Ex-pats may face social loneliness if they struggle to build a social circle (Image: Getty)
People who dream of to sunny or the south of may want to think twice after a study warned of “black spots in paradise”. Research found that retirees who relocate abroad may be at greater risk of loneliness than those who stay in their home country. Common struggles include reduced contact with family and friends and difficulty forming connections in their new communities.
Researchers at the Interdisciplinary Demographics Institute surveyed almost 5,000 Dutch retirees living abroad and 1,300 living in the Netherlands. Study leader Esma Betül Savaş said: “International retirement migration is increasingly popular in and around the world.
Don’t miss…
“On social media you see all the people in Europe sunbathing in Spain, American retirees are moving to Mexico and Japanese retirees to Malaysia.
“Although these retirement migrants generally report being happy, they may still face struggles adapting to a new country.” Participants in the study were all aged over 65 and those who moved abroad did so after the age of 50.
They were asked about both emotional loneliness, which stems from a lack of close friends or a partner, and social loneliness, linked to lacking a broader circle or sense of community.
Retirement migrants were more socially lonely than non-migrants despite tropically being more wealthy. However, they did not have higher levels of emotional loneliness, likely because many had moved with a spouse or partner.
Writing in journal Psychology and Aging, the researchers noted that loneliness among ex-pats has been described as one of the “black spots in paradise”.
Don’t miss…
Ms Savaş said the study highlighted the importance of retirees considering their social support systems when moving abroad.
She added: “Older adults may face double jeopardy in retiring to a new country as they are vulnerable to both age-related and migration-related risk factors for loneliness, and loneliness is itself a risk factor for adverse health outcomes.
“It’s important for people considering retirement migration to think about how they can maintain their social ties in their origin country and make new ones in their destination country.”
The researchers noted limitations to their study, including that they could not assess whether people who moved abroad were already more lonely before doing so, which may have influenced their decision.
However, they did account for similar factors including extraversion and levels of community engagement.