Informal exchanges with non-kin among retired sunbelt migrants: a case study of a Finnish American retirement community.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined informal exchanges with non-kin among retired Sunbelt migrants, with special emphasis on the impact of ethnic enclaves in generating exchanges of instrumental assistance and emotional support among elderly European Americans.


METHODS
Data were collected through interviews with four samples of elders: Finnish Americans who migrated to an ethnic retirement community in Florida; European Americans who migrated to the same community but are not part of an ethnic enclave; Finnish Americans living in an age-integrated setting in Minnesota; and retired European Americans living in the same Minnesota community.


RESULTS
Migrants were less likely than elders aging-in-place to report informal exchanges with non-kin. Finnish American migrants were less likely than other European American migrants to provide instrumental assistance to non-kin but were more likely to anticipate relying on informal long-term care support, regardless of proximity to kin. There were no differences in the two migrant samples in exchanges of emotional support.


CONCLUSIONS
Evidence regarding substitution of non-kin for geographically distant kin is mixed. Results are consistent with a strategy of "banking" support, at the community level among the Finnish American migrants and at the network level among other European American migrants.
Stoller
E P
EP
Department of Sociology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. eps3@po.cwru.edu
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000208:ethnology; D005431:Florida; D016852:Housing for the Elderly; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota; D012179:Retirement; D012919:Social Behavior