Date: 29 June, 2026
Time: 13:00 – 14:30
Session: 2 A STREAM: MIGRATION
Location: SLLS Annual International Conference, Brussels
Chair: Sergi Vidal, Autonomous University of Barcelona
This symposium features five studies adopting a lifecourse perspective to examine how spatial mobility trajectories contribute to the emergence and accumulation of health inequalities. In increasingly mobile societies, residential mobility and migration are not isolated events but recurrent processes that intersect with key life-course transitions and shape exposure to resources, risks, and institutions. Moving beyond static or single-event perspectives, the session conceptualizes mobility and health as interdependent, dynamic processes embedded in family, institutional, and spatial contexts.
Using population registers and longitudinal survey data and life-course-oriented analytical approaches, including algorithmic and causal methods, the papers interrogate how mobility-related processes unfold over time and
intersect with family and neighbourhood dynamics to generate unequal health outcomes and trajectories. The contributions address underexplored life-course processes, including transnational separation due to migration, disruptions in healthcare access through mobility trajectories, the interdependence between international and internal mobility, cumulative and age-sensitive effects of neighbourhood disadvantage, and the interplay between migration and partnership trajectories. By combining substantive insights with methodological advances suited to dynamic processes and selection, the symposium highlights how a trajectory-based lifecourse approach can refine existing theories and provide new, policy-relevant evidence on the production of health inequalities in contemporary mobile societies.
TALK 1: Family Migration Strategies and the Health of the 1.5 Generation
Presenter: Claudia Brunori, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Immigrant children have limited agency and understanding in the migration process: their migration is typically defined by parental decisions, including regarding the family migration trajectory, that is, whether the family migrates jointly or sequentially. Literature has shown that sequential family migration (where children spend some
time being transnationally separated from one or both parents in the migration process) tends to be associated with worse emotional and relational outcomes among immigrant children. However, our knowledge of the long-term consequences of different family migration strategies on immigrant children is very limited. In this article, we advance the literature on the consequences of different family migration trajectories by looking at physical and mental health outcomes in young adulthood and by using a fine-grained classification of sequential migration experiences, considering both the length of separation and the order of migration. We use whole data from Sweden to study (1) the diversity of family migration strategies experienced by immigrant children and (2) how these relate to physical and mental health from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 16 until the last available observation,
in 2021). Our preliminary results challenge the idea of a straightforwardly negative impact of transnational separation from a parent on health: while some experiences of sequential migration are associated with higher risks of mental disorders, these are mostly characterised by long or permanent separations and by migration with the
first mover. We find no difference between those who migrated with both parents and those who migrated with a parent to join the first mover.
TALK 2: When Partnerships End: Mental Health Consequences of Union Dissolution by Own and Partner’s Migration Background in the Netherlands
Presenter: Christiaan Monden, University of Oxford
Co-author: Carla Grindel, University of Oxford
We investigate how diverse migration backgrounds shape mental health trajectories throughout the union dissolution process. Union dissolutions are profoundly stressful life course events. While differences in the mental health consequences of union dissolutions by gender or socio-economic status are well-established in the literature, less is known about variations by migration background. Using rich administrative data from the Netherlands, we examine anticipatory, short-, and medium-term health outcomes of union dissolution vary between first- generation- migrants and native-borns. Building on life course migrant health literature and the stress process framework, we argue that migrants, especially females, might be particularly at risk of experiencing negative mental health consequences due to compounding stressors, such as financial strain. We further distinguish between union type, that is, whether migrants are in a partnership (marriage or long-term cohabitation) with another migrant or a native-born partner. Native-born partners might provide support in accessing social networks, healthcare, and financial support, and thus, the dissolution of these unions might have more negative
mental health consequences. We use two measures of mental health care: declared healthcare costs and reimbursed medications. Using fixed-effects linear probability models, we can capture within-individual changes in health from three years before to five years after the point of separation, modelling health as a dynamic outcome
that changes in response to evolving family contexts. Migrants make up a significant share of Europe’s population and numbers are expected to increase. Gaining insights into the intersection of migration and partnership trajectories and how they shape health inequalities across the life course is crucial to align health care systems and
uphold human rights.
TALK 3: Timing and Duration of Neighbourhood Disadvantage: A Life Course Perspective on Health Behaviours
Presenter: Justė Lekštytė, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Health behaviours are critical determinants of long-term health, and they are shaped not only by individual choices but also by the social and physical environments in which people grow up and live. While research suggests that growing up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods adversely affects children’s education, health, behavioural, and emotional outcomes, longitudinal evidence tracking these effects into adulthood remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by examining how the timing and accumulation of exposure to neighbourhood disadvantage from birth to young adulthood influences health behaviours in later life. Beyond estimating the overall effects of neighbourhood disadvantage, we also explore potential mechanisms to assess whether physical environment or social factors play a more important role in shaping later health behaviours. Using Swedish population register data, we study individuals who were born in Sweden in 1990 and who lived continuously in the country until 2023. We construct residential histories from birth to age 25, identifying four sensitive periods: early childhood (0–5), early school years (6–10), adolescence (11–16), and early adulthood (17–25). Health behaviours in adulthood are proxied by preventable hospitalisations, capturing conditions avoidable through healthier lifestyles or preventive care. Because neighbourhood conditions and family circumstances change over time and jointly influence mobility and health, we use a marginal structural model with inverse probability of treatment weighting to account for timevarying confounders and selection issues. Preliminary results indicate that exposure to disadvantaged neighbourhoods is associated with a higher likelihood of preventable hospitalisations, with longer exposure (6-10 or 11-25 years) having a more significant effect than shorter exposure (1-5 years). Experiencing disadvantage during any sensitive period, except early school years, increases the risk of preventable hospitalisations.
TALK 4: The Long Shadow of Migration: How Early-Life Mobility Shapes Health in Later Life
Presenter: José David López-Blanco, University of Bologna
While research on the immigrant health paradox has documented initial health advantages among migrants that erode over time through unhealthy assimilation processes, less is known about whether these migration experiences earlier in life continue to shape health decades later, or whether such effects are specific to
international border-crossing or reflect broader processes of residential mobility.
This study examines how migration before age 50 affects mental and physical health among Europeans aged 50 and older, distinguishing between internal long-distance moves and international migration, including return migration. Using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, waves 4-9,
2011-2021) merged with retrospective life histories (waves 3 and 7), we analyze individuals from the 1945-1965 birth cohorts across 20 European countries. Employing correlated random effects models to account for unobserved heterogeneity, we examine whether socioeconomic resources, household composition, and social network integration mediate the relationship between migration history and health. Additionally, we investigate the accumulation and timing of migration episodes, testing whether multiple moves and migrations at older ages exacerbate health effects. Results show that both return international migrants and
long-distance internal migrants report higher depressive symptoms compared to non-migrants, with return migrants exhibiting the most pronounced effects and similar patterns of deterioration associated with migration frequency and later-age moves. Notably, we find no significant differences in physical health outcomes, neither in the number of chronic conditions nor in self-rated health, suggesting that migration’s long-term health consequences operate primarily through mental health pathways. These findings suggest that the health erosion documented in unhealthy assimilation research extends well into later life, with psychological costs of migration accumulating over time and across multiple episodes.
TALK 5: Children Emigration and Loneliness of Older Parents in Europe
Presenter: Margherita Odasso, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Migration is a life-course process with profound and long-lasting consequences not only for migrants’ material and emotional wellbeing, but also for those of their non-migrant kin. In high-emigration contexts, research has generally found that long-distance separation from adult children is associated with worse emotional wellbeing and higher loneliness in non-migrant ageing parents. However, despite growing levels of intra-European mobility and increasing attention to loneliness in Europe’s ageing populations, little research has investigated the association between geographical distance from adult children and loneliness in old age in the European context. In this article, we use longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to study the association between long-distance separation from adult children and the emotional wellbeing of older parents across several European countries. Preliminary cross-sectional results indicate that older parents with long-distance separation from an adult child report substantially higher loneliness than comparable individuals living closer to all their children, while no differences were found in terms of depressive symptoms and emotional wellbeing. We extend the analysis in several ways. First, we leverage the panel structure of SHARE and parent–child dyads to estimate within-parent changes following children’s migration, controlling for unobserved time-invariant confounders. Second, we consider different distances between parents and children. This allows us to disentangle the empty nest syndrome – that is, parents’ feelings of sadness when their children leave home – from long-distance emigration. Lastly, we consider contextual moderators, such as European region and the availability of non-family social support. By adopting a life-course and linked-lives perspective, this article study extends research on intergenerational consequences of migration and contributes to debates on ageing, family ties, and well-being in mobile societies.