Implication of Adult Out-Migration on the Health and Healthcare Seeking of the Older Parents in Indian Households: an Exploration

The ageing of population and simultaneous increase in adult out-migration are two contemporary demographic developments that are occurring in many developing countries. Due to inadequate formal care support and social security system, older parents from these countries may experience diminution in wellbeing when their adult children migrate. This study investigates the impact of adult out-migration on various health dimensions of left-behind older parents and their treatment seeking behaviour in Indian context. We utilized survey data from the Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India (BKPAI). Analysis was restricted to a representative sample of 9263 older adults (60+), who had at least one biological child. Employing OLS and IV regression models, the impact of adult out-migration on physical and psychological health outcomes of older adults were investigated. Using Heckman Probit model, we further investigated the impacts of migration on treatment seeking behaviour of older adults. Findings suggest that the migration of adult children positively influences older individual’s subjective health (2SLS β = 0.095, p ≤ 0.05), functional ability to perform instrumental activities (2SLS β = 0.879, p ≤ 0.001) and cognitive ability (2SLS β = 0.208, p ≤ 0.05). At the same time, prevalence of chronic morbidity and depressive symptoms were found to be significantly higher among the older parents with migrant children. Findings also reveal a negative effect of migration on chronic disease related treatment seeking (β = -0.09, p ≤ 0.05), which indicates that older individuals with migrant children were less likely to receive medical and other care facilities than older persons without migrating children if they suffer from chronic diseases. Our study provides evidence that absence of adult children due to migration has both positive and negative health impacts on the older parents left behind. Targeted efforts are needed to alleviate depressive symptoms and to improve healthcare utilization among left-behind older adults.