Abstract
Background and Objectives: Critiques of the concept of successful aging (SA) include attention to its foundation on an individualized western medical approach that emphasizes personal choice, agency, and lifestyle. This paper aims to examine how individual notions of SA can be linked to, and co-constituted by, relational and intergenerational notions of personhood within the broader socioeconomic, familial, and cultural contexts of migration. Research Design and Methods: Qualitative research was conducted in Australia (2020–2021) with 42 Vietnamese migrants using ethnographic interviews and participant observation. Data analysis applied inductive reasoning and intersectional analysis to investigate the notion of SA from the perspectives of research participants. Results: Vietnamese migrants identified 3 dimensions of SA as significant: family fulfillment, individual achievements, and social engagement and protection. Family fulfilment is the most important; other dimensions are rendered meaningless without it. We found out that different generations interpreted SA in varying ways. Adult children prioritize personal success, self-independence, and longevity whereas grandparents place greater emphasis on the success of their adult children and maintenance of intergenerational relationships. Discussion and Implications: Migrant understandings of SA are deeply influenced by the sociocultural contexts of both their homeland and current residence. The emphasis on family in shaping SA reflects a social–relational understanding that contrasts with dominant individualistic models of SA. Given the social–relational dimension of SA, further research should investigate how distinct migrant experiences of SA shape access to wellbeing in later life.
RAS ID
76545
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2025
Volume
65
Issue
1
Funding Information
Australian Government International Research Training Program Scholarship, UWA Postgraduate Award / Edith Cowan University School of Arts and HumanitieS / Australian Research Council
PubMed ID
39588910
School
School of Arts and Humanities
Grant Number
ARC Number : DP160102552
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Publisher
Oxford Academic
Identifier
Hien Thi Nguyen: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2041-7597
Loretta Baldassar: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6246-4773
Bronte Jones: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2913-0277
Comments
Nguyen, H. T., Baldassar, L., Wilding, R., & Jones, B. (2025). Social relational notions of successful aging: Contesting dominant individualized conceptions of successful aging by examining migrant intergenerational lived experiences. The Gerontologist, 65(1), gnae171. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnae171