了归属感的第三个维度。回归分析表明，那些处于边缘化的人最孤独，而跨国归属感会加剧孤独感。我们得出结论，贝里（1980年）的类型学有助于解释老年移民的国家归属感，跨国归属感在老年移民中很明显，但需要进一步探索。
