Immigration and Generational Solidarity: Elderly Soviet Immigrants and Their Adult Children in Israel

Abstract

Immigration in later life is an extremely stressful life event. When multigenerational families resettle together, elders turn to their adult children for support, while both generations face challenges of integration. Drawing on the framework of intergenerational solidarity-conflict-ambivalence, this qualitative study explores the relationships between elderly, ex-Soviet immigrants and their adult children in Israel. The findings illuminate the declining personal resources and family status of the elders, as well as their main coping strategies. Both generations try to discover a new balance among the old and new cultural expectations, reciprocity, and use of available, formal, geriatric services.

KEYWORDS:

• multigenerational families
• immigration
• solidarity
• Israel