Recently, the role of personal ties in migration decisions has received considerable attention. However, this aspect has seldom been studied in the context of retirement. This paper addresses this gap by shedding light on the composition of personal networks, types of mobility patterns and retirement locations for four groups of older adults. To this end, two methodological approaches are employed: (1) a qualitative Social Network Analysis to examine the composition of older adults' personal networks and (2) thematic coding to analyse the relational aspects of migration decisions. This paper draws on 29 semi-structured interviews conducted in Spain and Switzerland in 2020 and 2021. The findings demonstrate that pre-retirement migration trajectories shape personal network composition. Moreover, personal ties play a critical role in older adults' mobility patterns and choices of retirement location. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the impact of personal networks on migration decisions of older adults.

中文翻译：

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老年移民的关系分析：跨国关系如何影响移民决策

最近，个人关系在移民决策中的作用受到了相当多的关注。然而，这方面很少在退休背景下进行研究。本文通过阐明四组老年人的个人网络的构成、流动模式类型和退休地点来解决这一差距。为此，采用两种方法：(1) 定性社会网络分析，以检查老年人个人网络的构成；(2) 主题编码，以分析移民决策的相关方面。本文借鉴了 2020 年和 2021 年在西班牙和瑞士进行的 29 次半结构化访谈。研究结果表明，退休前的移民轨迹塑造了个人网络构成。此外，个人关系在老年人的流动模式和退休地点选择中发挥着至关重要的作用。总体而言，这项研究为了解个人网络对老年人移民决策的影响提供了宝贵的见解。