When Kin Are Far: Reshaping Social Support Networks in Later Life

This study examines how older adults in China reorganize their social support networks following the migration of their adult children. Drawing on the Social Convoy Model (SCM) and Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST), the study explores how older adults respond to intergenerational geographic separation through two common arrangements: relocating to live closer to their children or remaining in their place of origin as empty-nest older adults. Based on semi-structured interviews with 20 older adults (10 relocated and 10 empty-nest), the analysis employs Reflexive Thematic Analysis to reconstruct an analytically derived four-part narrative staging of adaptation based on participants’ retrospective accounts. The findings suggest that migration is associated with disruptions in previously taken-for-granted support structures, prompting older adults to renegotiate both relational ties and meanings of support. While relocated older adults often navigate new forms of “proximity without full integration” in unfamiliar social environments, empty-nest older adults often described relying on local peer reciprocity and digitally mediated family contact to maintain continuity in everyday support. By integrating structural insights from the Social Convoy Model with motivational dynamics emphasized in Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, the study offers qualitative insights into how older adults actively reinterpret and reorganize their support networks in the context of migration and demographic change. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how intergenerational migration reshapes support relationships in rapidly aging and highly mobile societies.