Don E. Bradley

Self‐Employment and Job Satisfaction: Investigating the Role of Self‐Efficacy, Depression, and Seniority

Are self‐employed workers more satisfied with their jobs compared to wage and salary workers? Using The National Survey of Families and Households: Wave I, 1987–1988, and Wave II 1992–1994 several expectations are evaluated in this article. First, self‐employed persons should enjoy higher job satisfaction than others. Second, a portion of the association between job satisfaction and self‐employment should be explained by higher levels of self‐efficacy and by lower levels of depression among the self‐employed compared to others. Third, self‐employment veterans are a select group and should be different systematically from self‐employment newcomers with respect to reported job satisfaction. Findings offer support for the first and second arguments above but not the third. Post‐hoc analysis suggests that among the newly self‐employed, the association between job satisfaction and self‐employment depends on both the quantity and quality of time invested in the business. Implications of these findings and directions for further research are discussed.

United States' international retirement migration: the reasons for retiring to the environs of Lake Chapala, Mexico

ABSTRACT Most studies of retirement migration in the United States focus at the national level, and there is comparatively little information about the retirees who cross international borders in their search for new homes. Retirement migrants are unusual in that many select destinations in less-developed countries, contrary to the general pattern of migration from poor to rich countries in search of jobs, higher incomes and a better standard of life. This study has examined the reasons for retirement migration from the United States (US) to the Lake Chapala area of the Mexican state of Jalisco. A non-random sample of 211 US retirees was surveyed using a self-completion, semi-structured questionnaire that included items about the decision to move to Mexico, the quality of life at the destination, cultural adaptation, and aspects of personal identity, financial security and health-care. Four major reasons for migrating to Mexico were identified: financial circumstances, the natural environment, a sense of community and friendship, and a better quality of life. While the migrations contradict much taken-for-granted and popular knowledge about migration patterns around the world, they have important implications for the ways of life, social relationships and welfare of the most recent cohort of older people. More in-depth multidisciplinary studies are needed to increase understanding of this evolving phenomenon.

Internal and International Migration

Publisher Summary Scholarship on later-life migration has grown considerably over the previous years, owing largely to new investigations on international migration coming from Europe and elsewhere. This chapter reviews internal migration in the United States and other international migration. One way of describing migration destinations is to compare the number of individuals who moved to different states or counties by ranking the states or counties that received the largest proportions. One of the defining characteristics of interstate retirement migration is that the migrants coming from many states are concentrated in only a few destinations, which is a result of highly focused flows into certain states. In the life-course theoretical model, the final type of move is a move away from informal care by family members and others to institutional care. The older persons who become more seriously disabled are especially likely to move, although their moves may be short-term rather than long-term moves. Three cyclical patterns of interstate migration have been identified in the United States over the previous years: seasonal migration, counterstream migration, and return migration.

Geographic Mobility and Aging in Place

of retirement migration on receiving communities. At this point the geographical patterns of later-life migration will be described, on both the state and county or county group level in the United States. As part of this description of patterns, brief attention is given to seasonal migration. Next we review evidence from longitudinal panel studies pertaining to the causes of residential mobility among elders. The final section of the chapter discusses the impact of migration on the health and well-being of older adults.

Migration and psychological well-being among older adults: a growth curve analysis based on panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, 1996-2006.

Purpose: A vibrant body of research examines migration among older adults. Existing research, however, grants scarce attention to the implications of later-life migration for the migrants themselves. Our research focuses on the impacts of migration on depressive symptomatology among older U.S. adults. Methods: Our analysis employs six waves of panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, 1996-2006. Growth curve modeling techniques are employed. Results: Net of other stressful life events, migration effects appear to vary significantly across persons. Findings highlight the particularly depressive impact of moves motivated by negative life events or circumstances. Results further suggest that later life moves may be especially stressful for women and as individuals age. Discussion: The stress of moving late in life may depend on social integration at destination. Further research should pursue this issue. Study limitations and additional directions for further research are delineated.

Litwak and Longino's Developmental Model of Later Life Migration: Evidence From the American Community Survey, 2005-2007

The present study revisits Litwak and Longino’s seminal article, “Migration Patterns among the Elderly: A Developmental Perspective.” Data from the American Community Survey, 2005—2007 are exploited to partially replicate and build on the original study. Findings indicate that Florida later-life migrant exchanges with selected states in the Northeast and Midwest appear to be characterized by positively selected in-bound streams and negatively selected out-bound streams, consistent with the results reported by Litwak and Longino. The “amenity in-migrant, assistance out-migrant” pattern is also evident in the exchange of older migrants between Florida and other regions, excepting the West. Older in-migrants to Arizona from the Midwest and West similarly appear to be positively selected compared to their out-bound counterparts leaving Arizona for destinations in those same regions. Implications of these results are discussed together with study limitations and directions for further research.

A Second Look at Self‐employment and the Earnings of Immigrants

Portes and Zhou (1996) present evidence to suggest that self-employment may impact the economic fortunes of immigrant groups by generating a relatively large number of very high earners. The present analysis seeks to extend and clarify the very high earner thesis using 1990 U.S. census data. Findings across 41 immigrant samples are generally consistent with expectations. However, in the majority of cases the effect of self-employment is due in whole or substantial part to the earnings of professional specialists. Findings are consistent with a very high earner model of nonprofessional specialist self-employment in eleven immigrant subsamples.