About this Research Topic

Background

Understanding the differences in wellbeing measures and outcomes across cultures based on demographic characteristics is a central issue in health and humanitarian research. For migrants, the influence that building and maintaining social relationships has on wellbeing outcomes has become even stronger in the digital age, where social, economic, and political activities are increasingly dependent on information and communication technologies.

Technological advancements in the last decades have redefined how individuals accumulate, understand, and utilize social capital as a strategy to improve life outcomes. On the one hand, social media and digital communication platforms more generally have become effective tools for migrants to maintain links with their countries of origin, while also making it easier for them to form new social ties in their host countries. On the other hand, the same technological advancements have created barriers (through cyberbullying, discrimination, racism, and so on) to social structures that are crucial for wellbeing.

In light of the above, it has become essential to explore how changes in social patterns due to technological advancements might influence migrants' social interactions as well as their wellbeing and other life outcomes. The aim of this Research Topic is to reevaluate social factors in the context of social capital in the digital age. Exploring these factors as well as the abovementioned changes is key to understanding the essential determinants of migrants' wellbeing in new spatial contexts. It is also central to understanding disparities in various aspects of wellbeing in a fast-changing world, and to updating/identifying the indicators of positive life outcomes across different populations. Finally, it further reemphasizes the importance of social determinants of subjective wellbeing.

The editors invite contributions that focus on one or more of the following topics:

- the exploration of social capital in the context of migration and the digital age
- the social determinants of migrants' wellbeing
- the applications of social theory to migrants' social behavior in the digital age
- demonstrations of changes in social interactions among migrants
- ideas to promote migrants' wellbeing in the digital age
- assessments of relationships and predictors of social integration and migrants' wellbeing
- the influence of the use of social media on migrants' wellbeing and social interactions.

This Research Topic welcomes papers reporting original research, both quantitative and qualitative. The editors also welcome contributions from various fields within the humanities, psychology, and public health that focus on the social determinants of migrants' wellbeing and other life outcomes in the digital age.

Keywords: Wellbeing, quality of life, social capital, socioeconomic status, digital age, social relationships, migration, social media

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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