Social Relational Notions of Successful Aging: Contesting Dominant Individualized Conceptions of Successful Aging By Examining Migrant Intergenerational Lived Experiences

• Published in: The Gerontologist 2024-12, Vol.65 (1)
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Hien Thi, Baldassar, Loretta, Wilding, Raelene, Jones, Bronte
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aging - psychology; Australia; Female; Healthy Aging - ethnology; Healthy Aging - psychology; Humans; Intergenerational Relations - ethnology; Male; Middle Aged; Qualitative Research; Special Issue: Redefining Successful Aging; Transients and Migrants - psychology; Vietnam - ethnology
• ISSN: 0016-9013; 1758-5341; 1758-5341
• DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnae171

Critiques of the concept of successful aging (SA) include attention to its foundation on an individualized western medical approach that emphasizes personal choice, agency, and lifestyle. This paper aims to examine how individual notions of SA can be linked to, and co-constituted by, relational and intergenerational notions of personhood within the broader socioeconomic, familial, and cultural contexts of migration. Qualitative research was conducted in Australia (2020-2021) with 42 Vietnamese migrants using ethnographic interviews and participant observation. Data analysis applied inductive reasoning and intersectional analysis to investigate the notion of SA from the perspectives of research participants. Vietnamese migrants identified 3 dimensions of SA as significant: family fulfillment, individual achievements, and social engagement and protection. Family fulfilment is the most important; other dimensions are rendered meaningless without it. We found out that different generations interpreted SA in varying ways. Adult children prioritize personal success, self-independence, and longevity whereas grandparents place greater emphasis on the success of their adult children and maintenance of intergenerational relationships. Migrant understandings of SA are deeply influenced by the sociocultural contexts of both their homeland and current residence. The emphasis on family in shaping SA reflects a social-relational understanding that contrasts with dominant individualistic models of SA. Given the social-relational dimension of SA, further research should investigate how distinct migrant experiences of SA shape access to wellbeing in later life.