Ghimire Dirgha, Bhandari Prem
Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, P.O. Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI, 48106-1248, USA.
Institute for Social and Environmental Research - Nepal, Bharatpur-15, Fulbari, Chitwan, Nepal.
J Migr Health. 2020;1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jmh.2020.100018. Epub 2020 Dec 5.
This study investigates long-term consequences of individual migration experience on later life health, specifically self-rated health and functional difficulty.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The study uses multiple community-, household-, and individual-level data sets from the Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS) in Nepal. The CVFS selected a systematic probability sample of 151 neighborhoods in Western Chitwan and collected information on all households and individuals residing in the selected sample neighborhoods. This study uses data from multiple surveys featuring detailed migration histories of 1,373 older adults, and information on their health outcomes, households, and communities.
Results of the multi-level multivariate analysis show a negative association between number of years of migration experience and self-rated health, and a positive association between migration and functional difficulty. These findings suggest a negative relationship between migration experience and later life health.
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Although we collected health outcome measures after the measurement of explanatory and control measures-a unique strength of this study-we were unable to control for baseline health outcomes. Also, due to the lack of time-varying measures of household socioeconomic status in the survey, this investigation was unable to control for measures associated with the economic prosperity hypothesis. Future research is necessary to develop panel data with appropriately timed measures.
The findings provide important insights that may help shape individual's and their family's migration decisions.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This research provides important insight to individuals lured by potential short-term economic prospects in destination places, as well as to scholars and policy makers from migrant-sending settings that are grappling with skyrocketing medical expenses, rapid population aging, and old age security services.
本研究调查个体移民经历对晚年健康的长期影响，特别是自评健康和功能困难。
设计/方法/途径：该研究使用了来自尼泊尔奇旺山谷家庭研究（CVFS）的多个社区、家庭和个人层面的数据集。CVFS在奇旺西部系统地选取了151个社区作为概率样本，并收集了所选样本社区中所有家庭和个人的信息。本研究使用了多次调查的数据，这些调查包含了1373名老年人详细的移民历史，以及他们的健康状况、家庭和社区信息。
多层次多变量分析结果显示，移民经历的年限与自评健康之间存在负相关，移民与功能困难之间存在正相关。这些发现表明移民经历与晚年健康之间存在负相关关系。
研究局限/启示：尽管我们在测量解释性和控制性指标之后收集了健康状况指标——这是本研究的一个独特优势——但我们无法控制基线健康状况。此外，由于调查中缺乏家庭社会经济地位的随时间变化的指标，本调查无法控制与经济繁荣假说相关的指标。未来有必要开展具有适当时间测量的面板数据研究。
这些发现提供了重要的见解，可能有助于影响个人及其家庭做出移民决策。
原创性/价值：本研究为受目的地潜在短期经济前景吸引的个人，以及来自面临医疗费用飙升、人口快速老龄化和老年保障服务问题的移民输出地区的学者和政策制定者提供了重要见解。
