Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T10:07:40.953Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

First-generation circular migrants involved in the upbringing of their grandchildren: the case of Turkish immigrants in Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2019

Tolga Tezcan Open the ORCID record for Tolga Tezcan [Opens in a new window]
Tolga Tezcan*
Affiliation:
School of Social, Behavioral & Global Studies, California State University, Monterey Bay, Seaside, California, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: ttezcan@csumb.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Following retirement, older immigrants increasingly tend to engage in circular migration. This back-and-forth movement introduces a variety of challenges affecting the nature of grandparenthood as well as grandparental involvement in the upbringing of grandchildren. For circular migrant grandparents, maintaining intergenerational relationships requires them to overcome not only geographic distances, but also linguistic and cultural differences. In families with circular migrant grandparents, intergenerational conflict often springs from disparate generational exposure to acculturation processes, producing divergent aspirations within the first and second generations regarding the upbringing of the third generation. This study explores how first-generation Turkish circular migrant grandparents attempt to raise grandchildren who reside in Germany by implementing ‘cultural and instrumental transfers’. This study undertakes a qualitative approach: semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of first-generation Turkish circular migrant grandparents (N = 40). The analysis finds that child-care assistance is characterised by intergenerational conflict – rather than solidarity or altruistic support – between the first and second generations. Moreover, through transnational arranged marriages, as a cultural transfer, and inter vivos gifts, as an instrumental transfer, grandparents encourage their grandchildren to return to Turkey permanently.

Keywords

child carecircular migrationGermanygrandparentingintergenerational conflictTurkey
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 77 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abadan-Unat, N (2011) Turks in Europe: From Guest Worker to Transnational Citizen. New York, NY: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Aydın, Y (2016) The Germany–Turkey Migration Corridor: Refitting Policies for a Transnational Age. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Backhouse, J and Graham, A (2010) Grandparents raising their grandchildren: an uneasy position. Elder Law Review 6, 1–9.Google Scholar
Baldassar, L (2007) Transnational families and aged care: the mobility of care and the migrancy of ageing. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 33, 275–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldassar, L (2008) Missing kin and longing to be together: emotions and the construction of co-presence in transnational relationships. Journal of Intercultural Studies 29, 247–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baykara-Krumme, H (2013) Returning, staying, or both? Mobility patterns among elderly Turkish migrants after retirement. Transnational Social Review 3, 11–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck-Gernsheim, E (2007) Transnational lives, transnational marriages: a review of the evidence from migrant communities in Europe. Global Networks 7, 271–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, G, Beyene, Y, Newsom, E and Mayen, N (2003) Creating continuity through mutual assistance: intergenerational reciprocity in four ethnic groups. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 58B, S151–S159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, VL and Roberts, REL (1991) Intergenerational solidarity in aging families: an example of formal theory construction. Journal of Marriage and the Family 53, 856–870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernheim, BD, Shleifer, A and Summers, LH (1986) The strategic bequest motive. Journal of Labor Economics 4, 151–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bertaux, D (2003) The usefulness of life stories for a realist and meaningful sociology. In Humphrey, R, Miller, R and Zdravomyslova, R (eds), Biographical Research in Eastern Europe: Altered Lives and Broken Biographies. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, pp. 39–51.Google Scholar
Bilecen, B, Çatır, G and Orhon, A (2015) Turkish–German transnational social space: stitching across borders. Population Space and Place 21, 244–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bilecen, B and Tezcan-Güntekin, H (2014) Transnational healthcare practices of retired circular migrants. Working Paper Series 127. Bielefeld: Center on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD).Google Scholar
Böcker, A and Balkır, C (2016) Maintaining dual residences to manage risks in later life: a comparison of two groups of older migrants. In Horn, V and Schweppe, C (eds), Transnational Aging: Current Insights and Future Challenges. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 126–140.Google Scholar
Bolzman, C, Fibbi, R and Vial, M (2006) What to do after retirement? Elderly migrants and the question of return. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 32, 1359–1375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ciobanu, RO, Fokkema, T and Nedelcu, M (2017) Ageing as a migrant: vulnerabilities, agency and policy implications. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43, 164–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coall, DA and Hertwig, R (2011) Grandparental investment: a relic of the past or a resource for the future? Current Directions in Psychological Science 20, 93–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coles, RL (2001) Elderly narrative reflections on the contradictions in Turkish village family life after migration of adult children. Journal of Aging Studies 15, 383–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Constant, A and Zimmermann, KF (2011) Circular and repeat migration: counts of exits and years away from the host country. Population Research and Policy Review 30, 495–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diehl, C and Schnell, R (2006) ‘Reactive ethnicity'or ‘assimilation’? Statements, arguments, and first empirical evidence for labor migrants in Germany. International Migration Review 40, 786–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolbin-MacNab, ML and Yancura, LA (2018) International perspectives on grandparents raising grandchildren. International Journal of Aging and Human Development 86, 3–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dowd, JJ (1975) Aging as exchange: a preface to theory. Journal of Gerontology 30, 584–594.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Durugönül, E (2013) Turkish return migration from Europe. European Review 21, 412–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elo, S and Kyngäs, H (2008) The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing 62, 107–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falicov, CJ (2007) Working with transnational immigrants: expanding meanings of family, community, and culture. Family Process 46, 157–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faraday, A and Plummer, K (1979) Doing life histories. The Sociological Review 27, 773–798.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fokkema, T, Cela, E and Witter, Y (2016) Pendular migration of the older first generations in Europe: misconceptions and nuances. In Horn, V and Schweppe, C (eds), Transnational Aging: Current Insights and Future Challenges. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 141–161.Google Scholar
Forghani, A and Neustaedter, C (2014) The Social Challenges with Grandparent and Grandchild Communication Over Distance. Available at http://clab.iat.sfu.ca/pubs/Forghani-GRAND2014.pdf.Google Scholar
Gerolimetto, M and Magrini, S (2018) State of the art and future challenges of interregional migration empirical research in Europe. In Biagi, B, Faggian, A, Rajbhandari, I and Venhorst, VA (eds), New Frontiers in Interregional Migration Research. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 87–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Ferrer, A (2007) The process of family reunification among original guest-workers in Germany. Zeitschrift für Familienforschung 19, 10–33.Google Scholar
Gordon, MM (1964) Assimilation in American Life. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goulbourne, H and Chamberlain, M (2001) Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Grieco, E (2004) Will migrant remittances continue through time? A new answer to an old question. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 6, 243–252.Google Scholar
Gu, CJ (2010) Culture, emotional transnationalism and mental distress: family relations and well-being among Taiwanese immigrant women. Gender Place & Culture 17, 687–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutmann, DL (1985) Deculturation and the American grandparent. In Bengtson, VL and Robertson, JF (eds), Grandparenthood. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, pp. 173–181.Google Scholar
Hayman, B, Wilkes, L, Jackson, D and Halcomb, E (2012) Exchange and equality during data collection: relationships through story sharing with lesbian mothers. Nurse Researcher 19, 6–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Himmelreicher, R and Keck, W (2016) Transnational aging as reflected in Germany's pension insurance. In Horn, V and Schweppe, C (eds), Transnational Aging: Current Insights and Future Challenges. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 107–125.Google Scholar
Hoff, A (2007) Patterns of intergenerational support in grandparent–grandchild and parent–child relationships in Germany. Ageing & Society 27, 643–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, HF and Shannon, SE (2005) Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research 15, 1277–1288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hugo, G (2013) What we know about circular migration and enhanced mobility. Migration Policy Institute, Policy Brief 7.Google Scholar
Kagitcibasi, C (1970) Social norms and authoritarianism: a Turkish–American comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 16, 444–451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalaycıoğlu, S and Rittersberger-Tılıç, H (2000) Intergenerational solidarity networks of instrumental and cultural transfers within migrant families in Turkey. Ageing & Society 20, 523–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaya, A (2011) Constructing communities in the Turkish diaspora: a quest for politics. In Casier, M and Jongerden, J (eds), Nationalisms and Politics in Turkey: Political Islam Kemalism and the Kurdish issue. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 165–181.Google Scholar
Keene, JR and Batson, CD (2010) Under one roof: a review of research on intergenerational coresidence and multigenerational households in the United States. Sociology Compass 4, 642–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemp, CL (2004) ‘Grand’ expectations: the experiences of grandparents and adult grandchildren. Canadian Journal of Sociology 29, 499–525.Google Scholar
Kim, HJ, Lapierre, TA and Chapin, R (2018) Grandparents providing care for grandchildren: implications for economic preparation for later life in South Korea. Ageing & Society 38, 676–699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, R, Cela, E, Fokkema, T and Vullnetari, J (2014) The migration and well-being of the zero generation: transgenerational care, grandparenting, and loneliness amongst Albanian older people. Population Space and Place 20, 728–738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kornhaber, A (1996) Contemporary Grandparenting. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Kunuroglu, F, Yagmur, K, Van de Vijver, FJR and Kroon, S (2015) Consequences of Turkish return migration from Western Europe. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 49, 198–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kunuroglu, F, Yagmur, K, Van De Vijver, FJR and Kroon, S (2018) Motives for Turkish return migration from Western Europe: home, sense of belonging, discrimination and transnationalism. Turkish Studies 19, 422–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwak, K (2003) Adolescents and their parents: a review of intergenerational family relations for immigrant and non-immigrant families. Human Development 46, 115–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lie, M (2010) Across the oceans: childcare and grandparenting in UK Chinese and Bangladeshi households. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36, 1425–1443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lievens, J (1998) Interethnic marriage: bringing in the context through multilevel modelling. European Journal of Population 14, 117–155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lievens, J (1999) Family-forming migration from Turkey and Morocco to Belgium: the demand for marriage partners from the countries of origin. International Migration Review 33, 717–744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lincoln, YS and Guba, EG (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maijala, EL, Uusiautti, S and Määttä, K (2013) Grandparental love: a challenge or richness? Early Child Development and Care 183, 627–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchetti-Mercer, MC (2017) ‘The screen has such sharp edges to hug’: the relational consequences of emigration in transnational South African emigrant families. Transnational Social Review 7, 73–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, J (2004) Managing kinship over long distances: the significance of ‘the visit’. Social Policy and Society 3, 421–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller, C (2007) Integrating Turkish communities: a German dilemma. Population Research and Policy Review 25, 419–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nedelcu, M (2009) La «génération zéro»: du sédentaire à l'acteur circulant. Effets de mobilité sur la génération des parents des migrants roumains hautement qualifiés à Toronto. In Cortès, G and Faret, L (eds), Les circulations transnationales. Paris: Armand Colin, pp. 187–198.Google Scholar
Nedelcu, M (2017) Transnational grandparenting in the digital age: mediated co-presence and childcare in the case of Romanian migrants in Switzerland and Canada. European Journal of Ageing 14, 375–383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nesteruk, O and Marks, L (2009) Grandparents across the ocean: Eastern European immigrants struggle to maintain intergenerational relationships. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 40, 77–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parrott, TM and Bengtson, VL (1999) The effects of earlier intergenerational affection, normative expectations, and family conflict on contemporary exchanges of help and support. Research on Aging 21, 73–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plaza, D (2000) Transnational grannies: the changing family responsibilities of elderly African Caribbean-born women resident in Britain. Social Indicators Research 51, 75–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, T and Zontini, E (2006) A comparative study of care and provision across Caribbean and Italian transnational families. London South Bank University, Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group Working Paper 16.Google Scholar
Rittersberger-Tılıç, H, Çelik, K and Özen, Y (2013) Return to Turkey: return decisions and reintegration patterns. An analysis of the first and second generations. In Baraulina, T and Kreienbrink, A (eds), Rückkehr und Reintegration. Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migrationsforschung, Beiträge zu Migration und Integration 4, pp. 83–176.Google Scholar
Russell-Brown, PA, Norville, B and Griffith, C (1997) Child shifting: a survival strategy for teenage mothers. In Roopnarine, JL and Brown, J (eds), Caribbean Families: Diversity Among Ethnic Groups. Greenwich, CT: Ablex, pp. 224–243.Google Scholar
Schmidt, G (2011) Law and identity: transnational arranged marriages and the boundaries of Danishness. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 37, 257–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroeder-Butterfill, E and Schonheinz, J (2019) Transnational families and the circulation of care: a Romanian–German case study. Ageing & Society 39, 45–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, H, Yavuz-Muren, HM and Yagmurlu, B (2014) Parenting: the Turkish context. In Selin, H (ed.), Parenting Across Cultures. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 175–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Settles, BH (2014) Global grandparents: new roles and relationships. In Selin, H (ed.), Parenting Across Cultures. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 393–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, M and Chen, X (1999) The impact of acculturation in Mexican American families on the quality of adult grandchild–grandparent relationships. Journal of Marriage and the Family 61, 188–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, EP (1961) Intergenerational conflict among the Mossi: father and son. Journal of Conflict Resolution 5, 55–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sluzki, CE (1979) Migration and family conflict. Family Process 18, 379–390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solé, C, Parella, S, Martí, TS and Nita, S (2016) Impact of Circular Migration on Human Political and Civil Rights: A Global Perspective. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, A and Corbin, J (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Sturges, JE and Hanrahan, KJ (2004) Comparing telephone and face-to-face qualitative interviewing: a research note. Qualitative Research 4, 107–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szinovacz, ME (1998) Research on grandparenting: needed refinements in concepts, theories, and methods. In Szinovacz, ME (ed.), Handbook on Grandparenthood. London: Greenwood, pp. 257–336.Google Scholar
Tiaynen-Qadir, T (2016) Transnational babushka grandmothers and family making between Russian Karelia and Finland. In Horn, V and Schweppe, C (eds), Transnational Aging: Current Insights and Future Challenges. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 85–104.Google Scholar
Timmerman, C (2006) Gender dynamics in the context of Turkish marriage migration: the case of Belgium. Turkish Studies 7, 125–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tran, AN (2016) Weaving life across borders: the Cham Muslim migrants traversing Vietnam and Malaysia. In Lian, KF, Rahman, MM and Alas, Y (eds), International Migration in Southeast Asia: Continuities and Discontinuities. Singapore: Springer, pp. 13–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treas, J and Mazumdar, S (2004) Kinkeeping and caregiving: contribution of older people in immigrant families. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 35, 105–122.Google Scholar
Troll, LE (1983) Grandparents: the family watchdogs. In Brubaker, TH (eds), Family Relationships in Later Life. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, pp. 63–74.Google Scholar
Uhlenberg, P and Cheuk, M (2010) The significance of grandparents to grandchildren: an international perspective. In Dannefer, D and Phillipson, C (eds), The Sage Handbook of Social Gerontology. London: Sage, pp. 447–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kerckem, K, Van Der Bracht, K, Stevens, PAJ and Van De Putte, B (2013) Transnational marriages on the decline: explaining changing trends in partner choice among Turkish Belgians. International Migration Review 47, 1006–1038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vullnetari, J and King, R (2008) ‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania. Global Networks 8, 139–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weil, P (2002) Towards a coherent policy of co-development. International Migration 40, 41–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, JB (2003) State feminism, modernization, and the Turkish Republican woman. NWSA Journal 15, 145–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, DL (1997) Family secrets: transnational struggles among children of Filipino immigrants. Sociological Perspectives 40, 457–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yorgason, JB, Padilla-Walker, L and Jackson, J (2011) Nonresidential grandparents’ emotional and financial involvement in relation to early adolescent grandchild outcomes. Journal of Research on Adolescence 21, 552–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zayas, LH and Palleja, J (1988) Puerto Rican familism: considerations for family therapy. Family Relations 37, 260–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zontini, E (2010) Enabling and constraining aspects of social capital in migrant families: ethnicity, gender and generation. Ethnic and Racial Studies 33, 816–831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar