1

The Impact of adult children’s migration on psychological well-being of elderly

parents

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the award of the Degree of Master of Science
in Psychology

SUBMITTED BY
Jyothi Ramachandra
20MSPRS003

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
JAIN(Deemed-to-be-University), BANGALORE
2021-2022
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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation titled ‘The Impact of adult children’s migration

on psychological well-being of elderly parents’, submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements of the Degree of Master of Science in Psychology at JAIN (Deemed-to-be-

University), has been written by me under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Alka Ranjan.

This project or any part thereof has not been submitted for any purpose to any other

University.

Bengaluru Apr 2022

Jyothi Ramachandra 20MSPRS003

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this Dissertation titled ‘The impact of adult migration on

psychological well- being of elderly parents’, submitted by Jyothi Ramachandra in partial

fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Science in Psychology of JAIN

(Deemed-to-be University), is based on the results of the research work carried out under my

guidance and supervision.

This Dissertation or any part thereof has not been submitted for any purpose to any

other University.

Bangalore Dr. Alka Ranjan

April 2022
Research Guide

HOD, Department of Psychology

JAIN (Deemed-to-be-University), Bengaluru
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would sincerely like to thank my guide Dr. Alka Ranjan Assistant Professor, Jain

University, Depart of Psychology, Bengaluru, for all the support and guidance, shown

throughout the process.

I would also like to thank the HOD of the Department of Psychology Dr. Pooja

Verma, Jain University, Bengaluru, for creating an environment that allowed for the work to

be carried out.
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Table Of Contents
Chapter-1: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................8
1.1 Background/Context of the Study...............................................................................................8
1.2 Theoretical perspectives or Conceptual framework....................................................................9
1.3 Complications of Pandemic.......................................................................................................10
1.4 Significance of the Study............................................................................................................10
1.5 Relevant Psychological Theories................................................................................................11
Chapter 2 Review of Literature............................................................................................................13
2.1 Overview...................................................................................................................................13
2.2 Analysis of Selected Research Papers........................................................................................13
2.2.1 General Purpose Research Papers.......................................................................................13
2.2.2 Country Specific Study.......................................................................................................14
2.2.3 Indian Scenario...................................................................................................................16
2.4 Gaps and Recent Developments................................................................................................19
Chapter -3 Method..............................................................................................................................21
3.1 Aim......................................................................................................................................21
3.2 Objectives of the current study...........................................................................................21
3.3 HYPOTHESIS.........................................................................................................................21
3.4 Operational Definitions (include independent/dependent variables).................................22
3.4.1 Independent Variable..........................................................................................................22
3.4.2 Dependent Variable............................................................................................................22
3.5 Sample.................................................................................................................................22
3..5 1 Inclusion Criterion.............................................................................................................22
3.5.2 Exclusion Criterion.............................................................................................................23
3.6 Research Design...................................................................................................................23
3.7 Tools used............................................................................................................................23
3.8 Validity.................................................................................................................................25
3.9 Reliability.............................................................................................................................25
3.10 Procedure............................................................................................................................25
3.11 Ethical Considerations.........................................................................................................26
Chapter 4: Results................................................................................................................................28
4.1 Descriptive Data Analysis...........................................................................................................28
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4.2 Basic Descriptive Statistics.........................................................................................................31

4.3Test for Normality.......................................................................................................................32
4.4 Inferential Statistics Kruskal Wallis Test.....................................................................................33
Chapter 5 Discussions..........................................................................................................................40
5.1 Limitations.................................................................................................................................42
5.2 Suggestion for further research.................................................................................................42
References...........................................................................................................................................45
Appendix A: Ryff Questionnaire...........................................................................................................49
Appendix B: Demographic Details.......................................................................................................52
Appendix C: Declaration......................................................................................................................53
Appendix D: Consent...........................................................................................................................54

Index of Figures
Figure 1 Schematic view of Conceptual framework..............................................................................9
Figure 2 : Frequency Graph showing gender distribution....................................................................29
Figure 3: Pie Chart showing groupwise distribution............................................................................30

Index of Tables
Table 1 : Summary of ROL.................................................................................................................17
Table 2 : Frequency Table Showing the gender distribution of the sample.........................................28
Table 3 : Frequency table showing groupwise distribution of data.....................................................29
Table 4 : Descriptive statistics for dependent variables.......................................................................31
Table 5 : Tests for Normality...............................................................................................................32
Table 6 : Kruskal Wallis Test Results Mean Rank..............................................................................33
Table 7 : Kruskal Wallis Test Results: Statistics.................................................................................34
Table 8 : Summary of Kruskal-Wallis Test.........................................................................................36
Table 9 : Mann-Whitney Test Mean Ranks.........................................................................................37
Table 10 : Mann-Whitney Test Summary............................................................................................37
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Chapter-1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background/Context of the Study

Offspring migrate to different counties for varied purposed ranging from better

opportunities to better quality of life. In many situations parents force children to travel

abroad for better studies and job prospects. The children once settled in the migrated country

will get used to the living style. It becomes very difficult for them to move back to home

country. Elderly parents will miss their children when they need them most. This has an

impact on the psychological health and may cause disorders related to psychological well-

being.

Although there are lot of studies on this topic as explained in the Review of literature

section, the conclusion of the research is incomplete. There are not many studies done in the

context of Indian Parents, although Indian diaspora is the largest in the world.
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1.2 Theoretical perspectives or Conceptual framework

Figure 1
Schematic view of Conceptual framework

Above schematic provides a conceptual view of the study. The central theme is the

migration of the Adults out of India. The reasons for migration are many. The important ones

 Better Standard of Living: Offspring migration happens to have better quality of

life in a developed country like United States of United Kingdom

 Better Prospect: There are more jobs suited for Qualification. In developed

countries people can pursue their specialization and choice which may not be

possible in India. Those nations also have research labs and infrastructure to support

specialization.

 Influence: This is primarily due to peer pressure

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The short-term reaction from the parents is of pride and accomplishment. In the longer

run this causes empty- nest syndrome. The assumption made here is that Empty-nest

syndrome may lead into psychological well-being issues.

1.3 Complications of Pandemic

The Pandemic has complicated every aspect of life. In addition to harm done to

human lives, it impacted the economy of the whole world. First and second waves of

Pandemic had a devastating effect on elderly with comorbidities. Countries like Colombia

and Chile had 86% of death rate among elderly. India had similar numbers to tell. India has

total of 138 million elderly population (60 + years). This includes 71 million women and 67

million men. This trend is continuing to grow upward in the coming years. The highest

population of elderly population is in states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, which has

been one of the most impacted states despite boosting of world-class infrastructure reported

that 54% of fatalities are in the age group of 60 + years.

In a country like India which has the highest diaspora population, it is very interesting

to study the complications a Pandemic on Psychological Well Being of elderly. The elderly

was hit by the symptoms of loneliness during the lock down. A study conducted by Times of

India showed that more than 82% reported symptoms of anxiety and 70% showed symptoms

of insomnia or sleepiness or nightmares. This study was done on a sample size of 5000.

More than 55% claimed they felt weak and fatigue especially due to change in the lifestyle

due to lockdown

1.4 Significance of the Study

The study is very significant from the Indian context. India has largest world’s largest

diaspora population. According to a study), there are more than 18 million Indians living

abroad. UAE, USA and UK are the top three destinations. Most of the elderly parents of
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migrated children preferred to be in India, the country where they grew up. For migrated

children it is not easy to comeback and settle in India. Elderly parents live an isolated life

which influences their psychological health (Economic Times, 2021)

The scope of study is limited to elderly Indian parents. The study assumes more

significance especially with the pandemic situation. Pandemic had a devastating impact on

India. Elderly parents suffered both physical and psychological hardships. The travel bans

made it impossible for migrated adults to return to India even for a shorter time.

1.5 Relevant Psychological Theories

There are many relevant psychological theories having an impact on the problem

statement. Developmental theories play a very key role in analysing and predicting the

behaviour of elderly. The two specific stages of middle adulthood (40 to 65 years) and

Maturity (65 to death) are very relevant. The corresponding stages of Generativity vs.

Stagnation which mainly deals with parenthood and Ego Integrity vs. despair which reflects

one’s life are very relevant. The stage of Ego Integrity is like a flashback on one’s life. This is

the phase where the questions like purpose of life, have I achieved what I wanted to achieve?

do you have more in life other than staying with children will get answered? Is my life

depending on my offspring or can I have a superordinate goal of helping society at large? The

other three important psychosocial theories of aging -activity theory, disengagement theory

and continuity theory are very much applicable to this context. For example, Activity theory

of aging proposes that older adults are happiest if they maintain social interactions and

relationships. The disengagement theory perfectly agrees with the concept of elderly getting

disengaged from normal social interactions as part of aging. Continuity theory states elderly

will continue to do the activities which were doing earlier. They maintain same behaviour

and personalities.
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Chapter 2: Review of Literature

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Chapter 2 Review of Literature

2.1 Overview
A review of literature (ROL) is a comprehensive summary of available and relevant

research related to the topic of study. ROL comprises of study of scholarly articles, journals,

books and other relevant research sources. ROL will objectively describe, evaluate and

summarize the previous research. ROL also provides base for the new research based on the

gaps in Study. In this specific study three different kinds or research papers are analysed

1. General Research: which is a collection of all the available and relevant studies

based on a theme, they also include genera analysis of pros and cons of migration on

families left behind.

2. Country specific research: Research papers in the context of specific countries

where there is big migration population either from rural to urban or outside the

country

3. India Specific Research: Research papers in the context of Indian Society

2.2 Analysis of Selected Research Papers

2.2.1 General Purpose Research Papers

In the research paper titled Migration of adult children and mental health of older

parents 'left behind': An integrative review D.K Thapa and team reviews research papers on

consequence of children migration on mental health of elderly papers. The paper tries to

identify association between empty nest syndrome and mental health of elderly parents. The

researcher has done a detailed study of online databases like PscyINFO, ProQuest etc. The

study covers parents of age >50 years. The study reviews more than 25 articles which meets

the criterion. The research compares mental health of left behind parents compared to non-
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left behind parents. The study summarizes that left behind parents are more susceptible to

mental health issues and have higher depression syndromes and lower life satisfaction.

Research identified number of risk factors like living arraignments, gender, family and social

support, frequency of children’s visit etc. The research starts with 685 identified search

articles and finally narrows down to 25 articles of interest. The study analyses research

papers which with sample population from China, Mexico, European Nations, India and

some from USA. The majority of papers were from China (n=14). Out of 25 four studies

were longitudinal and remaining were cross sectional. There was only one qualitative study.

The study included depression, loneliness, anxiety, social isolation etc as the measures of the

mental health. (Thapa et al., 2018)

In the research paper “Migration and families left behind”, Sylvie Demurger clearly

states that family that stay behind when a member migrates do not clearly benefit. She first

analyses the potential reasons for migration as economically benefitting the family members

through remittances. Apart from the financial benefits, she states the migration has an adverse

effect of number of areas like education, social status of the people who do not migrate and

more importantly health of the left behind. She quotes from studies done in Mexico and

China where migration of adults has resulted in lower self-help reported health status in

elderly parents. However, she also quotes from a study for Moldova which finds beneficial

effect on mental health of elderly adults due to increase in income levels due to remittances.

This in increased enabled them to afford better health facilities. She concludes saying that

results are mixed. (Démurger, 2015)

2.2.2 Country Specific Study

Many countries are facing the burden of accelerated aging population. This population

requires care and support during their old age. In developing countries, it is the duty of adult

children to look after their elderly parents. The migration of the adult children has an impact.
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There are multiple studies on the same. The paper “Impact of children’s migration on health

and health care-seeking behaviour of elderly left behind” explore the linkage in the

developing country of Thailand. The paper used data from National Survey of older persons

who are above 60 and had at least one child. The paper used logistic regression as the

technique to assess the impact on the health. The paper concluded that at least three-fifths

(58%) reported that they had issues in mental health and 44% suffered from one chronic

disease. The paper concluded that those elderly who had a migrated children are more likely

to have symptoms of mental health compared to those whose children had not migrated.

(Adhikari et al., 2011)

In the study “Migration of Children and Impact on Depression in older parents in

Rural Thailand, Southeast Asia”. Melanie Abas and others did an interesting correlation study

between depression in parents and adult migration. They also researched the improvements in

case of having a child comeback. This was a cohort study with 1 year follow up. The

sampled around 1111 parents 60 year or older (1 per house hold) drawn from around 100

villages. The researcher used EURO-D which is a 12-items screen test for depression using

Geriatric Mental State Examination. The result was surprising as the survey found that

parents with migrated children had lesser occurrence of depression compared to other

parents. (Abas, 2013)

In the research study Adult Child Migration and Health of Elderly Parents Left

Behind in Mexico, Francis M Antman studied health aspects of elderly parents whose

children migrated to United States. She concludes saying that although financial the elderly

parents are better due to remittances, psychologically they have issues with mental health.

(Antman, 2010)
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In the Country specific demographic research article “Aging and Separation from Children:

The health implications of adult migration for elderly parents in Rural China”, Qian Song

studies various aspect of how family life cycle is altered in China due to rural-urban

migration of adult children. Qian Song analysed adults aged 55 years and above using four

waves of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006)

using multilevel growth curve models. The results clearly showed that parents of migrants

scored worse in self-rated health compared to their counterparts whose children have not

migrated. (Song, 2017)

In the research paper Adult Children’s Migration and Well-being of Left Behind

Nepalese Elderly Parents, Saurna Ghrimire and others did a cross sectional study of elderly

parents in Kanchanpur district because of is high rate of migration. 94% of its house hold had

migrant population specifically to India as they don’t need any VISA or work-permits. A

sample of 260 elderly parents were chosen for the study. The minimal age was 60 years plus.

The mental health was assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9 which is a nine-

item depression scaling instrument. The instrument asks about frequency of symptoms of

depression. It is a valid and reliable true. The study proved in the context of Nepal, the join

family set up and strong family support helped to take are of health of elderly parents. The

study concluded that results may be transient as the family structure in Nepal in rapidly

changing. (Adult Children’s Migration and Well-Being of Left Behind Nepalese Elderly

Parents, 2018)

2.2.3 Indian Scenario

There are few research papers which correlating the relationship between

psychological health of elderly parents of the migrated population. In the paper titled ‘They

had to Go”: Indian Older Adults” Experiences of Rationalizing and Compensating the

Absence of Migrant Children” Ajay Bailey and others did a qualitative study by doing 37 in-
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depth interviews of older adults in Dharwad district of Karnataka. They researched on both

transregional and transnational migration cases. The cut off age of interview was 60 years.

The interesting pattern emerged is that parents wanted their children to be abroad. They

believed that living outside India justified their education and children get better

opportunities. The other interesting pattern is most of left behind parents do not want to go to

USA and stay there. They feel although quality of life was great for their offspring, for

dependent elderly it is not great including medial insurance and other. The paper concludes

saying that although emotional cost of migration is compensated by their desire to consider

happiness for the migrated children. (Bailey, 2018)

In her paper titled “The social and psychological effect of an adult child's emigration

on non-immigrant Asian Indian elderly parents”, Helen B Miltaides did a study of twenty-

nine parents (aged 55+) in India who had adult children in USA. She did exploratory study

using cultural sensitivity theory. She found that although most parents did not live in an

extended family, still they got enough support from hired help which was not very expensive.

She concluded although hired help can take care of physiological needs it is not a substitute

for feelings of loneliness and depression. (Miltiades, 2002)

Below table summarizes all the study

Table 1
Summary of ROL

# Literature Link Independent Dependent Sample Size Important

No Variable Variable Comments

1 Migration of adult Migration of Mental Health This is a mega

children and mental Adult Children of older parents study of 20+
health of older research
parents ‘left behind’: materials.
An integrative review Search done
(2018) on many
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# Literature Link Independent Dependent Sample Size Important

No Variable Variable Comments

online
Databases
2 Migration and Migration of Overall impact Including
families left behind Adult health and
(2015) other impacts

3 Impact of children's Migration of Health of N= 28677 Study on

migration on health Adult Children elderly people Logistics national survey
and health care- (stress levels, regression, of older person
seeking behaviour of mood, cross in Thailand
elderly left behind unhappiness) sectional (60 years plus)
(2011) survey
4 Migration of Children Migration of Depression Cohort study
and Impact on adult to town with one year
Depression in Older follow up
Parents in Rural
Thailand, Southeast
Asia (2013)

5 Adult Child Migration to Mental Health

Migration and the United States
Health of Elderly
Parents Left Behind
in Mexico (2010)
6 Aging and separation Migration of Health Self-rated
from children: The adult children Implications scale
health implications of
adult migration for
elderly parents in
rural China (2017)

7 Adult Children’s Nepalese Mental Health 260 elderly Cross sectional

Migration and Well- children living of parents parents study
being of Left Behind abroad
Nepalese Elderly
Parents (2018)

8 The social and Migration of Psychological

psychological effect adult children effect on
of an adult child's elderly parents
emigration on non-
immigrant Asian
Indian elderly parents
(2002)

9 They had to Go’: Children living Mental health Indian case

Indian Older Adults’ abroad
Experiences of
Rationalizing and
Compensating the
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# Literature Link Independent Dependent Sample Size Important

No Variable Variable Comments

Absence of
Migrant Children
(2018)
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2.4 Gaps and Recent Developments

The research is predominately done to understand the mental health aspects. There are

lots of research articles both qualitative and quantitative on the effect of migration of parents

on the mental health of children. The topic which I have chosen is the opposite. The topic is

also more relevant from the Indian context where there is an implicit expectation that adult

children should look after their parents. As explained in the review of literature there is

significant gaps with respect study of elderly Indian parents. India has the highest diaspora

population in the world. There are not many studies done to understand the mental health

aspects. The situation of pandemic has put a new dimension into the problem. For almost

close to two years, the pandemic has virtually made travel impossible. Elderly parents

everyday read news items about children not being present when their parents needed most.

This probably has increased their anxiety levels. This study becomes even more relevant

given the context of pandemic.

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Chapter 3: Method
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Chapter -3 Method
3.1 Aim

Study of psychological well-being of elderly parents whose children have migrated

abroad. The study is done in the Indian context and the sample is taken from middle class to

upper middle-class families.

3.2 Objectives of the current study

The main objectives of the study are

 To examine if there is any difference between adult children migration and

psychological well-being of elderly parents

 To examine if there is any difference between autonomy, relationship with others and

purpose of life of elderly parents to migration status of their children

 To examine if there is any difference between personal growth, self-acceptance and

environmental mastery of elderly parents and migration status of their children

 To study the migration effect of adult children migration in the context of Indian

society.

3.3 HYPOTHESIS

Following are the hypotheses of the study

H0: There is no significance difference between adult children migration status and

autonomy of the elderly parents.

H1- There is no significance difference between adult children migration status and

environmental mastery of the elderly parents.

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H2- There is no significance difference between adult children migration status and

personal growth of the elderly parents.

H3- There is no significance difference between adult children migration status and

positive relationship with others of the elderly parents.

H4- There is no significance difference between adult children migration status and

purpose in life of the elderly parents.

H5-There is no significance difference between adult children migration status and self-

acceptance of the elderly parents.

3.4 Operational Definitions (include independent/dependent variables)

3.4.1 Independent Variable
Children Migration Code, which denotes whether adult children are staying in India

or migrated abroad

3.4.2 Dependent Variable

Psychological well-being as measured by ryff scale. It is a composite function

comprised of six variables (Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive

relations with others, Purpose in life and Self-Acceptance)

3.5 Sample

 Elderly parents (>60 years)

 Sample Size-41

 Sampling method: Convenient Sampling

3..5 1 Inclusion Criterion

 Parents whose children are abroad

 Parents of age > 60 years

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 Parents who can read and write

 Parents who are staying with their children

3.5.2 Exclusion Criterion

 Parents less than 60 years

3.6 Research Design

The Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being is a theoretically grounded instrument that

specifically focuses on measuring multiple facets of psychological well-being.

The study was predominantly quantitative study using Ryff Scale. The study included two

groups

 Group A: Elderly Parents staying alone due to migration of children

 Group B: Elderly Parents staying with their children in India

3.7 Tools used

 Google forms: The forms included consent application also. The form also included

demographic data as well as declaration. The form included Ryff Scale Questions for

psychological well-being.

 Ryff Scale: The Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being is a theoretically grounded

instrument that specifically focuses on measuring multiple facets of psychological well-

being. This scale was developed by Carol Ryff. It has six key dimensions (Seifert, 1996)

 Self-acceptance Positive attitude toward the self; acknowledgment and

acceptance of multiple aspects of self, including good and bad qualities; positive

feelings about one’s past.

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 Positive relations with others Warm, satisfying, trusting relationships with

others; concern for the welfare of others; capacity for strong empathy, affection,

and intimacy; understanding of the give-and-take of relationships

 Autonomy Self-determination and independence; the ability to resist social

pressures to think and act in particular ways, regulate behavior from within, and

evaluate oneself based on personal standards

 Environmental mastery Sense of mastery and competence in one’s environment;

the ability to control a complex array of external activities and leverage

opportunities; the capacity to choose or create contexts that suit needs and values

 Purpose in life the possession of goals and a sense of direction; the feeling that

there is meaning to present and past life; holding beliefs that give life purpose as

well as aims and objectives for living

 Personal growth Feelings of continued development and the sense that one is

growing and expanding; openness to new experiences; realization of one’s

potential and perceived improvement in self and behavior over time; change that

reflects greater self-knowledge and effectiveness

Ryff Scale is a 7-point Likert scale and has an inventory of 42 items. Each subscale has 7

items totalling up to 42 items. 21 of these 42 items are reverse coded. The tool was

administered online, and scoring was done using Microsoft excel formulas.
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3.8 Validity

Convergent validity was assessed by comparing the scales against existing measures of

positive and negative functioning, such as the Self-Esteem Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index,

and Zung’s Depression Scale.

All correlations with these prior measures were significant and in the expected direction,

suggesting the scale exhibits convergent validity.

Regarding discriminant validity, the six scales exhibit significant and strong correlations

with the pre-existing measures of positive and negative functioning assessed. The strongest of

these was a correlation of .73 between self-acceptance and the Life Satisfaction Index, which

is quite high (Celestine, 2022)

3.9 Reliability

Ryff’s (1989a) original paper revealed that the six scales exhibit acceptable internal

consistency (α) ranging from .93 to .86.

Further, test–retest reliability over six weeks returned coefficients ranging from .88 to .81,

suggesting that responses to the questionnaire remain fairly consistent over time in the

absence of intervention. Overall, these findings suggest the questionnaire is sufficiently

reliable. (Celestine, 2022)

3.10 Procedure

The experiment was conducted on two separate groups using google forms. One group

had parents staying with their children and other group had parents whose children are

abroad. The total sample size was 41, 21 in the category of parents whose children are abroad
 28

and 20 in the category of parents staying with their children. The sample consisted of middle

class and upper middle class Indian parents. Most of the sampled parents were living in and

around Bangalore. The test was administered using google forms. There were two separate

forms created for two groups. There was a window of time within which participants had to

answer the survey. I also spoke with few individuals and clarified few questions and doubts

regarding the survey.

The Ryff scale has 42 items divided into 6 subscales. Each subscale has 7 items. The

participants were asked to read instructions carefully before answering the questions.

Participants has to select a point on a 7-point Likert scale. (1 = strongly disagree; 2 =

somewhat disagree; 3 = a little disagree; 4 = neither agree or disagree; 5 = a little agree; 6 =

somewhat agree; 7 = strongly agree). The effect of adult children migration was analysed by

comparing the performance of the two groups.

The data was first analysed using spreadsheet before getting fed into SPSS tool. Most of

the other analysis was done using different statistical techniques from SPSS. IBM SPSS

version 20.

3.11 Ethical Considerations

Informed Consent was taken from all the participants. They were also informed that their

response will be used for research purpose. The name of the participant was masked. In

addition, participants signed a declaration form that nature of study was explained to them,

and they are doing it voluntarily

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Chapter 4: Results
 30

Chapter 4: Results
The aim of the study was to study the effect to adult children migration on

psychological well-being of elderly parents. The data was collected from 41 samples. The

sample belonging to two groups, one group of parents staying with children and other group

parents whose children are staying abroad. Ryff scale of 42 items was used as the tool to

determine psychological well-being. The participants score across the groups was analysed

using Kruskal-Wallis as the data distribution was not normal. Statistical tool IBM SPSS

version 20 was used for analysis.

4.1 Descriptive Data Analysis

Table 2
Frequency Table Showing the gender distribution of the sample

 Gende

r Frequency

Female 23

Male 18

Total 41
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Figure 2
Frequency Graph showing gender distribution

Table 2 and fig 3 shows the gender data. We had more female respondents than

males. This indicated higher percentage of female response than males

Table 3
Frequency table showing groupwise distribution of data

Parents Status No of Parents

Parents whose children are abroad 21

Parents who are staying with their children 20

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Figure 3
Pie Chart showing groupwise distribution

% of Parents staying with/without Children

Parents whose children are abroad Parents staying with their children

The percentage of people responded are slightly more in group A (comprising of

parents whose children are abroad), compared to group B (comprising of parents staying with

their children)
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4.2 Basic Descriptive Statistics

This comprises of descriptive analysis of mean and standard deviation.

Table 4
Descriptive statistics for dependent variables

Children Aboard N Mean Std. Deviation

Code

Settled In India 20 16.25 5.035

Autonomy
Settled Abroad 21 19.24 6.663

Settled In India 20 11.25 3.740

Environmental Mastery
Settled Abroad 21 15.43 5.662

Settled In India 20 15.60 5.305

Personal Growth
Settled Abroad 21 18.43 5.741

Positive Relations with Settled In India 20 12.55 4.696

Others Settled Abroad 21 19.33 7.425

Settled In India 20 18.20 4.275

Purpose in Life
Settled Abroad 21 22.24 5.513

Settled In India 20 12.80 6.212

Self-Acceptance
Settled Abroad 21 19.33 7.492

The total sample is 41 people. 21 people in the group of parents whose children are abroad

and 20 people in the group of parents staying with their children. This is interesting and

slightly in contrast with the assumption made. The mean and SD for autonomy for parents

staying with their children is 16.25 and 5.035, the same values for the other group of parents

whose children are abroad is 19.24 and 6.663. The mean and SD for environmental mastery
 34

for parents staying with their children is 11.25 and 3.740, the same values for the other group

of parents whose children are abroad is 15.43 and 5.662. The mean and SD for personal

growth for parents staying with their children is 15.60 and 5.345, the same values for the

other group of parents whose children are abroad is 18.43 and 5.741. What is noticeable the

mean and SD across all the parameters from Autonomy to Self-Acceptance is lower in the

group staying with their children compared to group staying independently.

4.3Test for Normality

For testing whether distribution is normal across all the subscales, Shapiro-Wilk test is

conducted. The results are tabulated below. We used Shapiro-Wilk as the sample size is not

large.

Table 5
Tests for Normality

Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic Df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

Overall Score .096 246 0.000010 .966 246 . 0.000014

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction

The test is done by taking all samples together. In includes 20 samples across 6

subscales for elderly parents staying with children totalling 120 samples and 21 samples

across 6 subscales for elderly parents of migrated children totalling 121 samples. The total

sample size is 246

The Shapiro-Wilk test checks whether if a variable is normally distributed in a

population. The null hypothesis for the test is “a variable is normally distributed in the
 35

population”. We reject the null hypothesis if the p value is <0.05. The p of all samples

together came as 0.000014. This is less than <0.05. So, we reject the null hypothesis and

conclude that data is not normally distributed.

4.4 Inferential Statistics Kruskal Wallis Test

We use inferential statistics to reach conclusions which extend beyond immediate

data. In this specific case we want to analyse and extend the sample data to the entire

population of elderly. Since the given data is of not normally distributed, we use

nonparametric tests. We also need to use the data for more than one sub-scale across two

groups Kruskal Wallis is used as the choice of test. Below table summarized the result of

Kruskal Wallis.

Table 6
Kruskal Wallis Test Results Mean Rank

Ranks
Children Abroad Code N Mean Rank
Children in India 20 18.38
Autonomy Children in Abroad 21 23.50
Total 41
Children in India 20 16.58
Environmental
Children in Abroad 21 25.21
Mastery
Total 41
Children in India 20 18.18
Personal Growth Children in Abroad 21 23.69
Total 41
Children in India 20 15.10
Positive Relations
Children in Abroad 21 26.62
with Others
Total 41
Children in India 20 16.68
Purpose in Life Children in Abroad 21 25.12
Total 41
Children in India 20 15.65
Self-Acceptance Children in Abroad 21 26.10
Total 41
 36

A Kruskal-Wallis test shows that there is a significant impact by the variable of

children settling abroad on the elderly parents. The mean score is higher for all the subscales

Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive relations with others, Purpose

of life, self-acceptance for parents whose children are abroad. This clearly indicates that

parents whose children are abroad have better a psychological well-being compared to

parents staying with their children. Further analysis is done using test-statistics.

Table 7
Kruskal Wallis Test Results: Statistics

Test Statistics
Autonomy Environmenta Personal Positive Purpose in Self-
l Mastery Growth Relations with Life Acceptance
Others
Chi-Square 1.884 5.369 2.188 9.529 5.125 7.849
Df 1 1 1 1 1 1
Asymp.
.170 .020 .139 .002 .024 .005
Sig.
*p < 0.05

The significant value p is compared with reference value 0.05 for all the subscales. If

the p value is less than 0.05 distribution is assumed to be not of similar significance and the

null hypothesis is rejected, if the value of p is greater than 0.05 the distribution is assumed to

be of similar significance and null hypothesis is retained. The value of H1=1.884, p=0.170

for Autonomy indicates that there is distribution of autonomy is same across categories of

children abroad code. The null hypothesis is retained. For Environmental mastery, the value

of H1=5.369 and p=0.020. This shows distribution for environmental mastery is not same

across categories of children abroad code. The null hypothesis is rejected indicating, that

elderly parents staying away from the children have better environmental mastery compared
 37

to elderly parents staying with their children. For personal growth, the value of H1=2.188

and p=0.139. This shows distribution for personal growth is similar across categories of

children abroad code. The null hypothesis is retained indicating, that elderly parents staying

away from the children have similar personal growth compared to elderly parents staying

with their children. For positive relations with others, the value of H1=9.529 and p=0.02.

This shows distribution for positive relations with others is not similar across categories of

children abroad code. The null hypothesis is rejected indicating, that elderly parents staying

away from the children have better positive relations with others compared to elderly parents

staying with their children. For purpose in life, the value of H1=5.125 and p=0.24 This

shows distribution for purpose of life is similar across categories of children abroad code.

The null hypothesis is retained indicating, that elderly parents staying away from the children

have similar purpose of life compared to elderly parents staying with their children. For self-

acceptance the value of H1=7.849 and p=0.005 This shows distribution for self-acceptance

is not similar across categories of children abroad code. The null hypothesis is rejected

indicating, that elderly parents staying away from the children have better self-acceptance

levels compared to elderly parents staying with their children.

 38

Table 8
Summary of Kruskal-Wallis Test

# No Null Hypothesis Sig. Decision

1 The distribution of Autonomy is 0.170 Retain the Null

same across categories of children Hypothesis

abroad code

2 The distribution of Environmental 0.020 Reject the Null

is same across categories of Hypothesis

children abroad code

3 The distribution of Personal growth 0.139 Retain the Null

is same across categories of Hypothesis

children abroad code

4 The distribution of Positive 0.002 Reject the Null

relations with others is same across Hypothesis

categories of children abroad code

5 The distribution of Purpose of life 0.024 Reject the Null

with others is same across Hypothesis

categories of children abroad code

6 The distribution of Self-Acceptance 0.005 Reject the Null

is same across categories of Hypothesis

children abroad code

 39

The summary table shows clearly that across subscales of environmental mastery,

positive relations with others, purpose of life and self-acceptance parents staying away from

children have shown better distribution than parents staying with their children

Overall Psychological Well Being

The individual scores for each subscale are added to get overall psychological well-

being (PWB) score. Post this, we ran a Mann-Whitney test to compare parents staying with

their children and parents whose children are abroad. The hypothesis used was “The

distribution of PWB is same across categories of children abroad code”.

Table 9
Mann-Whitney Test Mean Ranks

Ranks
Children Abroad Code N Mean Sum of
Rank Ranks
Parents staying with
20 18.38 367.50
children
Overall
Parents whose children
Score 21 23.50 493.50
are abroad
Total 41

Table 10
Mann-Whitney Test Summary

# No Hypothesis Test Sig Decision

1 The distribution of Psychological Mann- 0.004 Reject the Null

Well-Being is same across Whitney Hypothesis

categories of children abroad

code
 40

The p value of the comparison was 0.004 which is less than 0.05. This clearly rejected

the null hypothesis and indicated there is significance distribution in PWS across categories

of children code. The mean rank for parents staying with children is 15.48 and mean rank for

parents saying away from children is 26.26. This clearly shows that PWB of parents staying

away from children is higher than parents staying with their children
 41

Chapter 5: Discussions
 42

Chapter 5 Discussions
The aim of the study is to understand the impact of adult migration on psychological

well-being of elderly parents. There were number of studies on similar topic across the globe.

However, researcher found that there were very few studies on Indian elderly parent’s despite

of India having one of the largest diasporic populations in the world. In addition, most the

studies concentrated on migration from rural to urban places and not from a country to

country. For the purpose of research Ryff Scale Questionnaire was used. The sample of the

study comprised of 41 people spread across two groups. One group consists of elderly parents

whose children are abroad and the second group consisted of elderly parents staying with

their children. All the sample comprised of middle class and upper middles class people who

worked hard to see that their children are well placed in life. Both the genders were

adequately represented with 23 female and 18 males.

The data collected from the two sample groups clearly established that there is unequal

distribution in the psychological well-being of elderly parents based on the status of children

migration. The initial assumption of parents staying with their children having better

psychological well-being was proven wrong. The results clearly shows that elderly parents

whose children are abroad have better psychological well-being compared to elderly parents

staying with their children across all subscales of Ryff Scale. This result was consistent

across all Ryff subscale, viz Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth Purpose of

life, Positive relations with other and self-acceptance. The distribution was clearly significant

in the subscales of environmental mastery, purpose of life, positive relations with other and

self-acceptance. In fact, the scores in the group of parents staying with children was lower in

all subscales. On further analysis although the results looked contrary to initial hypothesis, it
 43

reflected the real picture given the type of sample we have chosen. The sample included

middle class Indian parent with an average age of above 60. These parents belonged to the

generation where there was not much opportunities in India for the growth. They toiled hard

and wanted their children to have better quality of life compared to theirs. The children grew

up with the intention of studying and settling in abroad. The parents were also mentally

prepared to stay away from their children. This required them to necessarily have strong

mental health across subscales of Ryff. They had more autonomy as they had complete

freedom in their choice without dependency on children. They needed to have better

relationships with others as they needed to live in the ecosystem of neighbours and relatives

and needed them for support. They still wanted to do something and had a specific purpose in

life. They were having better control of their environments compared to parents staying with

their children. They had better self-acceptance, they wanted to be occupied, so they started

doing work towards their personal growth.

The research clearly aligned with the research paper titled ‘They had to Go” (Bailey,

2018). The paper summarized that in the sample chosen majority of Indian parents wanted

their children to go abroad. They believed that living outside India justified their education

and children get better opportunities. The paper concluded saying that emotional cost of

migration was compensated by their consideration for their children to have better quality of

life. In a similar study done by Saurna Ghrimire and others in the research paper Adult

Children’s Migration and Well-being of Left Behind Nepalese Elderly Parents, a similar

conclusion was reached. Here also the elderly parents of migrated Nepalese children were

happy that their children were having better quality of life in India. Thus, we can say that

elderly Indian parents having their children abroad have better psychological well-being

compared to parents staying with their children. One more research paper “Migration and

families left behind”, Sylvie Demurger proposes that there are both pros and cons of
 44

migration. She mentioned study from Moldova where migration had better impact on mental

health of elderly. This is since there will be increase in remittances from children abroad.

This results in better health care facilities. Similarly in the study from Mexico by (Antman,

2010), the documents explain financial benefits of migration and better health care facilities.

The study also documented few psychological issues with elderly.

In general, we can conclude that psychological well-being also depends on the

financial status as well as the culture. For migration from a developed to a developing

countries elderly parent gets better health care facilities and improved standard of living due

to higher remittances. This helps their psychological well-being. In addition, parents in the

developed countries are mentally prepared and ready for their children to be abroad. They

will have better psychological well-being.

5.1 Limitations
1. The study had a sample size belonging to a specific set of middle class and lower

middle-class people. The factors like parents’ wealth and societal status could have an

influence on the result. This actor was not taken into considerations

2. The study did not take into consideration parents and children educational level which

may also influence the results

5.2 Suggestion for further research

1. The study can be extended to a large sample size including parents from various cross

sections of the society

2. The study can include educational and financial status of children as well parents.

3. The study can include samples from other states in India, currently it is limited to

parents from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

4. The study can include gender considerations of children, different patterns may

emerge if parents have only children belonging to one gender

 45

Conclusion
In India, there is a strong belief that children should look after their elderly parents.

Parents wanted to spend their retirement life in the company of their grandchildren. This

contrasts with the western world, where elderly wanted to be independent even during their

old age. India also had highest diasporic population in the world. This becomes basis of

research study “Psychological well-being of elderly parents of adult migrated children”.

The initial assumption was that parents whose children are abroad have comparatively

lower psychological health compared to parents staying with their children.

The study clearly proved that assumption was wrong. In fact, most of the parents in

the sample size were prepared to live independent life. They were perfectly fine in living

along as they wanted their children to have better quality of life compared to their own lives.

The psychological well-being improvement was across all dimensions of Autonomy,

Environmental Mastery, Purpose of life, Positive relation with others, Personal Growth and

Self-acceptance.
 46

References
 47

References
Adhikari, R., Jampaklay, A., & Chamratrithirong, A. (2011). Impact of children's migration

on health and health care-seeking behaviour of elderly left behind. BMC Public

Health, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-143

Antman, F. M. (2010). Adult child migration and the health of elderly parents left behind in

Mexico. American Economic Review, 100(2), 205–208.

https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.100.2.205

Bailey, A., Hallad, J., & James, K. S. (2018, June 11). 'they had to go': Indian older adults'

experiences of rationalizing and compensating the absence of migrant children.

MDPI. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1946

Celestine, N. (2022, January 26). The Ryff Scales of Psychological Wellbeing: Your how-to

guide. PositivePsychology.com. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from

https://positivepsychology.com/ryff-scale-psychological-wellbeing

Démurger, S. (2015). Migration and families left behind. IZA World of Labor.

https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.144

Ghimire, S., Singh, D. R., Nath, D., Jeffers, E. M., & Kaphle, M. (2018, December). Adult

children's migration and well-being of left behind Nepalese elderly parents. Journal of

epidemiology and global health. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7377568/

Melanie Abas, M. B. C. B. (2013, February 1). Migration of children and impact on

depression in older parents in rural Thailand, Southeast Asia. JAMA Psychiatry.

 48

Retrieved April 28, 2022, from

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1465618

Miltiades, H. B. (2002). Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 17(1), 33–55.

https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1014868118739

Song, Q. (2017). Aging, and separation from children: The health implications of adult

migration for elderly parents in rural China. Demographic Research, 37, 1761–1792.

https://doi.org/10.4054/demres.2017.37.55

T, S. (2018, July 2). The Ryff Scales of psychological well-being. Centre of Inquiry at Wabash

College. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from

https://centerofinquiry.org/uncategorized/ryff-scales-of-psychological-well-being/

Thapa, D. K., Visentin, D., Kornhaber, R., & Cleary, M. (2018). Migration of adult children

and mental health of older parents ‘left behind’: An integrative review. PLOS ONE,

13(10). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205665

Times , E. (n.d.). At 18 million, India has the world's largest diaspora population. The

Economic Times. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/migrate/at-18-million-india-has-the-worlds-

largest-diaspora-population/articleshow/80290768.cms#:%7E:text=United

%20Nations%3A%20India%20has%20the,number%20of%20migrants%20from

%20India.
49
 50

Appendices
 51

Appendix A: Ryff Questionnaire

Ryff Scale Questionnaire (in public domain)

1. “I am not afraid to voice my opinions, even when they are in opposition to the opinions of

most people.” (A)

2. “For me, life has been a continuous process of learning, changing, and growth.” (PG)

3. “In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live.” (E)

4. “People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others.” (PR)

5. “I am not interested in activities that will expand my horizons.” (PG)

6. “I enjoy making plans for the future and working to make them a reality.” (PL)

7. “Most people see me as loving and affectionate.” (PR)

8. “In many ways I feel disappointed about my achievements in life.” (SA)

9. “I live life one day at a time and don’t really think about the future.” (PL)

10. “I tend to worry about what other people think of me.” (A)

11. “When I look at the story of my life, I am pleased with how things have turned out.” (SA)

12. “I have difficulty arranging my life in a way that is satisfying to me.” (E)

13. “My decisions are not usually influenced by what everyone else is doing.” (A)

14. “I gave up trying to make big improvements or changes in my life a long time ago.” (PG)

15. “The demands of everyday life often get me down.” (E)

16. “I have not experienced many warm and trusting relationships with others.” (PR)
 52

17. “I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you think about

yourself and the world.” (PG)

18. “Maintaining close relationships has been difficult and frustrating for me.” (PR)

19. “My attitude about myself is probably not as positive as most people feel about

themselves.” (SA)

20. “I have a sense of direction and purpose in life.” (PL)

21. “I judge myself by what I think is important, not by the values of what others think is

important.” (A)

22. “In general, I feel confident and positive about myself.” (SA)

23. “I have been able to build a living environment and a lifestyle for myself that is much to

my liking.” (E)

24. “I tend to be influenced by people with strong opinions.” (A)

25. “I do not enjoy being in new situations that require me to change my old familiar ways of

doing things.” (PG)

26. “I do not fit very well with the people and the community around me.” (E)

27. “I know that I can trust my friends, and they know they can trust me.” (PR)

28. “When I think about it, I haven’t really improved much as a person over the years.” (PG)

29. “Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.” (PL)

30. “I often feel lonely because I have few close friends with whom to share my concerns.”

(PR)
 53

31. “When I compare myself to friends and acquaintances, it makes me feel good about who I

am.” (SA)

32. “I don’t have a good sense of what it is I’m trying to accomplish in life.” (PL)

33. “I sometimes feel as if I’ve done all there is to do in life.” (PL)

34. “I feel like many of the people I know have gotten more out of life than I have.” (SA)

35. “I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are contrary to the general consensus.”

(A)

36. “I am quite good at managing the many responsibilities of my daily life.” (E)

37. “I have the sense that I have developed a lot as a person over time.” (PG)

38. “I enjoy personal and mutual conversations with family members and friends.” (PR)

39. “My daily activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me.” (PL)

40. “I like most parts of my personality.” (SA)

41. “It’s difficult for me to voice my own opinions on controversial matters.” (A)

42. “I often feel overwhelmed by my responsibilities.” (E)

 54

Appendix B: Demographic Details

1. Name

2. Short Initials

3. Email

4. Gender

a. Male

b. Female

c. Other

5. Age

6. City of Residence

7. Total Number of Children

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

e. 5

8. No of children Settled Abroad

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

e. 5

f. None

9. Contact Number
55
 56

Appendix C: Declaration
You are being invited to participate in a study which examines "The impact of adult

children's migration on the psychological well-being of elderly parents". If you agree to

participate, you will be asked to respond to a series of questions on your experiences.

For research purposes, your responses will be recorded using Google form.

Participation in this study is voluntary. You can choose not to answer a question or withdraw

at any time. All responses are strictly confidential, and your name will not appear anywhere

on the materials. If the results of this study are published no information that discloses your

identity will be released or published.

There are no known risks associated with participating in the present study. Google

form recordings will only be analysed by the study researchers.

 57

Appendix D: Consent

By checking the below option, you are accepting that- I, _____ have read the

Information / Consent document, have had the nature of the study explained to me and I

agree to participate. I also understand that my responses will be recorded for research

purposes only. All questions have been answered to my satisfaction.