LIFE SATISFACTION OF ELDER TURKISH MIGRANTS

Based on the widely spread desire to return to their homeland among elderly Turkish migrant workers, the hypothesis was tested that those who plan to return to Turkey show more life satisfaction than those who plan to stay in Germany. Results of an empirical investigation (questionnaire; N = 62) did not support this assumption. Interviewees who plan to stay in Germany are significantly more socially integrated, more satisfied with their situation in old age and look back in a significantly more positive way on their lifes than those who plan to return. These results are discussed as an indication of the need to feel socially integrated after spending most of one's lifetime in Germany. The wish to return to the homeland does not express a real intention, but rather serves to maintain ethnical and cultural identity.