Abstract
This article analyzes the network dynamics of 259 Sovietimmigrants, aged 62–92, who arrived in Israel during the recent waveof mass immigration. The study uses a Quick Cluster procedure withstructural network characteristics as criterion variables to identifyfour primary network types among the study population: (1) kin network,(2) family-intensive network, (3) friend-focused network, and (4) diffuse-tie network. The pattern of shifts from pre-immigration network type to post-immigration network type reveals that the primary shifts werefrom the non-familial based network types to the familial-based types,and within the familial types from a wider kin network to a morerestricted family-intensive network. These shifts reflect a move fromnetworks of choice to networks of necessity on the part of many olderimmigrants.
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Litwin, H. The network shifts of elderly immigrants: The case of Soviet Jews in Israel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 12, 45–60 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006593025061
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006593025061