Arbeitsbereich

Bevölkerungsdynamik und Nachhaltiges Wohlbefinden

Auf einen Blick Projekte Publikationen Team

Projekt

Migration, Communication, and Well-Being: Exploring Mental Health Among Transnational Families and Internal Migrants in the UK (Dissertation)

Dianqi Yuan, Arkadiusz Arkadiusz Wisniowski (The University of Manchester, Vereinigtes Königreich von Großbritannien und Nordirland), Emilio Zagheni, Nan Nan Zhang (The University of Manchester, Vereinigtes Königreich von Großbritannien und Nordirland)

Ausführliche Beschreibung

This dissertation project studies the health impact of both international migration and internal migration. The first part on international migration focuses on transnational families in Europe. Increasing migration flows are associated with mental health challenges among older parents in transnational families. We investigate the potential protective role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and its underlying mechanisms. To examine the pathways between ICT use and depression, we selected contact frequency with children and social capital as mediators, building on the existing literature showing that ICT use establishes a virtual connection between members of transnational families, and helps older adults in particular maintain their social support networks.

The second part of the project investigates internal migration in the United Kingdom, with a particular focus on upward and downward residential mobility – defined as moving to a neighborhood with a lower or a higher level of deprivation, respectively (measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation) – during adolescence, and its effects on adolescent psychological distress.

Together, the two components contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how different forms of mobility, both across borders and within countries, shape the mental well-being of different generations. The first study advances research on transnational families by providing large-scale quantitative evidence on how digital communication mitigates depressive symptoms among older parents with migrant children, and emphasizes the role of ICT in maintaining emotional support and social connectedness in long-distance relationships.

The second study extends this perspective to internal migration by examining how upward and downward residential mobility during adolescence influence psychological distress, shedding light on the developmental and contextual mechanisms through which mobility affects mental health in youth. The project is expected to produce three publishable papers within these broader areas by the time the dissertation is complete.