Change and Continuity

Participants

The months of October through mid-December were used to recruit participants and conduct the interviews, as snowbirds would more likely still be in their northern residence (Hogan & Steinnes, 1996). First, a convenience sample of snowbirds was recruited through an advertisement placed in a county senior newsletter in a larger city in eastern North Dakota with a population over 100,000 for October and November 2006. Second, advertising was conducted through area church newsletters and bulletins in this same city, as well as a lake association newsletter in nearby western Minnesota. Third, six participants were recruited through other snowbird participants (snowball method), two of whom were from Wisconsin and Iowa. Of the 30 persons contacted, 25 agreed to be interviewed (83%).

The 9 men and 16 women ranged from 61 to 86 years old (M = 74). Seventy-two percent were married, 20% widowed (all females), and 8% divorced. The study included 17 households. The married individuals were interviewed separately concerning their own unique experiences as snowbirds, permitting an individual analysis of each spouse’s snowbird experience.

All participants were Whites. Thirty-two percent rated their health as excellent, 64% as good, and 4% fair. One fourth (24%) had a high school education, 48% had gone to a technical college or some college, 15% had a bachelor’s degree, and 12% had a master’s degree. Most (88%) were retired; 12% were semiretired. The occupations or former occupations included professional, middle management, clerical, sales and service. A total of 54% reported an annual income of US$25,000 to US$50,000; 21% reported US$50,001 to US$75,000; 17% reported US$75,001 to US$100,000; 8% reported more than US$100,000 (one nonresponse).

Participant winter destinations included Arizona (56%), Texas (20%), Florida (12%), and other (12%). The majority lived in an urban setting at their primary residence (64%), 16% lived in a suburban setting, and 20% were from a rural setting. Eighty-eight percent owned their primary residence. At their Sunbelt winter residence, 68% lived in an urban setting and 32% lived in a suburban setting. Sixty-four percent owned their winter residence. The modes of transportation used to get to the Sunbelt location were personal vehicle (68%), airplane (24%), recreational vehicle (4%), and other (4%).

The mean number of years as a snowbird was 14.5 (range = 2 to 27 years). The largest group (52%) stayed at the winter destination 4 to 5 months, 36% stayed 2 to 3 months, and 12% stayed 6 months. Ninety-two percent planned to continue migrating seasonally beyond this year. All 25 participants had at least one living child (mean = 3). All participants had at least one living grandchild (mean = 5.3 grandchildren; age range = 8 months to 38 years old).

Data Collection

The data were collected through a private interview process either conducted in their home, the researcher’s home, or by telephone (six participants). A list of interview questions was created including probes and clarifications for follow-up with each question. The interview questions focused on the snowbird experience, contact with family and friends, and managing holidays and other family events. Several major questions included What is it like going south for the winter?; and Could you tell me how your life differs at your two homes?

The interviews ranged from 0.5 to 2 hr in length. Interviews were tape recorded with written notes taken of key words and phrases to highlight and reinforce particular issues of importance. After the interviews, informants were asked to complete a demographic survey.

Data Analysis

The interview transcripts were reviewed twice by the primary researcher: the first time for understanding the content and the second time for recording observations about the data. During the analysis, these observations were developed into categories. Transcript-based thematic analysis using unabridged transcripts, as outlined by Krueger and Casey (2000), was used. Themes and subthemes were coded in an instrumental way to interpret the data for the final analysis (Rossman & Rallis, 2003). A secondary researcher assisted in identifying themes and subthemes that emerged.

Flexibility and Adaptability to Change

The first theme which emerged was snowbirds’ flexibility and adaptability to change. It was clear from the interviews that snowbird lifestyles changed over time. This group of individuals clearly managed the challenges and complexities involved with leaving home for a significant period of time. Changes included such things as widowhood and divorce. However, even the loss of a spouse did not necessarily mean the end of one’s experience as a snowbird. Shelly confided about her indecision in returning to Texas after her husband passed away.

. . . my kids said, what will you do all winter? And, they said I live in the country, and I could get snowed in . . . And, my friends [down south] said, what would you do? Down here you can do all kinds of things.

Some of the participants demonstrated a willingness to make accommodations to continue their winter lifestyle. This usually involved either allowing a family member to drive them to their winter residence or fly when they no longer felt up to the task of driving great distances. Fred relayed how the driving arrangements had changed from the long trip to Texas from North Dakota.

We drove ourselves for a number of years, but lately the consensus of my kids was that they should help us drive, and we have a daughter who retired at an appropriate time who can drive us down. It’s handy to have her driving.

Creativity was demonstrated in how snowbirds adapted holiday and family traditions, including early celebrations with family before heading south. Establishing new traditions at their winter residence included shared meals with fellow snowbirds or family coming to visit over the holidays. Betsy shared a typical Christmas Eve.

We go to church, then we have dinner with some of our friends, open gifts, talk to the grandkids, talk to everybody on the cell phone. The next day, Bill and I would go to the clubhouse for dinner, and sit with all our friends. You’re never really alone.

Continuity in Personality, Activity, and Lifestyle

A second theme involved continuity in personality, activity, and lifestyle. Snowbirds demonstrated consistency in their day-to-day activities and lifestyles year round. For example, those who volunteered, were active in their faith community, or worked part-time in their permanent community tended to engage in similar involvements in their winter communities.

Lifestyle continuity included the ethic of staying busy. Snowbirds accomplished this through part-time employment, maintaining professional affiliations, providing family assistance, and volunteering. Of the three males who were still employed part-time, all had the flexibility to get away from their jobs for 4 to 6 months over the winter. However, they still checked in by email or telephone to conduct business affairs from their winter residence.

When Bill and Betsy first started going south for the winter, Bill had a hard time adjusting to this new lifestyle. He stated, “I feel after four, five years, I’ve totally adjusted . . . I just felt kind of like, in the beginning, what am I doing here? Some of them have been retired 20 years and I’m still working part-time.” Betsy commented on her husband’s first season as a snowbird, “The first year Bill almost flunked!” Hugh, who owned a business back in North Dakota also continued to work part-time when he was home, stated, “Two of our children are basically managing the running of the business. And, I don’t have to be there, except for something unusual . . .”

Most of the snowbirds did volunteer work, both at home and at their winter residence. Hugh volunteered in Arizona, and he explained, “Whatever I can add, you know, I would rather be adding value and I don’t mind working.” Betsy offered great detail about her quilting group which she loved participating in while wintering in Mesa:

. . . the charity quilts, we give them to the Rape and Crisis Center down there, and also the Children’s Crisis Center, and there’s two nursing homes in the Scottsdale area. This one home we went to . . . there was 45 forgotten people, and so they would like to have 45 quilts and they would like them in nice Christmas backings, so that would be their Christmas presents for these 45 forgotten people.

Virtually, all of the participants maintained contact with family through telephone, email, and family visits to their winter residence. Maintaining religious affiliation was another area of continuity. Even though no questions were asked about religious affiliation, the majority of participants mentioned religious participation was a part of their winter experience. Vic and his wife spent 21 years in Florida, many of them where their daughter and family also lived, and shared how they had tried to find an age-integrated church.

We were amazed, at least three of these big beautiful Lutheran churches, they didn’t have Sunday School, because there weren’t any kids. Everybody was retired, and everybody had gray hair.

Many snowbirds had been avid travelers for years, reflecting continuity over time. Their present lifestyle was a continuation of what they had done for many years, only now they did it for longer periods of time. Art admitted, “I guess it was part of our camping life when the kids were small. We would just roam the whole country basically, and . . . we kind of continued.”

New Friendships Were Established and Old Ones Maintained

Friendships were established and maintained in many ways. Most participants lived in age-segregated retirement villages or parks and found that close proximity facilitated friendships. Jim, aged 68, stated,

It’s probably the biggest street in the park, but it’s also got the youngest people in the park, which makes it really nice . . . Usually the evenings are nice, so we’ll probably pull some tables up outside and have a little party.

Friendships were also established through common interests and participation in activities. Most of the retirement communities offered a multitude of amenities. Bill commented, “I found a lot of people, and actually my friends down there have a commonality. They like golf, they’re sociable, and most of them come from the ag. [agriculture] field.” Betsy stated,

. . . it seems like we have more time for our friendships there than we have here. This is the luck of the Lord, that right next door was Kari and Archie, and she is a quilter. And, right next door to Kari and Archie was Paul and Barb from western North Dakota. And, Barb is a quilter. Yah, we are just the best friends in the whole wide world.

In a friends of a feather flock together phenomenon, often referred to as chain migration (Longino, Jackson, Zimmerman, & Bradsher, 1991), many snowbirds moved to Sunbelt communities that contained relatives or good friends from back home. Art explained, “So many of the people we knew, relatives and friends, ended up being there, so it was kind of a logical place.” Doris explained,

I had quite a few friends that come down there, and these real good friends of mine live in a park across from the one I’m in now. And, he found a trailer for me, it was a brand new trailer that was for rent, and that’s how I got started.

Most participants admitted they had encouraged others from back home to try this lifestyle. Shelly explained,

Well, they weren’t sure, and then after their parents were all gone, why then they said, maybe we’ll try it. So, they came down, and they stayed one winter. I think they stayed about a month the first time they came down. And they said they really liked it. And, so the next year they went around to a lot of different parks to find what they’d like to stay, and they chose the park that I was in. Yes, they ended up buying a place.

Snowbirds used email and cell phones to keep in touch with friends back home. Most acknowledged that they had looser ties with their winter friendships than with friends back home. Only the closer friends in their winter social network received emails or telephone calls when they were back home, and vice versa. Abby stated, “We’re very close when we get down there, but maybe when we go home, we go our separate ways again.” However, some felt their friendships were actually stronger at their winter residence than back home. Jim thought “it seems like the friendships maybe get a little deeper, we haven’t known them all that long, but we have some really good friends down there . . . I think it’s because everybody’s retired, and easy going.”

Through seasonal migration, one’s friendship network tended to grow with the new friendships established. Technology (cell phones and email), as well at the chain migration phenomenon, and winter visits permitted most snowbirds to maintain good contact with friends back home, while growing their friendship network at their winter locale.

This also expanded social support systems, especially for those who were older or widowed. Fred shared his experiences with this,

I’m an American Legion, and part of the creed is to take care of other people—old widows. I kinda do that a lot. I have empathy for people with no husbands. So, we always seem to have a car full when we go somewhere.

Snowbirds Demonstrated Diverse Lifestyles

Diversity in the snowbird experience included the type of housing selected. The majority of participants selected an age-restricted (55+) retirement community. There were so many amenities available in most of these retirement communities that many informants stated it was not really necessary to leave. Dirk commented,

. . . back home our friends aren’t as close as they are here. Like here, everybody lives within two blocks. And then there’s lots of activities, like the people that were here for Thanksgiving, why everybody gets together, and we had a Thanksgiving dinner.

A minority preferred age-integrated living in their Sunbelt community. Renae stated,

When I go to church there, it’s retired people, it’s middle-aged people, it’s young people, they have their Sunday Schools, everything like we do here . . . I see kids walking to school in front of my house on the sidewalk. I see some mothers pushing baby strollers and things like that, and I don’t know, there’s just a certain good feeling about that.

Some viewed the winter experience as a vacation. Bill commented, “I say our vacation begins when we’re out of the driveway, not when we get there.” Jane also saw her winter getaway as a vacation, “We have friends there, and we golf, and take long walks, and just vacation.”

Some participants had at least one child and one grandchild residing near their winter residence. Ellen and Lenny, who wintered at their son’s home in Arizona, felt the 3 or 4 days with their grandchildren in the summer when their children were back in Minnesota was not enough. Lenny added, “We go there to get out of the weather and see the grandkids.”

Lifestyle Was Affected by Health and Safety Considerations

In general, continuity was sought in the area of health care. The Sunbelt communities were not used for primary medical care by most snowbirds. Only two participants said that they had established a primary health care provider at their winter residence. The medical care system was mainly used for emergencies and lab testing. Vera shared an experience bringing her husband to an emergency room in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Of course the hospitals are terribly busy down there in the wintertime. Art thought he was having a heart attack last winter, so we went in—15 hours in the waiting room . . . It ended up being a pulled muscle.

Several participants mentioned that they had their medical prescriptions shipped from their pharmacy back home. Mention was also made by several participants that they knew of other snowbirds in Arizona who made trips into Mexico to fill their medical prescriptions. Vic, age 85, was leaning toward not going to Florida again this year after 21 years. Both he and his wife rated his health as “fair.” Vic’s concern was “one of the problems . . . if you became seriously ill, it would be better, I’d feel more secure here than down there for that simple reason.”

Safety considerations influenced adaptation and change for snowbirds. Adaptations began with the travel to the Sunbelt. The majority of participants drove their own vehicle or recreational vehicle to their winter destination. Safety tactics included taking alternate routes to their destination to avoid the heavy traffic in major cities and driving during off-peak hours if they lived in a major metropolitan area during their winter stay. Renae conveyed how she coped with driving in a metropolitan city.

There are a lot of people who do not enjoy the traffic. However, you drive after the rush hour and before it starts again in the afternoon, and then you have a quieter time of the day, and a lot of the seniors do take advantage of that.

Personal safety was also a concern, and some preferred to leave before the snow fell so that they did not have to worry about ice and falling. Renae admitted,

This year I’m going to go a month earlier. Last year there was a lot of ice, and I really don’t want to take a fall or look forward to the cold weather, so I decided to just try it, to go a month earlier.

Internal and External Forces Shaped the Snowbird Experience

Experiences with communities and businesses, with the long-time residents, and with the local culture shaped the snowbird lifestyle and demonstrated their resiliency in adapting to their new communities. The informants who wintered in Texas expressed how, in many of the communities, businesses sponsored an Appreciation Day to demonstrate how much they appreciated their support. Events included food, entertainment, and prizes. Angie explained, “The merchants . . . have a gathering for us every year to give their appreciation for what we spend, and we do spend a lot of money there . . . ” Several participants also commented favorably that they were often greeted with banners saying “Welcome Winter Texans.”

Many participants relayed new encounters with the local culture and different ethnic groups during their winter stay. Jim explained, “We’ve got some Mexican friends down there, we go to a Legion at a small town . . . so Laura and I will go in there and have a beer with the Mexicans down there.” Participants who wintered in major metropolitan areas described some of the perceptions of longtime residents, including that snowbirds were slow drivers, created traffic jams, and crowded the restaurants. Lucy shared her impression of how long-time residents viewed their winter visitors: “Actually, the Floridians don’t always look forward to the snowbirds, because the restaurants get more crowded and more traffic, too.”

Nearly half of the participants brought out the importance of finding good value in their residence, community, restaurants, and shopping. Several thought Texas was a better value than Florida or Arizona. Hannah stated “Texas hasn’t quite caught up with the pricing they can get. I suppose it’s probably coming.” Art conveyed how restaurants in the Phoenix area “do cater just a little bit to the snowbirds because they like the money we bring in. A lot of the restaurants close up in the summertime because there’s not enough business.” Dirk admitted they had chosen rental housing for the winter months “in Mesa because it was too expensive in Scottsdale.”

Seasonal Migration Was Developmental

The snowbird experience was developmental in that the length of stay increased over time. At least half of the participants had started out by just going a week or two, and this kept increasing incrementally over time. Jane explained their progression, “We went ten days for several years, and then after that when my husband got . . . more time for vacation, we took more, a month, then six weeks, and now we’re at three months.”

A number of snowbirds progressed from exploring different winter locales by renting housing to eventual home ownership. This demonstrated another way that seasonal migration was developmental. Marcy stated, “We just purchased this condo last spring, we rented all the years until now.”

Although the snowbirds had more new and different community and cultural experiences in their winter locales than they experienced back home, at least in the present view of these snowbirds, a developmental progression to seasonal migration would not include permanent migration. Nearly all of the participants made it very clear that they were not planning to permanently relocate to their winter Sunbelt residence. Dan shared his thoughts about permanently relocating, “I don’t think so because this [North Dakota] is where my family is, and my roots are. I just don’t see it.” Two couples who did express some interest in this possibility either had children or siblings living in the area.

Flexibility and Adaptability to Change

This study supported previous findings that seasonal migration by older adults was a substitute for permanent migration (e.g., McHugh & Mings, 1996; Smith & House, 2006) and that older adults typically moved closer to adult children as a result of greater age and more disability (Clark & Wolf, 1992; Silverstein & Angelelli, 1998). Results were consistent with findings that distance was an important predictor of how much intergenerational support would be provided by family (Allen, Goldscheider, & Ciambrone, 1999; Spitze & Logan, 1991).

Less often emphasized in previous research were the developmental changes identified in this study. For the majority of participants, an incremental increase in seasonal migration had occurred over time, most often in an age-segregated retirement setting. What Lerner (2001) referred to as “successful developmental change” was evidenced as participants found new activities and friendships.

The snowbirds demonstrated many key features of family resilience and healthy family functioning (Walsh, 2003), including resiliency through flexibility, connectedness, and social and economic resources. Flexibility was demonstrated through their willingness to experiment with this lifestyle, continued migration after widowhood, creating new holiday traditions, and making new travel arrangements when it became necessary. Likewise, these snowbirds all had adequate economic resources to permit continuation of their winter lifestyle.

Continuity in Personality, Activity, and Lifestyle

Along with change, these snowbirds demonstrated evidence of continuity (Atchley, 1989) and the busy ethic (Ekerdt, 1986). Similar to other studies, the later years of the family-life cycle were based on interaction patterns with spouses and between parents and children that were created long before becoming snowbirds (Brubaker & Brubaker, 1992; Matthews & Rosner, 1988). Furthermore, some had also started traveling for business and pleasure long before. Continuity in the work role was matched by the flexibility to continue that work in the winter setting fitting both Hornstein and Wapner’s (1985) continuation style of adapting to retirement and Riley and Riley’s (2000) ideal of an age-integrated society where leisure, work, and education can all be pursued at any age.

Other participants appeared to have adjusted well to retirement and had transformed work roles into what Morgan and Kunkel (2001) referred to as retiree roles. They demonstrated considerable evidence of the busy ethic through strong volunteer participation, providing family assistance, maintaining professional affiliations, and looking after older and widowed members of the group. Perhaps, volunteering in the Sunbelt assisted in meeting certain internal needs, such as generativity (An & Cooney, 2006), during their time away from family. Volunteer contributions, identified previously among seasonal migrants to the Sunbelt (McHugh & Mings, 1996), and increased assistance provided to family living in the Sunbelt, not previously reported in the literature about snowbirds, both demonstrated consistency in personality and lifestyle regardless of location.

Religious participation in the Sunbelt demonstrated the importance as well as continuity in religious involvement from one locale to another. Whereas the importance of religion for older adults has been noted previously (Hoyer & Roodin, 2003), the continuity in church attendance for snowbirds has seldom been considered in the research, other than McHugh and Mings’ (1996) study revealing the religious fellowship found in a Phoenix area RV park. The social support available through church participation noted in this study has been found to have a positive influence on health (Hoeger & Hoeger, 1995). Therefore, future studies may want to include more in-depth focus on the role of spirituality and religion in the lives of these older snowbirds.

The multigenerational context of family connections and continuity was an important feature found in snowbirds and consistent with Walsh’s (1999) contention that adults above 65 were not isolated from family. Most participants had at least one child and one grandchild living within an hour of their permanent residence, and some had at least one child and one grandchild living within an hour of their winter residence. Previous research has not addressed the role of family at the Sunbelt location in any major way, other than in McHugh and Mings’ (1996) study. They identified that about 10% of the snowbirds in Phoenix had one or more children living in Arizona. Based on the findings of this study, additional research is indicated on the family’s importance in the selection of a winter residence locale. This might include tracking 21st-century trends, such as whether retired baby boomers are more likely to join family members in warmer locales during the winter months than previous cohorts and/or permanently relocating to be near children and other kin.

Importance of Friendship Networks

Climate might be what attracted many snowbirds to the Sunbelt, but it was the experience itself and the friendship networks established over time which contributed greatly to their coming back year after year. The relationship with friends has been found to be more strongly related to psychological well-being (Connidis & Davis, 1990) than relationships with family. The chain migration phenomenon demonstrated the importance of the friendship and social network with folks from back home. Looking out for one another, especially the eldest in the retirement community, offering rides, sharing holiday meals and potlucks, “hanging out,” and participating in organized social activities all contributed to a real sense of collective identity and community in these winter retirement communities, which McHugh and Mings (1996) referred to as “place-making.”

Snowbirds Demonstrated Diverse Lifestyles

The preference for age-segregated retirement living among older adults was supported by other Sunbelt migration studies (e.g., Gober & Zonn, 1983; McHugh & Mings, 1996; Smith & House, 2006). Furthermore, many participants indicated that they preferred to drive during off-peak hours during the daylight when traffic was not so heavy. This contributed to their choosing activities onsite rather than venturing out into the greater community.

Moody (2006) and others (Leitner, Leitner, Shapiro, & Shapiro, 2004; Rosenbaum & Button, 1992) have debated the hidden costs of age-segregated living. Moody argued against these “walled retirement villages” and instead suggested that other housing options which “connect the generations” needed to be considered. Conjecture has also been made as to whether these age-segregated (aged 55+) Sunbelt retirement communities, such as Sun City, Arizona, will continue to thrive in the 21st century or whether they will give way to “competition from trendy, amenity-laden communities” (McHugh & Fletchall, 2009). Evidence of age decline in some 55+ retirement communities already exists (e.g., Leisure World—45+ years; Sun Lake—40+ years), while the first U.S. retirement community, Youngtown (Arizona), has been transformed into a working-class community through legal battles over age restriction. As McHugh and Fletchall (2009) speculated, “people in their fifties, sixties, and seventies will coalesce, if not congregate, in communities promoted and marketed not through age restriction but by lifestyle niche and level of wealth” . . . and “aging in place will lead to communities replete with aging baby boomers” (p. 33). As leading-edge baby boomers are now entering their retirement years in greater numbers, it is warranted to track how trends in seasonal migration, types of housing communities selected, and attachment to place will unfold in the next decade or so.

The majority of older seasonal migrants in this study fit McHugh and Mings’ (1996) “circular” life-course trajectory and place attachment, where they remained “rooted in home place” (p. 544). Only several couples who had family near their winter residence fit the “pendular” category, where they felt suspended between their summer and winter residences.

Lifestyles Affected by Health and Safety Considerations

Consistent with other studies (e.g., Martin, Hoppe, Marshall, & Daciuk, 1992; McHugh & Mings, 1994), the majority of participants made little use of health care services while at their winter residence. Although good health was reported by participants and found to be a characteristic among snowbirds in general in previous studies (e.g., McHugh, 1990; Smith & House, 2006), it might be beneficial for this older snowbird population to consider finding a secondary health care provider for health issues that might arise. McHugh and Mings (1996) cautioned against snowbirds being stereotyped as healthy and younger as reported in the literature. There was a 25-year age span between the youngest and oldest participants in this study. Leitner et al. (2004) suggested such diversity of ages among residents is a challenge facing retirement communities. As snowbirds continue to return year after year, and permanent residents age in place, their health care, housing, and safety needs all become more critical. The significance of finding a secondary health care provider in the Sunbelt by older seasonal migrants has not been promoted in the literature. Perhaps, future research could include experiences of physicians from northern sending states with older snowbird patients who have “saved up” their health care needs until returning home in the spring.

Internal and External Forces Shaped the Snowbird Experiences

It was evident that these snowbirds wanted to feel welcomed in their winter community and appreciated for their economic support of businesses in that community. The “Welcome Winter Texans” banners and merchants’ Appreciation Days to honor the winter visitors were significant to a number of participants. These snowbirds from the upper Midwest were very cognizant of how they were being received and treated in their Sunbelt community. Participants shared their interactions and involvement with new cultures and environments, along with what a great learning experience it was for them. Obtaining “good value” was significant to this older group of participants in their choice of residence and location, as well as in dining at restaurants and shopping. Although these findings may support previous studies, they also point to the fact that during a time of economic recession, snowbirds who are financially able to continue their winter lifestyle may be more inclined to return to senior-friendly Sunbelt communities where they feel welcomed and appreciated.