Adult Out-Migration and Multi-Dimensional Well-Being of Elderly Parents ‘Left Behind’: A Cross-Sectional Study of India

Abstract

Obtaining data from a nationally representative survey of old age population—Building
a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India (BKPAI) comprising 9852 older adults,
the present study empirically evaluates different dimensions of wellbeing among Indian
elderly individuals left behind by their adult migrant children. We focus on five different
dimensions of well-being among elderly, viz., physical, psychological, subjective, social
and housing. Data were analyzed using propensity score matching technique. Findings
suggest that the elderly individuals with adult migrant children were more likely to attain
better physical and subjective well-being whereas the migration of adult children showed
adverse effect on the psychological and social well-being indicators. However, results
did not show any statistically significant association between migration and housing wellbeing
of left behind elderly. Given the rising proportion of ageing population in India
combined with an increasing trend in rural-urban adult migration, our findings suggest
that the policy-makers should pay more attention to the migration status of adult children
to keep track of the psychological and social welfare among Indian older adults.