Isabelle Albert

This systematic review examines how information and communication technologies (ICT) shape emotional, social, and cultural dynamics within transnational families (TNFs). Drawing on 113 articles identified through a Zotero bibliographic library developed by Working Group 1 of the COST Action Transnational Family Dynamics in Europe [TraFaDy], the study synthesizes research on ICT‐mediated family practices within TNFs. Through descriptive coding and thematic analysis, we examined participant profiles, research designs, communication practices, origin and host countries, the drivers of ICT use, and emotional, social, and cultural consequences. Findings show that ICT enhances communication, facilitates co‐presence across distance, and supports emotional bonds, while also generating complex ambivalences shaped by socioeconomic conditions, digital literacy, migration status, and intra‐family power dynamics. Although digital tools strengthen family roles, caregiving arrangements, and transnational belonging, they may simultaneously reinforce inequalities, intensify surveillance, or create emotional strain. Cultural processes such as enculturation, acculturation, and cultural integration were shown to be deeply intertwined with ICT use, revealing how digital communication sustains cultural continuity while enabling hybrid cultural formations. The review concludes with recommendations for strengthening research and policy initiatives related to digital inclusion, family support, and integration, with the aim of enhancing the well‐being of TNFs.

This article explores the specificities and nuances of employing LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) in scientific research on migration, contrasting its application in academic contexts with its more common use in business settings. While LSP has gained recognition for its effectiveness in fostering creativity and communication in corporate environments, its adaptation to the complexities of migration research introduces unique considerations. The article delves into the challenges and opportunities of utilizing LSP as a research methodology, emphasizing its potential to unveil diverse migrant narratives, facilitate cross-cultural understanding, and contribute to innovative research methodologies. Empirical examples from the H2020 MIMY research project provide a critical examination of distinctive characteristics and benefits of employing LSP in migration research, shedding light on its adaptability and utility beyond traditional business applications. Este artículo explora las especificidades y matices del empleo de LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) en la investigación científica sobre migración, contrastando su aplicación en contextos académicos con su uso más común en entornos empresariales. Si bien el LSP ha ganado reconocimiento por su eficacia a la hora de fomentar la creatividad y la comunicación en entornos empresariales, su adaptación a las complejidades de la investigación sobre migración introduce consideraciones únicas. El artículo profundiza en los retos y oportunidades de utilizar la LSP como metodología de investigación, haciendo hincapié en su potencial para desvelar diversas narrativas de los migrantes, facilitar el entendimiento intercultural y contribuir a metodologías de investigación innovadoras. Los ejemplos empíricos del proyecto de investigación MIMY de H2020 proporcionan un examen crítico de las características distintivas y los beneficios de emplear la LSP en la investigación sobre migración, arrojando luz sobre su adaptabilidad y utilidad más allá de las aplicaciones comerciales tradicionales. Cet article explore les spécificités et les nuances de l'utilisation de LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) dans la recherche scientifique sur la migration, en contrastant son application dans les contextes académiques avec son utilisation plus courante dans les milieux d'affaires. Alors que le LSP est reconnu pour son efficacité à stimuler la créativité et la communication dans les entreprises, son adaptation aux complexités de la recherche sur les migrations introduit des considérations uniques. Cet article se penche sur les défis et les opportunités liés à l'utilisation des LSP en tant que méthodologie de recherche, en mettant l'accent sur son potentiel à dévoiler les divers récits des migrants, à faciliter la compréhension interculturelle et à contribuer à des méthodologies de recherche novatrices. Des exemples empiriques tirés du projet de recherche H2020 MIMY fournissent un examen critique des caractéristiques distinctives et des avantages de l'utilisation des LSP dans la recherche sur les migrations, mettant en lumière son adaptabilité et son utilité au-delà des applications commerciales traditionnelles.

We argue that the importance of family relationships for individual well-being varies across societies as a function of a society’s degree of cultural heterogeneity. To examine the role of family relationships, we analyzed the responses from 13,009 participants in 50 societies on their life satisfaction across societies varying in their levels of historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity. Such heterogeneity creates differences in the frequency of interacting with unfamiliar groups, which leads families to become more central to their members’ satisfaction with life. Multi-level analyses showed that historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity moderated the pattern such that greater historical or contemporary cultural heterogeneity of society promoted a stronger positive relation between family relationship satisfaction and individual life satisfaction. Our results also revealed that the moderating role of historical cultural heterogeneity was more reliable than that of contemporary cultural heterogeneity. These findings demonstrate the importance of societal demography in shaping people’s psychological processes in different historical periods, suggesting a universal, trans-historical cultural process.

Motivations for migratory movements tend to be contextualised at an individual level and refer to opportunities related to the country of destination. In the Portuguese context, this view is increasingly limited when we analyse the emigration of young adults since this process directly involves family figures in the country of origin, as they tend to be the first source of support. This paper aims to explore the dimensions of intergenerational solidarity, analysing conflict as transversal dimension and the presence of ambivalence, for a proposal of behaviour typologies in Portuguese transnational families. Using a qualitative approach, young Portuguese adults who emigrated in the European space and Schengen area ( N = 22) were interviewed addressing questions about their migratory projects, as well as their dynamics with their parents in Portugal. A thematic analysis was carried out with the support of the NVivo software. The results indicate four behaviour typologies: (1) high cohesion and dependence, (2) full solidarity tested with resilience, (3) affective and functional solidarities, with normative and value divergences, and (4) no solidarity and irreconcilable differences. The findings suggest the impact of intergenerational norms and values, as they may be at the origin of communicational patterns that increase well-being and resilience in migration projects.

The intergenerational transmission of values is a key feature of intergenerational family relations. A continuity in values can strengthen intergenerational bonds, family identity and loyalty as well as facilitating the communication and mutual understanding of different family generations. In the context of migration, the intergenerational transmission of values and culture is a special task where adherence to “old” values and practices taken from the country of origin and “new” ones experienced in the country of settlement has to be renegotiated. Whereas research on younger parent-child dyads has studied the actual processes of transmission, studies with regard to later stages in the family life cycle focus more on the interrelations between intergenerational value similarities, relationship quality, support and subjective well-being. In this chapter, general aspects of the research on intergenerational value transmission will be introduced and intergenerational similarities in values between older migrants and their adult children will be presented.

Vulnerability has become a key concept in discourses and policies on international protection and reception of refugees. In this context, the notion has been described as a tool to provide special provisions to groups at higher risk or one to perpetuate political agendas within increasingly hostile reception systems. However, vulnerability as an analytical concept has received less attention, with both policymakers and scholars often employing different conceptualisations of vulnerability or treating it as a self-explanatory condition. Building on a previous conceptual elaboration, this paper sets out to apply an understanding of vulnerability as multi-layered, dynamic and embedded in a study of the lived experiences of a group of potentially ‘vulnerable’ migrants, based on ‘fixed’ contextual criteria. Drawing from in-depth interviews with young adults who obtained refugee status in Luxembourg but still live in ‘temporary’ reception centres, this paper provides a wide analytical overview of the conditions of vulnerability encountered by this specific group of migrants, in the process of building their lives in a new country. Following the participants’ subjective temporal imaginaries of past, present and future, the analysis highlights and problematises conditions of structural, situational and experiential vulnerability emerging from their accounts and experiences, and discusses their possible implications.