NEGOTIATING IDENTITIES AND FRIENDSHIPS WHILE LIVING ABROAD: EXPERIENCES OF LATVIAN MIGRANTS

By moving, a person loses at least some of their social contacts, causing not just psychological distress and anxiety, but also loss of support networks one can rely on in times of need. Latvia was one of the typical ‘sending countries’ in Europe, and since year 2000 about 10% of the population has emigrated. Here we would like to use the data gathered in the Latvian migrant survey to analyze how the migrants integrate into the local communities, and to what extent they still maintain close ties to their home countries; how does it change with time and what factors affect it. A special attention will be paid to how do emigrants’ identities change with time – do they retain their national identity, do they integrate also in terms of belonging and identification with the host community, perhaps it is a mix of both, or they develop a new, global or European identity? These are just some of the questions this research tries to answer. The paper is based on a recent Web-based survey of more than 10 000 Latvian emigrants abroad, in all regions of the world (including USA, Europe and Asia). The study was conducted with the support of by the ESF research grant “The emigrant communities of Latvia: National identity, transnational relations, and diaspora politics” (Nr.2013/0055/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/13/APIA/VIAA/040) – the largest survey of emigrants from one country so far conducted in Europe

NEGOTIATING IDENTITIES AND FRIENDSHIPS WHILE LIVING ABROAD: EXPERIENCES OF LATVIAN MIGRANTS

By moving, a person loses at least some of their social contacts, causing not just psychological distress and anxiety, but also loss of support networks one can rely on in times of need. Latvia was one of the typical ‘sending countries’ in Europe, and since year 2000 about 10% of the population has emigrated. Here we would like to use the data gathered in the Latvian migrant survey to analyze how the migrants integrate into the local communities, and to what extent they still maintain close ties to their home countries; how does it change with time and what factors affect it. A special attention will be paid to how do emigrants’ identities change with time – do they retain their national identity, do they integrate also in terms of belonging and identification with the host community, perhaps it is a mix of both, or they develop a new, global or European identity? These are just some of the questions this research tries to answer. The paper is based on a recent Web-based survey of more than 10 000 Latvian emigrants abroad, in all regions of the world (including USA, Europe and Asia). The study was conducted with the support of by the ESF research grant “The emigrant communities of Latvia: National identity, transnational relations, and diaspora politics” (Nr.2013/0055/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/13/APIA/VIAA/040) – the largest survey of emigrants from one country so far conducted in Europe

MENTAL HEALTH, WELL-BEING AND THE USE OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES AMONG OLDER LATVIAN DIASPORA

Drukātā izdevuma ISSN 1691-5887publishersversionPeer reviewe

Social factors as the catalyst of emigration

The objective of the study is to address the factors contributing to emigration from Latvia, in particular by highlighting the importance of social factors in the emigration decision, using the theory of push and pull factors of migration as a theoretical basis. The role of the family and the desire to improve not only the economical, but also the social and psychological conditions of families are important factors in the decision-making process, while maintaining links with Latvia. The authors argue that social factors are essential to the migration decision alongside economic factors, and in particular the family situation. The family is a resource that helps to settle in the new country of residence. The family relationship is addressed in terms of both “ontological security” and a feeling of “social anchoring”. The family remains important in maintaining links with relatives in Latvia.publishersversionPeer reviewe

PASSING IDENTITY AND ETHNIC CULTURE IN LATVIAN EMIGRANT FAMILIES

The paper discusses the problem of preserving native Latvian language and the transfer of cultural identity in Latvian diaspora. One of the central tasks for Latvia’s diaspora policy is to support preservation of Latvian language and culture in diaspora with the aim of strengthening the Latvian identity and the sense of belonging to Latvia. Support is provided to diaspora schools for preserving Latvian language, culture and identity outside of Latvia. However, for children not to lose their Latvian language skills it is important that the language is used also in the family.This paper uses a combination of a quantitative survey and in-depth interviews with the parents of children in diaspora. The aim is to ascertain the language situation in the diaspora, explore practices and perspectives on sustaining Latvian language and ethnic culture.In the theoretical aspect, the research data is approached with reference to P. Bourdieu’s view on language skills as linguistic capital, a form of cultural capital. Parent’s attention to sustaining their heritage language in emigration is analysed in relation to children’s identity formation and family communication with family members left behind. The data confirms that parents play a big role in language acquisition and sustaining by children in emigration, and parents hold the main responsibility in the process of realizing ethnic identity as a value.

THE FAMILY WITHIN THE VALUE SYSTEM AND FAMILY VALUES IN THE CONTEXT OF LATVIA TODAY: INSIGHTS FROM THE EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEY

The formation of a person's values and mindset shift is a process that takes place throughout a person's life, but views on basic values are instilled in the family from early childhood and their formation continues during the socialisation process at school and in society. The family plays a primary role in the transmission of values as important elements of an individual's character, the teaching of which largely determines the individual's life path. Just as family structures have changed over time and vary from culture to culture, so too have attitudes towards the family, its relationship to society and its relative value in the social order. This paper analyses the place of the family as a value in the overall value system of the individual and identifies the value beliefs that currently prevail within the family itself. The main research questions to be answered are: (1) are there differences in views – and what are these differences – on the value of the family among different groups in Latvian society; (2) what values are transferred in the family and passed down to children? The analysis of the problem is based on Latvian data from the fifth phase of the European Values Survey (EVS) in 2021 (n=1335).

OVERCOMING SOCIAL ISOLATION WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AMONG AGEING POPULATIONS DURING COVID-19

During Covid-19 social isolation has become more common worldwide, however, some groups, especially elderly people, might have experienced dramatically limited communication due to the lack of skills and access to digital technologies. In this paper, we examined if education was associated with the use of digital technologies to maintain contacts with a family, friends, other social networks and services. The survey was conducted in June-August 2020 by doing 1089 computer-assisted telephone interviews. The questions examined how people aged 50 years and older coped with socioeconomic and health-related impact of COVID-19.We used logistic regression analysis to study the association between the use of digital technologies and the level of education by gender and age. The higher the education was, the more it strongly associated with the use of digital technologies (OR 5.85; 95% CI 3.78-9.03). As expected, age was a strong explanatory factor, however, we did not find consistent age and gender differences. Among those who used digital technologies, analyses showed that overcoming social isolation was related to the education level. The conclusion of the study is that education has inevitable impact on the use of digital technologies and social contacts, however high education level is not crucial for the acquisition of information. It seems that digital technologies are important tools to prevent social isolation and are related to education that includes digital access and competencies.

Analītisks ziņojums

Pētījums aptver visas vecuma grupas: gan jaunus cilvēkus patstāvīgās dzīves sākumā (no 18 gadu vecuma), gan pieredzes bagātus - citās vecuma grupās (līdz 79 gadu vecumam), sniedzot precīzu informāciju par cilvēka dzīves galvenajiem demogrāfiskajiem notikumiem un cikliem vairāku paaudžu dzīvē, sākot jau no 1950. gadu vidus. Aptaujā tiek iegūta informācija par šādām tēmām: pāreja uz pieaugušo dzīvi (mācības un darbs, vecāku mājas atstāšana, pirmās partnerattiecības, jaunas ģimenes veidošana, labklājība un trūkums; kopdzīve un ģimenes stabilitāte (daudzveidīgās ģimenes formas, balanss starp darbu un ģimeni, pienākumu sadale starp vīriešiem un sievietēm, bērnu plānošana un radīšana); paaudžu attiecības (paaudžu lomu izmaiņas ģimenē, starppaaudžu attiecības, pensionēšanās, rūpes par mazbērniem, savstarpējā atbalsts tīkls, aprūpe un palīdzība). GGS aptaujā iegūtie dati tiek analizēti izmantojot kohortu un dzīves ceļa notikumu analīzes metodes. To pielietošana iespējama pateicoties retrospektīvam dzīves ceļa pārskatam, ko katrs respondents sniedz, atbildot uz detalizētiem jautājumiem par savu ģimeni - vecākiem, laulātajiem, partneriem, bērnu dzimšanu, radiniekiem un draugiem, ar kuriem saista ne tikai radniecība vai draudzība, bet kuri veido arī savstarpējā atbalsta tīklu

Effects of social isolation on mental health during Covid-19 in the context of ageing

The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant changes to the usual rhythm of life. Reduced opportunities to meet with family members and friends in a situation of heightened stress leads to increased feelings of loneliness and social isolation, as well as increases the risk of mental health problems. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of social contacts on the changes in psychoemotional states in the elderly population in Latvia during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis draws upon quantitative data collected by the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe within Wave 8 in Latvia (n=1207). Measurements of the frequency of social contacts were used to construct social isolation indexes. Changes of psychoemotional state, characterized by sleeping problems, nervousness, frustration during the pandemic were included as dependent variables in multinomial logistic regression models that were run to identify the effect of social isolation on psychoemotional health in the context of other factors: age, gender, perceived health status, affluence and feelings of loneliness. The results show that in the group of those aged 50+, close to one-fifth of respondents experienced the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on their mental health. The link between reduced social contacts and changes in psychoemotional states proved to be statistically significant. In the group with the highest level of social isolation, irregularities in psychoemotional health are three times higher compared to other groups.publishersversionPeer reviewe

LU 76. konference: tēzes un raksti

Krājumu veido LU Filozofijas un socioloģijas institūta pētnieku Latvijas Universitātes 76. starptautiskās zinātniskās konferences sekciju darbā 2018. gada 15. un 16. februārī nolasīto prioritārajam projektam “Kritiskā domāšana, inovācija, konkurētspēja un globalizācija” veltīto referātu tēzes, kā arī vairāki raksti, kuri tapuši uz šajā konferencē nolasīto referātu pamata. LU FSI pētniekiem konference bija ne tikai atskaite par otrajā pētniecības gadā projektā paveikto, bet tajā pētnieki diskutēja arī par to, kā paplašināt pētāmo tēmu loku, pievēršoties vairākiem Latvijas sabiedrībai aktuāliem jautājumiem. Piemēram, ja Filozofijas un socioloģijas institūta filozofi projekta 1. posma noslēguma seminārā pārsvarā diskutēja par kritiskās domāšanas konceptu un tās lietojuma iespējām, tad LU 76. konferencē jau iezīmējās noturīga interese par kritiskās domāšanas un medijpratības sasaisti, kas 2018. gada beigās noslēdzās ar ekspertu semināru cikla organizēšanu sadarbībā ar Eiropas Kopienas pārstāvniecību Latvijā. Vairāki pētnieki pievērsās jautājumam par inovācijas iespējām humanitārajās zinātnēs utt. Konferences referāti atspoguļoja dažādas pieejas un metodoloģijas, sniedzot ieskatu vēl nepabeigtajos pētījumos, bet tikai to norisē un pirmajos rezultātos. Pētījumu gaitai lasītājs aicināts sekot turpmākajās LU FSI pētnieku zinātniskajās publikācijās