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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Feeling a deep sense of loneliness: Chinese late-life immigrants in New Zealand
Australasian Journal on Ageing, Vol.41(3), pp.448-456
2022
PMID: 35791051
Abstract
Objectives:
To explore Chinese late-life immigrants' perceptions of loneliness and social isolation.
Methods:
A qualitative descriptive methodology underpinned this study. In-depth individual interviews were conducted in Mandarin with purposively recruited participants. The twenty-three participants in the study had all emigrated from China, were 65–80 years old on arrival and had lived in New Zealand for between 2.5 and 16 years. An inductive thematic analytic process was undertaken. The COREQ checklist was followed to ensure study rigour.
Results:
Three themes, ‘high value placed on meeting family obligations’, ‘feeling a deep sense of imbalanced intergenerational reciprocity’ and ‘moving away from filial expectations’, were identified. Confucianist values of ‘women's domestic duty of caring for grandchildren’, ‘filial piety’, and ‘saving face’ to be accepted and respected by others negatively attributed to participants' understandings and experiences of loneliness. To plan for increasing frailty and to avoid family conflict while ameliorating potential loneliness, some participants reluctantly discarded prior customary filial piety expectations in favour of formal aged care options.
Conclusions:
Participants' profound sense of loneliness was seen to be attributed to their deeply rooted cultural values and backgrounds from having lived for a significant period of time in China. Loneliness occurred as a result of the resettlement process in later life. These experiences highlight the importance of using cultural framing that takes into account beliefs and adaptations to host societies anticipated during the process of late-life immigration.
Details
- Title
- Feeling a deep sense of loneliness: Chinese late-life immigrants in New Zealand
- Authors
- Ivy Yan Zhao - Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityEleanor Holroyd - Auckland University of TechnologyValerie A. Wright-St Clair - Auckland University of TechnologyShan Shan Wang - Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityNick Garrett - Auckland University of TechnologyStephen Neville (Corresponding Author) - Auckland University of Technology
- Publication details
- Australasian Journal on Ageing, Vol.41(3), pp.448-456
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1111/ajag.13108
- ISSN
- 1741-6612; 1440-6381
- PMID
- 35791051
- Copyright note
- © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Data Availability
- Data available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictions.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Nursing
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991110933802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Geriatrics & Gerontology
- Gerontology
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