1. 1 WELL-BEING AND ADJUSTMENT OF SPONSORED AGING IMMIGRANTS Shireen Surood, PhD Supervisor, Research & Evaluation Information & Evaluation Services Addiction & Mental Health – Edmonton Alberta Health Services 1 Immigrant & Aging in Canada October 14, 2010 Ottawa

2. 2 INTRODUCTION Research and knowledge about the sponsored (family class) senior immigrants is very limited The lack of knowledge about this group in Canada creates a misperception about the needs of the elderly population Current research studies mostly focus on the economic side of the senior immigrants The focus of this study is to understand the well-being and adjustment needs of sponsored aging immigrants to Canada 2

3. 3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS What are the characteristics of aging immigrants who are sponsored? Have the well-being and adjustment needs of sponsored aging immigrants (in terms of social, economic, and health) changed or been affected since their arrival in Canada? What factors are associated with sponsored aging immigrants’ social, economic, psychological, and physical health well-being and adjustment ? 3

4. 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Secondary data analysis – Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Canada (LSIC) (wave 1, 2, & 3) A longitudinal design- conducted by Statistics Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada Purpose: how new immigrants adjust over time to life in Canada Participants who were 55 years of age and older in wave 1 were used for the analyses Sample size: 476 4

5. 5 MEASUREMENTS OF CONSTRUCTS Dependent Variables Well-being variables:  Health well-being Self-rated general health (1 to 5)  Social well-being Frequency of seeing or talking to friends (1 to 5) Groups or organizations involved with (yes = 1, no = 0)  Economic well-being Adjusted Household income (calculated by dividing the annual household income by the square root of the household size) Adjustment variable: General experience in Canada (1 to 5) 5

6. 6 Demographic variables  Age  Gender (male = 1, female = 0)  Marital status (married/common-law = 1, single = 0)  Education  Visible minority status (Chinese, South Asian, Other visible minority, Caucasians)  Proficiency in chartered language (yes = 1, no = 0) For this study, we included those who were at the age of 55 years and older in wave 1 6

7. 7 RESULTS: DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE Mean age of the sponsored immigrants was 64.3 years 59.5% were female Majority (72.3%) were married/common-law 78.6% of the aging sponsored immigrants were visible minority Mean education was 11.4 years 18.5% of the aging immigrants were proficient in either chartered languages (i.e. English or French) 7

8. 8 RESULTS: WELL-BEING AND ADJUSTMENT VARIABLES(WAVE 1) RESULTS: WELL-BEING AND ADJUSTMENT VARIABLES (WAVE 1) Majority self-perceived their general health as positive Mean adjusted household income was 13,532.69 (41631.49) Over 70.8% reported seeing or taking with friends everyday to at least once a week Most (77.2%) of the aging immigrants were not involved in a group or an organization Over half of the seniors perceived their general experience in Canada as “somewhat better” or “much better” than expected 8

9. 9 RESULTS: WELL-BEING AND ADJUSTMENT General health was better (mean=3.55, sd=.91) in the first wave interview, but declined [mean=3.33 (sd=.97) & 3.10 (sd=.93)] over subsequent waves Adjusted household income of sponsored aging immigrants improved significantly with time (mean=13,4063.6 to mean=25,171.9) Sponsored aging immigrants saw or talked with their friends more in the second year of immigration but it had decreased during the third wave (mean rank=2.06 to mean rank=1.91) The involvement of sponsored immigrants with a group or an organization increased over time [mean=.23 (sd=.42) to mean=.33 (sd=.47)] The results indicate that there was no significant difference over time in the sponsored aging immigrants’ general experience in Canada 9

10. 10 RESULTS: CORRELATES OF WELL-BEING AND ADJUSTMENT General health:  Overall time effect: significant overall time effect on the general health of aging sponsored immigrants [  2 (2) = 29.77, p = 0.0000]  Individual time effects: a decline in general health status compared to wave 1  Correlates: Being Chinese - compared with Caucasians, the general health of Chinese sponsored immigrants decreased significantly Being involved with a group or an organization - reported better general health than those who did not  All these correlates together are statistically significant in correlating with general health [Wald  2 (13) = 70.19, p = 0.000] 10

11. 11 Adjusted household income:  Overall time effect: significant overall time effect on the adjusted household income of sponsored aging immigrants [  2 (2) = 21.25, p = 0.0000]  Individual time effect: an increase in adjusted household income compared to wave 1  Correlates: Education: those with higher levels of education reporting higher levels of household income  All these correlates together are statistically significant in correlating with adjusted household income [Wald  2 (13) = 107.08, p = 0.000] 11

12. 12 Frequency of seeing or talking with friends:  Overall time effect: no statistically significant overall time effect [  2 (2) = 3.84, p = 0.1464] was found  Individual time effects: No individual wave effect was observed in both wave 2 and wave 3 compared to wave 1  Correlates: of seeing or talking less frequently with friends Being older in age Being female Being married Being Chinese  All these correlates together are statistically significant correlates of frequency of seeing or talking with friends [Wald  2 (10) = 63.94, p = 0.000] 12

13. 13 Involved with group or organization:  Overall time effect: significant time effect on predicting the probability of involvement with a group or an organization [  2 (2) = 11.52, p = 0.0031]  Individual time effects: an increase in involvement with group or organization compared to wave 1  Correlates: Being a South Asian – were less involvement with a group or an organization when compared with Caucasians Being proficient in a chartered language - reported a higher probability of such involvement  All ten predictors included in the regression model is significant [Wald  2 (10) = 46.34, p = 0.0000] 13

14. 14 General experience in Canada:  Overall time effect: no significant overall time effect was found [χ 2 (2) = 5.35, p = 0.0688]  Individual time effects: general experience in Canada moved from a more positive experience towards a less positive experience (wave 2), compared to their initial expectations (wave 1)  Correlates: Education – those with lower levels of education reported a more positive experience in Canada Being in the “other” visible minority group – compared to Caucasians, ‘other’ visible minorities reported their experience in Canada as more favourable Frequency of seeing or talking to friends – those who reported seeing or taking to friends more frequently also reported their experience in Canada more positively  All the correlates included in the regression model together were significant [Wald  2 (13) = 78.54, p = 0.0000] 14

15. 15 DISCUSSION Few main pattern can be observed:  Health well-being Consistent with the “healthy immigrant effect” hypothesis, which states that the longer immigrants have resided in the host country, the less healthy they could become (Chen et al. 1999; Gee et al. 2004) The challenges and barriers recent immigrants and lack of social support network may be one possible reason for the disadvantaged general health status  Economic well-being Those who have a higher level of education could be earning more and may have a higher pension and/or personal savings. The relationship between education on earning is well proven (Lazear, 2000) A second interpretation is that children who have parents with higher level of education may have the advantage of being brought up in an economically secure environment, and thus have access to resources that may facilitate their learning (Jonsson & Gahler, 1997; McLanahan & Sandefur 1994) 15

16. 16  Social well-being Frequency of seeing or talking with friends declined Involvement in a group or an organization increased Visible minorities were identified as a vulnerable group Other disadvantaged groups included: females, older adults, married individuals, and those with a lower level of proficiency in a chartered language Older adults often have a smaller social network, which usually consists of family members Cultural or structural factors such as inadequate transportation, traditional gender roles, language barriers, and dependency on other family members, employment, and lack of time due to family and work related responsibilities could also contribute to this trend 16

17. 17 Adjustment  General experience in Canada Sponsored immigrants’ positive feelings seemed to weaken by the time of the second interview This could be explained by the ‘honeymoon effect’; that is, things seem much better at the beginning, but as the novelty starts to fade, that optimism changes as well 17

18. 18 CONCLUSION Steps need to be taken to frame programs and policies which focus on disease prevention, health promotion, and well-being of aging sponsored immigrants Importance of programs and activities that facilitate the development of social support networks for sponsored older immigrants is revealed Policies and programs that outreach to aging sponsored immigrants so that they are aware of the opportunities for building their own social networks are crucial Effective strategies should be developed to facilitate aging sponsored immigrants’ engagement in civic and social activities, which helps them develop a sense of belonging here in Canada There is a need to focus towards the development of a framework that could inform policies, programs, and services for providing better support to aging immigrants, including those who are sponsored to Canada 18