Transnational aging among older Turkish and Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands: Determinants of transnational behavior and transnational belonging

Abstract This study investigates how resources and constraints (location of family, gender, income, cultural distance to society of settlement, and health) impact the experience of two interrelated dimensions of transnational aging: transnational behavior and transnational belonging. We specify transnational behavior by visitation of the country of origin and transnational belonging by emotional attachment to the country of origin and consideration of return migration. Data come from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam with interviews held between 2013 and 2014 with 264 Turkish migrants and 205 Moroccan migrants, aged 55–66. Regression analyses reveal that transnational belonging and behavior are explained by different factors. Family-in-laws’ location and gender only play a role in explaining transnational belonging, while cultural distance and self-rated health affect both dimensions, and subjective income only impacts transnational behavior. Results from the stratified analysis show that for Turkish migrants, family location, cultural distance, and health are important in considering return migration, whereas for Moroccan migrants, only cultural distance plays a role. We conclude that the distinction between transnational belonging and behavior is useful in understanding transnational aging and that our resources and constraints approach extends our view on older migrants.