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The Oxford Handbook of Retirement
Abstract
The Oxford Handbook of Retirement offers comprehensive, up-to-date, and forward-thinking summaries of contemporary knowledge on retirement, especially the important progress that has been made in the field over the past two decades. The approach taken spans human resource management, organizational psychology, development psychology, gerontology, sociology, public health, and economics. Chapters provide conceptualizations of retirement from multiple disciplines; existing theoretical perspectives and research findings on retirement, including adult development, career development, organizational and management, and economic perspectives; current and future challenges in retirement research and practice; and recommendations and suggestions for prospective areas of research.
... Boredom, financial hardship and vocational nostalgia are some of the self-rated concerns among workers and retirees in the Health, Work, and Retirement Survey (Alpass, 2008), while positive factors included increased family time, increased time for hobbies, stress reduction, and a general feeling of liberation from the constraints of working life. While financial and health status are important considerations in the process, feelings and attachment towards one's job as well as the importance of social factors and post-retirement goals cannot be overstated (Jex & Grosch, 2013). Mutran et al. (1997) noted that the strongest predictor of attitude towards retirement was the absence of any prospective retirement date. ...
... Indeed, some suggestions have been made that planning should begin as early as possible, at the inception of a person's career (Wilson, 2005) and many researchers agree on the importance of planning in a few key areas. These key areas are typically: financial, health and social planning (Jex & Grosch, 2013). Resources on financial planning are often readily available while, conversely, there is a paucity of information offered on psychosocial factors. ...
... The accounts that emerge through qualitative interviews, for example, demonstrate that the ways in which people retire reflect personality, as well as contextual and experiential differences among people and groups (Heaven et al., 2016). Research taking a qualitative approach to understanding retirement attends to the diverse and individual experiences of older people and their respective retirement transitions (Heaven et al., 2016;Jex & Grosch, 2013;Principi et al., 2018). Furthermore, people's unique experiences shape how they make sense of retirement. ...
... The theoretical framework of this research draws on Atchley (1989) continuity theory which is one of the three main psychosocial theories delineating how human beings fare during old age (Bonsdorff & Ilmarinen, 2013). The continuity theory uses life course as a frame of reference to define the passage of human life with time. ...
... The continuity theory uses life course as a frame of reference to define the passage of human life with time. It, therefore, argues that human beings naturally would want to experience the stability of the interpersonal relationship, occupation, and financial status throughout their lifetimes (Bonsdorff & Ilmarinen, 2013). ...
... It is apt to apply the continuity theory to this research on post-retirement decisions of retiring university teachers in Ghana because it situates the teachers in the context of employed individuals. Given their status, they would want to maintain consistency in previous work patterns that retain internal and external structures (Beehr & Bowling, 2013;Dorfman & Kolarik, 2006) and protect work achievements (Bonsdorff & Ilmarinen, 2013). ...
This research examined the decisions of retiring university teachers to continue work after retirement in the same profession or leave for other employment or non-paid activities. The study used a questionnaire to collect data from 231 respondents purposively drawn from 20 Ghanaian public universities. Analyses of the data revealed that most respondents resolved to leave their current profession when they retired because they preferred to engage in either part-time self-employment or part-time non-paid social activities. The minority stayers were motivated to mentor inexperienced others, keep an active life, and maintain income earnings but mainly on a part-time basis. The research is impactful because workforce aging has become a global higher education issue, particularly for managers who reflect on how to fill vacancies with competent replacements.
... Stress affects mental health and subjective well-being, which is also linked with physical health (Cross et al., 2018) due to behavioral changes, such as smoking, drinking, eating, and sleeping. Employment may also generate latent consequences beyond its economic effects, including self-efficacy from work-related roles (i.e., role theory) and the psychosocial meaning of employment, such as a sense of purpose and goals, identity, and social contacts (Jahoda, 1981;Wang, 2013). Individuals may undergo changes in psychosocial aspects of their life upon retirement, which are important determinants of health (House et al., 1988;Windsor et al., 2015). ...
... There were at least two possible interpretations for this. One is that the higher-income group had more financial resources to invest in for their health, as the level of employees' pension benefits is associated with preretirement income, which also enables them to adjust to their retirement life well (Wang, 2013). Another explanation is related to a continuous theory (Wang, 2013): those with higher noncognitive skills, which are reported to be linked to higher earnings (Heckman et al., 2006), may better manage to find new roles after retirement through unpaid activities, and live their successful retirement lives. ...
... One is that the higher-income group had more financial resources to invest in for their health, as the level of employees' pension benefits is associated with preretirement income, which also enables them to adjust to their retirement life well (Wang, 2013). Another explanation is related to a continuous theory (Wang, 2013): those with higher noncognitive skills, which are reported to be linked to higher earnings (Heckman et al., 2006), may better manage to find new roles after retirement through unpaid activities, and live their successful retirement lives. Moreover, noncognitive skills have been reported to be positively associated with good health behaviors (Chiteji, 2010), which enforces the first interpretation that the higher-income group was endowed with nonfinancial resources. ...
OBJECTIVES
While the health effects of retirement have been well studied, existing findings remain inconclusive, and the mechanisms underlying the linkage between retirement and health are unclear. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of retirement on health and its potential mediators.
METHODS
Using a national household survey conducted annually from 2004 to 2019 in Japan (the Japan Household Panel Survey), we evaluated the effects of retirement among Japanese men aged 50 or older on their health, in addition to other outcomes that could be attributed to health changes associated with retirement (i.e. health behaviours, psychological well-being, time use for unpaid activities, and leisure activities). As outcomes are not measured every year, we analysed 5,794–10,682 person-year observations for 975–1,469 unique individuals. To address the potential endogeneity of retirement, we adopted an instrumental variable fixed-effects approach based on policy changes in eligibility ages for employee pensions.
RESULTS
We found that retirement improved psychological well-being, exercise habits, and time spent on unpaid work. The psychological benefits of retirement were no longer observed for longer durations after retirement, whereas healthy habits and unpaid activities continued. Moreover, health-related improvements after retirement occurred mostly in the higher-income group.
DISCUSSION
Enhancement in personal quality of life owing to increased leisure time and stress reduction from work in addition to life style changes may be key to understanding the health benefits of retirement. Considering the mechanisms behind retirement–health relationships and potential heterogeneous effects is essential for healthy post-retirement lives when increasing the retirement age.
... Workers who dedicate years to the same company or career and then retire, never more to return to the labor market, are increasingly rare. Just as there are a great many ways to organize and design work, there are also different manners, types, and meanings of retirement, which can no longer be described as simply a definitive exit from work (Jex & Grosch, 2012;Shultz & Wang, 2011). ...
... Among several models available in the literature, the one proposed by these authors (Fig. 4.1) represents how retirement has been considered a multilevel and multicausal process. Similarly, the decision to retire can be voluntary or involuntary and may involve few or many phases before the definitive transition and adaptation to retirement (Jex & Grosch, 2012). ...
... Changes caused by longevity, together with different work arrangements in the contemporary world, have led to increasingly different ways of experiencing retirement. In conducting studies and activities on the topic, it is therefore important that researchers and professionals pay attention to what concept of retirement is being used: if it is seen as the end of a long career, as the receipt of social security payments, as a self-image (the individual identifies as a retired person), or as a combination of these criteria (Jex & Grosch, 2012). ...
Positive organizational studies have emerged as a line of investigation aimed at improving organizations, using their internal strengths. In this context, the contemporary organizational environment requires resilient workers, adapting to new demands and challenges. Resilience is one of the processes that explain the overcoming of crises and adversities in individuals, groups, and organizations, having been identified as an important predictor of well-being at work. Scales for measuring organizational constructs are the most effective means of identifying people’s perceptions of attitudes and behaviors at work. Therefore, this chapter aims to present a systematic review of the literature on resilience at work, highlighting the models proposed for measuring the construct. The identified models are critically analyzed, and a proposal for organizational diagnosis is presented, contributing to the production of healthier organizational environments with greater effectiveness in achieving results.
... People perceive retirement differently due to changes it can cause in the life of an individual, their family and environment, which can be positive (e.g. more free time for family, friends, hobbies, no more difficult work obligations) and negative (e.g. loss of professional identity, loss of business social network, decrease in income) ( Van Solinge 2012). Retirement can be characterized as a stressful period, especially in people who have adapted poorly to the loss of their work role and cause possible deterioration of health, loneliness, depression, and a decrease in life satisfaction ( Van Solinge 2012, Fadila & Alam 2016. ...
... loss of professional identity, loss of business social network, decrease in income) ( Van Solinge 2012). Retirement can be characterized as a stressful period, especially in people who have adapted poorly to the loss of their work role and cause possible deterioration of health, loneliness, depression, and a decrease in life satisfaction ( Van Solinge 2012, Fadila & Alam 2016. ...
... Understanding how people cope with these changes, including the factors involved in shaping mental health trajectories after retirement, is important to meet the needs of rapidly aging populations. The retirement transition may be more challenging for some persons than others [1,2]. While some studies [3][4][5] suggest that retirement may impact negatively on mental health, others show limited [6,7] or even beneficial [8][9][10][11] effects. ...
... Self-rated functional health was measured with a single item to capture perceived functional limitations due to health problems ("Does your general health condition prevent you from doing the things you want to do?"). The response alternatives were "Not at all" (1), "Yes, to some extent" (2) or "Yes, to a great extent" (3). Age and education were measured at baseline while relationship status, partner's retirement status, social support (α = 0.95-0.96) ...
Background
Retirement is a major life event and factors driving depression in the retirement transition might differ in men and women. The aim was to prospectively study depressive symptoms across the retirement transition in men and women and to test associations with emotion regulation strategies (suppression and reappraisal), adjustment difficulties, and work centrality.
Methods
The sample included 527 individuals from the population-based Health, Aging and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study who were working at baseline and retired during one of the following four annual measurement waves. Participants contributed with a total of 2635 observations across five measurement waves. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D); total score was modelled as a function of time to and from retirement. Changes over the retirement transition were analyzed with multilevel growth curve models. Gender differences in associations with emotion regulation, adjustment difficulties and work centrality were examined by including interaction effects with sex.
Results
We observed a general reduction of depressive symptoms in the early years of retirement in both men and women. Higher suppression was related to higher depression scores while higher cognitive reappraisal was related to lower levels of depressive symptoms. Women more often used cognitive reappraisal, and men more often suppression, but no significant gender interaction in associations with depressive symptoms could be shown. Retirement adjustment difficulties and greater importance of work for self-esteem were related to higher depression scores. Greater meaning of work, on the other hand, was related to lower levels of depressive symptoms, and this association was stronger in men.
Conclusions
There was a general reduction of depression scores in the early years of retirement in both women and men. Findings suggest that basing one’s self-esteem on workplace performance was related to higher levels of depressive symptoms after retirement, while perceiving one’s job as important and meaningful may facilitate better adjustment in terms of lower depression symptom levels, especially in men.
... In addition, most age-related, normative (i.e., typical) biological and cultural processes, such as declines in cognitive functioning and health, gains in knowledge, experience, and status, as well as changes in personality and motives occur gradually across the lifespan [12,13]. One notable exception is the transition to retirement, which in most Western countries typically occurs around the ages of 60 or 65 years [14,15]. As scholars have noted, most retirement policies and benefits are inherently linked to age [4]. ...
... This suggests that retirement age and age-related decline are prominent and easily accessible themes when thinking about "older workers", whereas other themes are less salient. To some extent, this result is also reflected in the organizational and aging literature, which feature retirement [14,15,41,74,75] and actual or stereotypical age-related decline as prominent research topics [47,76,77]. ...
The notion of the "older worker" is frequently used in the organizational literature, in organizational practice, and in society, but so far, no research has investigated why people consider someone to be an older worker at a certain age. In the qualitative part of this study, we examined potential reasons for considering workers to be "older" at a certain age. In the quantitative part of this study, we investigated demographic characteristics (i.e., age, sex, education), job characteristics (i.e., job level, typical age in a job), and beliefs (i.e., perceived remaining time at work, motivation to continue working after retirement, positive and negative age stereotypes) as predictors of people's conceptions of "older worker age"." Data were provided by 269 employees from various jobs and organizations. The mean age at which participants considered someone to be an "older worker" was approximately 55 years. The most frequently stated reasons for considering workers to be "older" at a certain age were retirement age and age-related decline. Results of a regression analysis showed that participants' age, sex, and perceived remaining time predicted "older worker age". These findings provide first insights into the psychological construction of the "older worker".
... wysokie świadczenia emerytalne, atrakcyjne możliwości spędzania wolnego czasu). Ponadto przyjmuje się, że te siły oddziałują na trzech różnych poziomach: mikro, mezo i makro (Szinovacz 2013). Poziom mikro to sytuacja indywidualna jednostki -stan zdrowia, typ osobowości, sytuacja materialna i rodzinna. ...
... Należy także podkreślić, że w odniesieniu do pozostałych czynników kształtujących zamiar przejścia na emeryturę wyniki dotychczasowych badań nie pokazują jasnych i logicznych zależności. Przyczyn takiego stanu rzeczy należy upatrywać w tym, że trudno jest oddzielić wpływ środowiska zawodowego (czynniki mezo) od wpływu innych czynników z poziomu mikro czy makro (Szinovacz 2013). Przykładowo, życie osobiste (czynnik mikro) wchodzi w interakcje z życiem zawodowym (czynnik mezo), tworząc czasami konflikt praca-życie lub konflikt praca-rodzina. ...
Retirement is one of the critical moments in a person’s life. The decision on when to retire is not a one--time choice but a process that takes shape over a long period of time (Beehr 1986; Beehr, Bowling 2013).The literature assumes that the decision to retire results from two forces: one pushing people out ofthe labour market (e.g. poor health, discrimination, stress) and the other pulling them into inactivity (e.g. high old-age pensions, attractive leisure opportunities).
Moreover, it is assumed that these forces act on three levels: micro, meso and macro (Szinovacz 2013). The micro level is the individual’s health status, personality type, and material and family situation. The meso level is the work environment – organizational culture, ergonomics of workstations, and management style. The macro level, in turn, is the general socioeconomic context – culture, labour market and construction of the social security system.
The subject of interest in this article is the middle level (meso). The research aim was to assess the impact of factors related to the working environment on the retirement intentions of older workers in Poland. The following research hypothesis was formulated: working conditions play an essential role in shaping the propensity of 50+ employees to retire as soon as possible. In this way, it was established whether and to what extent financial and non-financial employment conditions affect retirement intentions. The article uses the results of the author’s own research, which was carried out at the end of 2021 using the CAWI method on a representative group of professionally active Poles aged 50 and over. A logistic regression model and a chi-square significance test were used to achieve the set aim.
According to the authors’ knowledge, such an approach has not yet been the subject of scientific research in Poland. So far, retirement decisions have been analyzed mainly in the context of the pension security system – its structure, operation and effectiveness (Chybalski 2013; Góra, Rutecka 2013; Jabłońska-Porzuczek, Łuczka 2016). Relatively much attention has also been paid to the issue of behavioural determinants (Chybalski 2012; Jedynak 2022). However, the researchers’ attention did not extend to a potentially important group of factors related to working conditions.
The results of the research presented in this article indicate that the crucial factors influencing the intention to retire as soon as possible include the incentives of superiors to continue working despite reaching retirement age, commitment to work, the inadequacy of working conditions to the needs and capabilities of employees in old age, and conflicts and lack of understanding on the part of younger co-workers. The resulting catalogue of determinants is a challenge not only for those employers who currently employ older workers and would like to keep them as long as possible, but also for the entire
Polish market in the context of an aging population and the need in the near future to implement an age management model as a response to the problem of aging human resources in companies (PARP 2020).
... Retirement is one of the most remarkable events in people's life and may comprise changes that may affect the health of retirees [1]. Nowadays, the understanding of the effects of retirement on health is of growing importance for Public Health due to the ISSN 1051-9815/$35.00 © 2022 -IOS Press. ...
... Therefore, the features of the retirement process, including not only the reasons for retirement and the retirement age, but also the engagement in activities after retirement (such as social or occupational activities), could influence differently the impact that retirement may have on CCVDs [1,11]. However, these features have not been commonly considered together to study the latter association [4,6]. ...
Background:
Despite the actual demographic trends and the global burden of cardiovascular diseases, there is little knowledge concerning the effects of retirement on this health outcome.
Objective:
We aimed to quantify the associations between retirement, and retirement age, with cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) in the Portuguese population.
Methods:
We used data from the first Portuguese wave of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Logistic regression was applied to quantify the associations. The major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and several features of retirement were considered as possible confounders or effect modifiers. Analysis was restricted to retirees in retirement process (retired for 5 years or less) and not retired because of illness.
Results:
An opposite direction of the association between retirement and heart disease was observed according to hypertension status, although not significant. Early retirement increased the odds of having a stroke, merely in individuals without heart disease (OR = 8.87; 95% CI 1.63-48.26). On the contrary, in individuals with heart disease, decreased the odds of having a stroke in (OR = 0.08; 95% CI 0.01-0.68).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that retirement and retirement age may be beneficial or harmful, respectively, in the presence or absence of major risk factors for heart disease and stroke. We suggest that work-related stress affecting differently workers with and without these risk factors may eventually explain these findings.
... As Laitner and Sonnega (2012) pointed out, referring to the rational-economic approach, the retirement decision is an economic choice where time is exchanged for money. People are rational, so they make optimal decisions, including the decision at the moment of transition to retirement. ...
Aim: The aim of the study was to identify and evaluate the factors that have a significant impact on the intention to retire as soon as possible among workers in Poland. Methodology: To achieve this goal the structural equation modelling (SEM) method was used. The data came from the authors’ own study conducted in Poland at the end of 2021 using the computer assisted web interview (CAWI) method on a representative group of employees aged 50 and above. The authors selected a range of potential predictors, including demographic, economic, workplace-related, and psychological. Results: The results showed that personal factors and anticipated level of income in retirement positively influence the intention to retire as soon as possible, whilst education, monthly income, income voluntarily saved for retirement, good working conditions and positive attitudes towards retirement have a negative impact. Implications and recommendations: The results of the study, conducted among the Polish population aged 50+ living in one of the fastest developing countries of Central and Eastern Europe, may contribute to research conducted in other European countries. The implementation of a similar study by other researchers will allow for comparison and may form the basis for recommendations relevant to an ageing Europe and a lower burden on public finances in each country. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first such analysis for Poland. The extensive catalogue of variables adopted for the study facilitated an indepth analysis of the factors influencing the intention to retire as soon as possible.
... Studies in Kenya indicate that retirees, in general, face severe challenges especially to do with physical, psychological and socioeconomic issues (Kamau, 2012;Musila et al., 2019 andWere, 2011). It has been reported that some retirees live lives of poverty, bear heavy burdens in supporting dependants, suffer stress and some suspicion and even rejection by the communities where they go back to on retirement (Thuku, 2013, cf., Olatunde andOnyinye, 2013;Osborne, 2012, andSolinge, 2012). On the financial aspect, research indicates that poverty incidences among persons over 60 years is higher than the population average, a fact that might be responsible for distress among retirees (Kakwani et al., 2006;Kithinji, 2012). ...
Purpose-The purpose of this study was to establish reading practices among retirees and to what extent public libraries in Kenya are a source of information and knowledge to them. Design/methodology/approach-This was a qualitative study whose research questions were; what are retirees' reading practices? why do retirees engage in the reading practices they engage in? and to what extent do retirees use the public library for their reading practices? Purposive and snowballing were used as sampling techniques and interview was used for data collection. Data were analysed thematically. Findings-The findings were that retirees' reading practices are fragmentary and erratic; retirees mainly engage in reading practices for spiritual reasons and for access of current information; and that retirees do not use the services of the public library for their reading activities. Research limitations/implications-The research sample is 16 subjects who might not represent features of the whole population. The findings are, however, an index to what the situation might be. Originality/value-The findings are the result of actual qualitative research.
... Most studies in the empirical retirement literature, focused as they are on the predictors and outcomes of retirement planning, decisions, and adjustment, have been quantitative, depending primarily on surveys. (See Wang, 2013;Wang & Shi, 2014;Wang et al., 2011 for detailed reviews.) Much has been learned from these studies, but a deeper understanding of the retirement process and the mechanisms driving it requires a qualitative approach, one that gets at the actual experience of people as they move through this transition (Amabile, 2019;Edmondson & McManus, 2007). ...
This paper explores the psychological, social, and behavioral ways in which professionals end their corporate careers and reorient themselves and their lives in the transition from employment to retirement. Framed within life course theory, specifically the adult development literature, this study leverages Levinson’s construct of life structure in relation to the self as a lens for understanding the developmental work undertaken in different phases (“phase-tasks”) of the retirement process. We define life structure as a person’s system of contexts—the roles, relationships, activities, groups, organizations, and physical settings in the person’s life—and the dynamic interconnections among them. Our research focused on the underlying micro processes of the interplay between self and life structure. This qualitative study followed 14 knowledge workers through their retirement transitions, using multiple in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Data analyses revealed that the self and the life structure co-evolve, exerting mutual influence across the four phase-tasks of the retirement transition, driven by the individual’s desire for a life structure that is both suitable for the self and viable for the foreseeable future. Two in-depth case studies and data from the other 12 participants illustrate the interplay, throughout the transition, between moves made by the self on the life structure and claims and changes from the life structure influencing the self. We present an induced process model of this reciprocal influence between self and life structure across the retirement transition, and discuss our contributions to the retirement, adult development, and identity literatures, as well as practical implications.
... Relatedly, men may feel a greater loss of agency due to retirement from the workplace as they transition to late life, given that occupational roles are central to male social value in Confucian cultures [49]. The combination of retiring from work and declining familial leadership due to aging may synergistically reduce self-determination and its survival bene ts among elderly Chinese men [54]. Furthermore, reducing social engagement and community mobility in advanced years may more adversely affect men's psychological well-being, given masculine norms emphasizing outward activity [55]. ...
Background: While existing research establishes a connection between increased self-determination and decreased mortality rates among older adults, there is still limited understanding of how this association varies across demographic variables such as gender and age.
Methods: The present study examines the nuances in the relationship between self-determination and mortality risk in a large, nationally-representative cohort of individuals aged over 60 (n=23,522). Self-determination was quantified using a validated measure that evaluates self-direction and agency. Mortality was monitored over a span of 16 years. To minimize sample selection bias, propensity scores were utilized to compute weights, following which a weighted Cox regression model was applied.
Results: The findings indicated that self-determination significantly predicted reduced mortality. Notably, the relationship between self-determination and mortality was modulated by both gender and age, with the effects being most pronounced for men and those in the younger age brackets.
Conclusions: By shedding light on the intricate interplays between self-determination and health outcomes, this research offers insights for designing tailored interventions aimed at mitigating mortality rates and promoting healthy aging across a heterogeneous elderly population.
... But for workers to be able to work into old age, they must also be in good physical and mental condition. Thus, the quality of work should be adequate (Von Bonsdorff & Ilmarine, 2013). According to the continuity theory, retirement may provide a relieve from the strain of work, and people who experience lower levels of the quality of work might have intentions to retire as soon as they can, so psychological well-being would be improved (Tambellini, 2021). ...
While the population of Europe is rapidly aging, extended working life has been increasingly promoted. However, a fair amount of older workers prefer to retire early. The question is, whether we know enough about what makes people want to retire as soon as they can. Research on the relationship between the quality of work and retirement intentions has received significant attention but delivered ambiguous results, which may mean that the relationship between retirement intentions and the quality of work is more complex, i.e. moderated by other constructs. Therefore, using data obtained from the seventh wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the relationship of the retirement intentions with the quality of work, and personality traits. In addition, we investigate whether personality traits moderate the relationship between retirement intentions and the quality of work. We found that physical demands, psychosocial demands, social support at work, control, and reward predict retirement intentions. Neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness predict retirement intentions too. The relationship between the quality of work and retirement intentions is not moderated by personality traits.
... In the 2000s, retirement research explored main effects predictions based on sociodemographic variables regarding individuals' decision to retire and well-being before and after retirement. With the baby boomer cohort's retirement entry in 2008, scholars focused on the transition from work to retirement: The 2010s were marked by the publication of the first major reviews on employee retirement (Wang & Shi, 2014;Wang & Shultz, 2010), the first edition of The Oxford handbook of retirement (Wang, 2013), and the foundation of the academic journal Work, Aging and Retirement (2015). Since then, the field has continued to grow: While in 2010 a search with the keyword "retirement" in the PsychINFO database limited to peer-reviewed journals led to 4,099 hits, in 2023 it reaches 10,053 hits. ...
This Encyclopedia entry reviews the organizational psychology and management literature focusing on the transition from work to retirement at the individual and organizational levels. After a brief history of retirement and of this retirement scholarship, the definition of retirement is presented, followed by a review of the main theoretical frameworks and empirical findings regarding retirement planning, retirement decision-making, bridge employment, and retirement adjustment. Four critical issues and related future research directions are described in terms of the need to broaden this scholarship’s focus on (in)voluntary retirement, socially and economically (dis)advantaged workers, reduced retirement pensions, and technology and artificial intelligence.
Keywords: retirement; retirement planning; retirement decision-making; retirement adjustment; bridge employment; retirement transition.
https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803921761.00126
... Ezt az idősödés tranzitív változásai kapcsán fontos szerepet játszó időszakot, amely rendszerint 55 -65 év közé esik gyakran az "áthajlás korának" nevezik, amely során az ebben az időszakban megélt tapasztalatok nyomán (az idős szülők nehézségeivel, a saját idősödés egyre inkább arcot öltő változásaival, korlátaival, a növekvő fizikális problémákkal, vesztességekkel, az életvitel alakításának, továbbvitelének kérdéseivel, valamint a célok és útkeresés dilemmáival szembesülés révén), a segítség iránti nyitottság és motiváció erősödése kedvezőbb helyzetet teremt az idősekkel folyó segítő munka számára. Ennek talaján jelentek meg először a nemzetközi gyakorlatban a nyugdíjba vonulási tanácsadás különböző formái (RICHARDSON, 1993, HUGHES, 1993, WANG, 2013, és erre támaszkodva indult el a tágabb értelemben vett gerontológiai tanácsadás módszertani fejlesztése és képzési programjának kialakítása Jane E. Myers meghatározó jelentőségű munkássága nyomán (RIKER, MYERS, 1990;MAYERS, SCHWIEBERT, 1996). ...
E tanulmány a „2018-1.2.1.-NKP számú projekthez kapcsolódik, amely a Nemzeti Kiválósági Program által támogatott konzorciumi kutatás keretében az ELTE Társadalomtudományi Karán a demográfiai változások társadalmi kockázatait vizsgálta 2018-2022 között. Kutatásunk fókuszában az idősödés tranzitív változásai álltak egy másodlagos prevencióra irányuló életviteli támogatási modell kidolgozása céljából. Jelen tanulmányunk e modell elméleti hátterét mutatja be a konstruktív terápiák talaján létrejött életviteli támogatás, tanácsadás, és konzultáció kollaboratív megközelítésére alapozva a segítő munka négy fő pillére mentén - ezek: Az idősödés folyamatának fejlődési – hosszmetszeti megközelítése Erikson pszichoszociális fejlődéselméletének kiterjesztése nyomán. A tranzitív változások többtényezős integratív modellje, mint innovatív elemzési keret a tranzitív változások során zajló folyamatok feltárásához. A kollaboratív kapcsolati hozzáállás meghatározó szerepe az idősekkel folyó élettörténeti interjúk felvétele és feldolgozása során, valamint a segítő munka megalapozásában. Az élettörténeti narratívák feldolgozásának tematikus, eset-központú interpretatív megközelítése, mint közös út a narratív kutatás és a konstruktív terápiák talaján kibontakozó kollaboratív tanácsadási modellek integrációja felé Bertolino és O’Hanlon „Kompetencia alapú kollaboratív tanácsadási modell”-jének megközelítésére támaszkodva.
... (12) On the other hand, retirement provides people with more leisure time and opportunities as well as freedom from the stress of work, which might improve their mental health, however the relationship between retirement and mental health can vary by the type of retirement and country. (13) (14) Aim of the study:-To assess the association between retirement and the prevalence of depression in Iraq / Babylon ...
Background: Retirement is an important turning point in an individuals life and also a significant social stressor that can have an impact on physical and mental health, moving from a relatively busy and regular lifestyle to a relatively inactive one is a challenge, and the change of roles might be a trigger for some retirees to develop mental health problems, on the other hand, retirement provides people with more leisure time and opportunities as well as freedom from the stress of work, which might improve their mental health, however the relationship between retirement and mental health can vary by the type of retirement and country. Objectives: To assess the association between retirement and the prevalence of depression in Iraq Babylon 2022 Methods: Data was collected in a cross-sectional study at different district of Babylon health department primary health care centers for a period of four months, from September 2022 and ended at the end of November 2022, and included 250 participants, The questionnaire contained a depression scale that contained 8 questions, according to the total score before and after retirement the participant is either diagnosed to have depression or below the diagnostic score of 4. Results: 33 patients had depression before retirement (13.2 %), the number of patients raise to 51 (20.4 %) after retirement (Relative risk = 1.54). Conclusions: The prevalence of depression increase after retirement, the prevalence risk raised by 7.2 % after retirement, relative risk = 1.54.
... En lien avec de nouvelles terminologies évoquant le « vieillissement actif » de « jeunes retraités », l'idéologie contemporaine de la retraite enjoint à chacun de faire ce qui lui plaît, notamment ce qu'il n'a pas eu le loisir de réaliser auparavant (Caradec, 2004 ;Guillemard, 2013 ;Lalive d'Epinay, 1996). Alors que la perte du statut professionnel, et avec lui, celle d'une réalisation de soi, d'un sens donné à la vie et d'une autonomie puisant dans l'activité de travail, plusieurs études se sont concentrées sur les solutions adaptatives alors mises en place par les individus pour pallier la diminution des contacts sociaux et des activités structurées (Hall & Mirvis, 2013 ;Luhmann, Hofmann, Eid, & Lucas, 2012 ;van Solinge, 2013). Ces travaux montrent que, sans qu'il soit nécessairement problématique, ce passage ne va pas de soi pour autant. ...
Introduction – L’analyse interprétative phénoménologique (IPA) est une méthode d’analyse qualitative du discours qui vise à la compréhension de l’expérience vécue et du sens que les individus lui attribuent.
Objectifs – Après avoir décrit ses fondements théoriques et sa méthodologie, l’article prend appui sur une recherche portant sur le vécu de la transition de retraite qui a collecté 28 entretiens. Il vise ainsi à montrer l’intérêt de cette méthode pour faire saisir les processus psychologiques et réflexifs inhérents aux périodes de vie marquées par des transformations.
Méthode – Centrée sur la manière dont les personnes se figurent leur propre transformation identitaire à l’âge de la retraite et sur le sens qu’elles lui donnent, l’analyse rend compte des ajustements apportés à la vie quotidienne, au rapport au temps, et aux relations sociales en prenant appui sur l’étude détaillée d’un cas, comparé ensuite à cinq autres cas.
Résultats – Le besoin d’opérer une rupture, manifesté par l’ampleur et la forme des transformations données au quotidien, varie selon les sujets, du sens étant attribué non seulement à la rupture mais aussi à la continuité. Un vécu temporel marqué par un présent à reconfigurer et des relations interpersonnelles jugées signifiantes sont en revanche très partagés.
Conclusion – En permettant de mettre en lumière les processus psychologiques et réflexifs de l’expérience du passage à la retraite, cette étude effectuée en référence à l’IPA peut contribuer à nourrir les pratiques d’accompagnement à la retraite qui tendent à se développer.
... For example, policy on mandatory retirement age, pension formula, and eligibility for receiving social security benefits could significantly impact on when an individual should start planning for his/her retirement. At the meso-level, organisational or job factors such as job characteristics, forms of pension structures and plans while non-work life factors like family and social factors may influence the retirement planning process either positively or negatively (Laitner and Sonnega, 2013). ...
This study explores the perspectives of in-service and retired academics on retirement planning and their perception of the appropriate time for employees to start doing so. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study collected data from two private and two public Universities in Tanzania. Specifically, it employed focused group discussions and semi-structured interviews to collect requisite data subjected to thematic analysis. The findings show that retirement planning unfolds in six main areas: a) Identifying sources of income to meet retirement needs mainly through paid gainful work, b) Opportunities and networking beyond formal work, c) Spending time following changing work roles, d) Housing arrangements, e) Willingness to accept retirement and its associated outcomes, and f) Healthy lifestyle and health insurance costs. However, the study found no fixed time for employees to start preparing for retirement. Varied options and justifications regarding when one might start planning for retirement life emerged. Some participants indicated the best time as immediately after being independent or detached from the family whereas others cited the period immediately following one's securing of formal employment or ten years prior to one's retirement age. Based on the findings, there is a need for policy considerations and further research to facilitate smooth retirement planning and adjustment among academics. Keywords retirement planning-source of income-housing arrangements-lifestyle-health management
... Effects of retirement demonstrated no significant change in well-being scores preand post-retirement [52], because it differs both between and within individuals over time [53][54][55][56]. ...
This study aimed to identify and characterize biopsychosocial factors that impact the purpose in life (PIL) among adults that are working or already retired. This cross-sectional study includes a sample of 1330 participants, of whom 62.2% were female, with ages ranging from 55 and 84 years, with a mean of 61.93 years and a standard deviation of 7.65. Results suggest that the education level, stress, spirituality (religion) and optimism, social support from friends, and quality of life related to physical health seem to contribute positively to the PIL for both groups. However, some variables such as age, marital status and environmental quality of life help explain the PIL of retired people and the quality of life related to social support helps explain the PIL of working adults. Overall, the reported findings suggest that the purpose in life is strongly related to physical, psychological, social and environmental health factors. It is highlighted that working adults and retired people have their purpose in life related to similar factors and others specific to each life stage, suggesting the need for crucial interventions to promote a healthier and more positive aging process.
... Another significant result of this study is to find that subjective mental health is a significant predictor of retirees' happiness. This result is in line with other studies that gave extreme importance to mental health and its association with happiness (Heybroek et al., 2015;Lei & Liu, 2018;Schünemann et al., 2017;Seaward, 2017;Van Solinge, 2013). Interestingly, subjective physical health did not ...
... way of thinking and acting (Atchley, 1989;Kim & Hall, 2013;von Bonsdorff & Ilmarinen, 2013). In this respect, organizations may play an important role in helping retirement-eligible workers to overcome learning barriers, navigate challenging work environments, and facilitate the fulfillment of growth needs . ...
As the workforce ages, organizations are increasing their efforts to retain retirement-eligible workers to avoid human capital shortages and preserve knowledge reservoirs. Nevertheless, the potential factors and underlying mechanisms relating to the retention of retirement-eligible workers have rarely been examined. The current research investigates how retirement-eligible workers may be retained by the organization through human capital development activities. Specifically, we draw upon the motivated choice framework to investigate the joint implications of individual (i.e., individual growth need) and organizational factors (i.e., climate for developing older workers and age-inclusive climate) for retirement-eligible workers' training participation and thereby retention. We tested our hypotheses with two samples in the Netherlands. Study 1 utilized the two-wave, multilevel survey data (2015-2018) from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute Pension Panel Study (N = 3,200 older workers from 409 organizations). We found that individual growth need and climate for developing older workers had positive associations with training participation, which in turn was positively related to older workers' decision to stay (vs. retire) despite retirement eligibility. In addition, age-inclusive climate amplified the positive relationship between individual growth need and training participation. Study 2 utilized the two-wave Longitudinal Internet studies for the Social Sciences panel data (N = 301 older workers). We replicated result patterns from Study 1 and found that person-organization fit and needs-supplies fit mediated the relationship between training participation and retirement-eligible workers' intention to stay. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... However, the same study also revealed health status and pre-retirement expectations to be even more significant predictors of retirement satisfaction than the effect of retirement transition type on satisfaction. Overall, the differences and diversity of findings from retirement studies reflected the multi-dimensional and dynamic process of retirement ( Van Solinge, 2013;Shultz and Wang, 2011). Therefore, more studies are needed to understand the relationship between retirement experience and retirement satisfaction. ...
Purpose
The practice of mandatory retirement age implies that some retirees may be forced to retire or are compelled to continue working. Retirement would then be determined by age and not by their personal choices. Against this backdrop, this study aims to understand the associations retirement transition types (voluntary or involuntary retirement) with retirement satisfaction and life satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
This mixed research study seeks to understand how the retirement transition type in the form of voluntary or involuntary retirement is associated with retirement satisfaction and life satisfaction. In this study, 103 Singapore baby boomer retirees were interviewed and a questionnaire was administered.
Findings
Results showed that voluntary retirement and high social–emotional resources had significant positive associations with retirement satisfaction, and that financial resources and retirement satisfaction had significant associations with life satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
Based on this study’s findings, a synthesized conceptual model was designed to illustrate the different roles and associations of resources with retirement satisfaction and life satisfaction. A retirement trajectory model was also created to cater for policy design at various stages of the retirement experience.
Practical implications
The retirement experience is multi-dimensional. It is highly relevant to almost every older adult. The relevance of this topic also meant that the findings in this study carry a potentially higher impact. Using the life span and multi-level perspectives to examine retirement, the findings in this study invite several timely human resources (HR) and national policy reviews. This paper proposed HR policy practices at three main points – late-career, retirement and bridge employment.
Originality/value
A unique feature of this study was to differentiate and compare “retirement satisfaction” with “life satisfaction”, and the differentiation of “retirement transition”, “retirement adjustment” and the “retirement trajectory”. The differentiation of these concepts can better shape policies targeted at different phases of the retirement experience. In addition, the resource-based dynamic perspective was used to identify and understand the types of resources that have significant associations with retirement and life satisfaction. For example, social–emotional resources were found to be significantly associated with retirement satisfaction, and financial resources were found to be significantly associated with life satisfaction.
... Growing numbers of older adults are expected to spend at least a quarter of their lives in post-retirement (Cahill et al., 2021;Yeung, 2013), which require constant attention in addressing their social, economic, and psychological needs and well-being, similar to what was happening during their employment period. Retirement adjustment refers to the process through which retirees adapt to the changes brought by retirement in various areas of life and achieve contentment in retirement life (Froidevaux et al., 2017;Tam, 2018;Van Solinge, 2013), while well-being is a positive experience of pleasure and satisfaction underpinned by achievement of purpose and meaning in life independent, resisting social pressures, and appraising one's self by personal standards (Chandler & Robinson, 2014;Ryff & Singer, 2008). ...
The increased longevity of retiree populations calls for constant attention in addressing their social, economic, and psychological adjustment and well-being. Informed by a qualitative research approach, this study was conducted to explore the perspectives of both the employers and the employees (teacher retirees) on retirement planning mistakes that undermine the post-retirement adjustment and well-being. The findings revealed both systemic and behavioral mistakes that affect teacher retirees’ smooth transition from work to retirement, including low savings and debt accruals, limited access to retirement planning education, late family establishment, poor record management, and disregarding opportunities for career development. While the mistakes on each side are costly in isolation, their costs are substantial, irreversible, and have implications on time, health, and psychological well-being. The study recommends that the government timely pay statutory benefits to employees in line with the legal requirements to facilitate smooth retirement planning. Additionally, mandatory retirement planning education in the form of seminars and workshops should be provided to all potential retirees. This can be operational through systematizing retirement training as part of a career development plan in the policies, Public Service Acts and Public Service Social Security Acts.
... Continuity theory explains that elderly do not change their ways of living in a sudden manner, rather they progressively make a rational choice about their future based on their social roles (Atchley 1989;Von Bonsdorff and Ilmarinen 2013). Figure 1(J) shows that the percentage of elderly with no asset or little to moderate asset (0 to 100,000 baht) has the desire to work below average. ...
Thailand has entered into an aging society since the year 2000. Using the 2017 Survey of the Older Persons in Thailand collected by Thailand National Statistical Office, this study uses cross tabulation, random forest with variable importance measure and lasso logistic regression to examine factors that have effects on the elderly's decision to remain in the labor market after retirement. This study reveals that these following variables: age, education level, healthcare eligibility, marital status, health condition, total assets, gender, residential type, percent of elderly in the household, and number of children have strong influences on an elderly's desire to continue work. By knowing which factors contribute to the elderly wish to continue work in the market, this research allows for future prediction of the labor market that can accommodate elderly in Thailand. Our final models of random forest and lasso logistic regression provide prediction accuracy of 68.19 and 69.58 percent on the elderly's desire to work, respectively. This study has a significant impact as policymakers can utilize our models in predicting elderly's desire to work after retirement age and design a labor market that can accommodate elderly in Thailand in the future.
... Continuity theory explains that elderly do not change their ways of living in a sudden manner, rather they progressively make a rational choice about their future based on their social roles (Atchley 1989;Von Bonsdorff and Ilmarinen 2013). Figure 1(J) shows that the percentage of elderly with no asset or little to moderate asset (0 to 100,000 baht) has the desire to work below average. ...
Thailand has entered into an aging society since the year 2000. Using the 2017 Survey of the Older Persons in Thailand collected by National Statistical Office of Thailand, this study uses cross tabulation, random forest with variable importance measure and lasso logistic regression to examine factors that have effects on the elderly’s decision to remain in the labor market after retirement. This study reveals that these following variables: age, education level, healthcare eligibility, marital status, health condition, total assets, gender, residential type, percent of elderly in the household, and number of children have strong influences on an elderly’s desire to continue work. By knowing which factors contribute to the elderly wish to continue work in the market, this research allows for future prediction of the labor market that can accommodate elderly in Thailand. Our final models of random forest and lasso logistic regression provide prediction accuracy of 68.19 and 69.58 percent on the elderly’s desire to work, respectively. This study has a significant impact as policymakers can utilize our models in predicting elderly’s desire to work after retirement age and design a labor market that can accommodate elderly in Thailand in the future.
Objectives:
This study was conducted with the aim of developing a scale to measure 'retirement psychology' in order to better understand the impact of the retirement process on individuals' psychological states.
Method:
A total of 437 retired people took part in the study. The Retirement Psychology Scale was developed in five stages. In the first stage, items were generated through interviews with retired individuals and validity and reliability tests were conducted. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were then carried out to test the validity and reliability of the scale.
Results:
The analyses revealed that the scale consists of four dimensions: negative impact, positive impact, relaxation and economic dimension, with a total of 37 items. This study provides a scientific tool for identifying and measuring the potential impact of the retirement process on individuals' psychological states.
Conclusion:
The developed scale can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the psychological effects of the retirement process and its aftermath. Investigating the impact of retirement on individuals' quality of life and happiness is of both individual and societal importance, and this study can be seen as an important step in this regard.
The boundaries of psychology are expanding as growing numbers of psychological scientists, educators, and clinicians take a preventive approach to social and mental health challenges. Offering a broad introduction to prevention in psychology, this book provides readers with the tools, resources, and knowledge to develop and implement evidence-based prevention programs. Each chapter features key points, a list of helpful resources for creating successful intervention programs, and culturally informed case examples from across the lifespan, including childhood, school, college, family, adult, and community settings. An important resource for students, researchers, and practitioners in counseling, clinical, health, and educational psychology, social justice and diversity, social work, and public health.
Prospective retirees usually prepare for what they thought they would need for retirement adjustment while retired ones are better positioned to evaluate adequacy of their earlier preparedness, judged by retirement reality. Will the future and the past align? This survey investigated pre-retirement guidance needs of retirement-eligible teachers, explored retroactive retirement guidance needs of retired teachers, and compared the results of the two groups. A sample (n=305; 151 prospective teacher-retirees; 154 retired teachers) was selected, while three research questions guided the study. Results showed the 16 items in the pre-retirement guidance needs are potential needs for teachers entering retirement (Item’s RSI >0.05), and the 16 items in the retrospective retirement guidance needs are areas that retired teachers opined they missed while preparing for retirement (Item’s RSI >0.05). Also, prospective retirees and the retired teachers reported dissimilar ranking in the order in which they desired retirement counselling, but they tallied in two items of needs. The findings underpin the necessity for periodically administering retirement preparedness and retirement readiness instruments on workers with a view to offering person-fit retirement counselling as they advance toward retirement.
The transition from work to retirement is a significant and demanding process, marked by individual variations in the timing and decision-making. Legal frameworks often guide retirement decisions. This life event typically triggers psychological responses, necessitating a psychotherapeutic approach to preparation and decision-making. While retirement represents a major life milestone, some individuals may not proactively consider it. Effective pre-retirement planning and preparation can commence 5-10 years before retirement. Mandated pre-retirement counseling is beneficial, as it compels individuals to make essential preparations well in advance. However, many people tend to avoid contemplating retirement after reaching the age of 45. This study aimed to assess anxiety and psychological challenges experienced by retired secondary school teachers in Ruiru and Juja Sub County. It also sought to compare anxiety and depression levels between early retirees and those subject to mandatory retirement. The study employed a quantitative research design. A sample of 35 retired teachers was selected using census sampling, with 20 respondents interviewed due to logistical constraints and respondent availability. The study focused on secondary school teachers who had retired between 2018 and 2021. Data were collected using the Beck Anxiety Inventory and a Social-demographic questionnaire. The findings revealed that 78.9% of respondents reported low family socioeconomic status, while 68.4% experienced high levels of loneliness and social isolation. Additionally, 63.2% noted elevated boredom in retirement, 52.6% reported high financial stress, and 63.2% indicated increased frustration due to medical issues. Moreover, 63.2% exhibited high levels of anxiety. Interestingly, the study found no significant difference in anxiety and psycho-social challenges between teachers who had early or mandatory retirement. To better support prospective retiree teachers, it is crucial to encourage them to seek guidance from the Teachers Service Commission wellness center during their pre-retirement preparation and planning.
In the context of the ageing workforce, late‐career development implies ongoing decisions during retirement regarding one's engagement in volunteering and bridge employment activities. While prior research has emphasized the role of the meaning of work in retirement decisions, it has not examined the roles that meaning in life and identity play in decisions made during retirement. Relying on the existential framework on meaning and career decision‐making, this article explores the role of social identities as retirees and as workers as critical self‐concept dimensions that may mediate the impact of meaning in life (search and presence) on their decisions to pursue bridge employment and to volunteer in retirement. Using an archival survey study relying on a time‐lagged design with a one‐year interval among 204 retirees, we found that retirees demonstrating a greater search for meaning in life exhibited positive identification with the worker social identity but negative identification with the retiree social identity. Additionally, worker social identity was positively associated with bridge employment; however, retiree social identity was negatively associated with bridge employment and positively with volunteering. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Vek odchodu do dôchodku sa v súčasnosti postupne stáva viac individuálnou voľbou, keďže mnoho ľudí využíva predčasný odchod do dôchodku alebo naopak prácu aj po dosiahnutí dôchodkového veku. Keďže plánovaný vek do dôchodku zamestnancov ovplyvňuje personálnu situáciu zamestnávateľov, je dôležité rozumieť jeho faktorom. Cieľom príspevku je preskúmať aké vybrané demografické a psychologické premenné predikujú plánovaný vek do dôchodku. Výskumu sa zúčastnilo 450 Slovákov a Sloveniek v preddôchodkovom veku 50 až 62 rokov (M = 54,9; SD = 3,51). Boli rekrutovaní cez online panel prieskumnej agentúry. Respondenti vyplnili sadu demografických otázok, otázku o plánovanom odchodu do dôchodku, Škálu konceptov dôchodku, Škálu dôchodkovej anxiety a Škálu naplnenia psychologických potrieb. Neskorší vek odchodu do dôchodku plánujú osoby s vyšším vzdelaním, skôr muži a osoby s nižším vekom. Z psychologických premenných súvisí s vyšším plánovaným vekom odchodu do dôchodku vyššia dôchodková anxieta a predstava dôchodku ako vynúteného prerušenia doterajšieho života. Limitom štúdie je najmä meranie plánovaného veku odchodu do dôchodku jednou položkou, ktorá je vyjadrením iba jedného aspektu plánu odchodu do dôchodku. Výsledky môžu prispieť k porozumeniu toho, aké faktory ovplyvňujú plánovaný vek odchodu do dôchodku, čo môže byť využité zamestnávateľmi pri personálnej politike.
This article aimed to explore the perspectives and experiences of women and men at the stage in their lives following professional retirement, enriching the present and future of a continuously ageing Portuguese society. In order to better capture the diversity and complexity of each individual’s experiences, a qualitative methodology was used. Semi-structured individual interviews were carried out with sixteen retired people, eight women and eight men, aged between 59 and 88 years old. A thematic analysis allowed us to identify five themes in the interviewees’ discourses. We concluded that gender may be a source of heterogeneity at this stage of life, suggesting that these findings should be analysed in the scope of a life course perspective, and highlighting the impact that the different trajectories of women and men have, as well as the historical and social context in which they take place.
Retirement is associated with numerous representations, some of them being negative and the other positive. Yet, these representations affect the health of individuals in their transition to retirement. However, although the socio-political context in France favours the emergence of numerous representations of retired people, to our knowledge there is no scale validated in French that would allow us to evaluate them. Thus, the objective of this study was to adapt and validate a scale assessing representations of retired people, called the Retirement Semantic Differential (RSD), for a French population. The scale consists of a series of bipolar adjectives related to retirement, such as "active-passive" and "happy-sad", with participants' responses indicating the connotative meaning, positive or negative, about retirement representations. A total of 279 participants aged 18 to 55 years, recruited online, completed the adapted version of the RSD. The results show that the scale has good psychometric properties. The analysis found a three-factor model and some items were removed, resulting in a reduced version of the scale (11 items). The result will be discussed in terms of cultural and socio-political differences. This scale could contribute to a better understanding of the deleterious effects on the health of the transition to retirement and serve to improve the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing the negative effects of representations with young retirees or those preparing for retirement.
Dans cette recherche, on se propose de dégager les mécanismes de la transition identitaire qui se mettent en place à une période de la vie, celle de la retraite, au cours de laquelle les repères existentiels et sociaux de l’individu se transforment (perte du statut professionnel et, avec lui, du groupe des collègues de travail, modification des cadres spatio-temporels et des rythmes quotidiens …), en même temps que s’ouvre un nouvel éventail de possibilités (réactualisation de rêves entrevus antérieurement, réinvestissement de nouvelles ressources et opportunités…). Dans ce but, 28 sujets de nationalité française et italienne, dont le départ en retraite est à venir dans un an au plus, est en cours ou a eu lieu depuis huit ans au plus, ont fait l’objet d’un entretien semi-directif de type récit de vie. Dans ce texte est présentée l'analyse approfondie de deux entretiens issus de ce corpus. Elle permet de pointer quatre éléments fondamentaux dégagés de l’étude de ces deux cas : un rapport troublé par rapport au temps et à son rythme, le besoin de se redéfinir dans un cadre autre que le statut professionnel, la recherche d’un sens nouveau à sa propre vie et la nécessité de faire face à son vieillissement prochain.
Due to population aging and its implications for organizations and societies, organizational practices for older workers (OPOWs) play a relevant role in multiple research disciplines. So far, most reviews on this topic operationalize organizational practices as antecedents of older workers’ outcomes. We extend this perspective by illustrating multilevel antecedents and outcomes of OPOWs. In doing so, we demonstrate how these organizational practices directly and indirectly affect older workers, organizations, and society and how, in turn, older workers, organizations and society impact OPOWs. Drawing on a literature review, we discuss key theories and present current empirical findings from multiple research disciplines to propose an integrated cross-disciplinary model with the potential to guide future research and practice.
Retirement broadly refers to older workers' withdrawal from paid working life. Given the demographic development of population aging and its associated societal challenges, the transition from work into retirement is receiving much attention nowadays, both in policy debates and in the scientific literature. This entry provides a brief description of the scientific literature about retirement and discusses topics that are central in sociological retirement research, such as the role of (1) life histories, (2) social stratification, (3) spousal context, and (4) organizational and country context for understanding retirement transitions. Directions for future research are described as well.
While assisting individual workers to prepare or plan for a successful transition to retirement is a key responsibility of human resource (HR) departments, within many large organizations (including universities) preparations related to financial planning are prioritized, with limited evidence of consideration for the lifestyle preparations needed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a series of leisure education-based webinars focused on supporting university employees to engage in lifestyle planning associated with the transition to retirement. In addition to live sessions, a learning management system provided access to discussion boards and resource materials with senior students available to provide individualized assistance. Participants (n = 44 across two implementations) indicated wanting assistance to make retirement fulfilling or rewarding. Participants were very-to-highly satisfied with the sessions, with the most highly valued focused on self-exploration (e.g., considering values, beliefs and strengths to bring into retirement). Participants also valued opportunities to reflect on what aspects of their work life they want to bring with them into retirement, and what they want to leave behind. Although a ‘readiness’ for self-exploration seemed important, opportunities for leisure-related self-reflection and assessment seemed particularly beneficial. Findings are discussed in relation to considering HR departments’ responsibilities to assist university workers to prepare for the retirement transition. Leisure education as a tool for facilitating retirement planning in the university context is warranted. Possibilities for incorporating peer-to-peer education and support—as well as tailored educational sessions—are discussed.
With older workers staying in or re‐entering the workforce post‐retirement, there has been growing interest in the aging workforce. This study examines how active seniors’ job changes impact life satisfaction through person–job fit and job satisfaction. Drawing on conservation of resources, person–job fit, and spillover theories, we developed and tested a serial multiple mediation model on 2183 active seniors using the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study data. The results of PROCESS macro analysis showed that (a) job change negatively affects life satisfaction, (b) both person–job fit and job satisfaction parallelly mediate the job change and life satisfaction relationship, and (c) there is a serial multiple mediation effect of person–job fit and job satisfaction on the job change and life satisfaction relationship. Our study reveals the link between work and nonwork domains as informed by the three theories, extends the existing literature on life satisfaction from a bottom‐up perspective, and considers cultural characteristics.
The concept of creativity has emerged as an essential topic in management research in recent decades owing to its importance to innovation, effectiveness, and sustainability. Although scholars have explored a variety of factors that influence an individual’s creativity, earlier studies have ignored the role of an individual’s age. Furthermore, age has been treated as a control variable in most studies of creativity, and less as an antecedent or moderator of creativity. Nonetheless, research on ageing has developed significantly in recent years, primarily in response to the global ageing population and workforce. This has led scholars to acknowledge the complex associations between age and creativity; a variety of relationships—even contrary findings—have been empirically documented. Organisations need to adopt a more comprehensive, accurate, and objective understanding of older workers’ creativity to guarantee organisational performance, development, and survival. In this chapter, we aim to review the main theoretical perspectives and empirical findings on creativity and ageing, as well as studies at the intersection of both of these fields, before finally outlining promising directions for future research.
Balancing caregiving duties and employment can be both financially and emotionally burdensome, especially when care is provided to a spouse at home. Caregiving subsidies can play a role in helping caregivers to cope with such duties. This paper demonstrates how providing financial respite for caregivers can influence individuals' decisions to retire early. We investigate the impact of a reform that extended long-term care (LTC) benefits (in the form of subsidies and supports) on the intention of a caregiving spouse to retire early in Spain. We subsequently examine the effect of austerity spending cuts reducing such publicly funded benefits, and we compare the estimates to the effects of an early retirement reform among private sector workers around the same time. Our preferred estimates suggest evidence of a 10pp reduction in early retirement intentions after the extension of LTC benefits even though the effect is heterogeneous by type of benefit. Consistently, austerity spending cuts in benefits are found to weaken retirement intentions. Even more importantly, our estimates suggest that cuts in caregiving subsidies exert a much stronger effect on early retirement intentions than actual early retirement reforms.
To counteract the shortage of nurses in the workforce, healthcare organizations must encourage experienced nurses to extend their working lives. Intensive care (IC) has higher nurse-to-patient ratios than other settings, which includes a particular susceptibility to staff shortage. This qualitative study investigated how older IC nurses experienced their working life and their reflections on the late-career and retirement. Semi-structured interviews with 12 IC nurses in Sweden (aged 55–65 years) were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. The results showed that nurses planned to continue working until the age of 65 and beyond. When reflecting on their late-career decisions, nurses considered nine areas covering individual, work, and organizational factors as being central to their ability and willingness to stay. Overall, the nurses had good health and were very satisfied and committed to their job and to the organization. They mentioned having both the job and personal resources required to cope with the physical and mental job demands, which were perceived as motivational challenges, rather than hinders. They also reflected on various human resource management practices that may promote aging-in-workplace. These findings may inform organizations aiming at providing adequate conditions for enabling healthy and sustainable working lives for IC nurses.
The life expectancy rate of individuals worldwide has risen, and Saudi Arabia is not excluded. Rising long-life expectancy may jeopardize employees’ pensions and reduce the chances of adequate earnings and a decent life after retirement. Moreover, the number of employees, who have paid into pension funds and are now retired, has increased, indicating that pension funds are expected to decrease. Apart from the above, the level of financial literacy in Saudi Arabia was substandard. Therefore, the ultimate objective of this research is to examine the measurable factors that could impact employees in their financial planning for retirement (FPR). These factors comprise the employee’s financial literacy (FL), financial risk tolerance (FRT), and cultural factors based on the CWO model. Moreover, this study aims to investigate the mediating roles of culture in their relationship with financial planning for retirement. Primary data was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic from mid-July 2020 until the end of January 2021 using a non-probability convenience sampling approach involving 525 participants. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was used to analyze the data. To determine the type of study variables, either a formative or reflective model of Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis (CTA-PLS) was used. The results show the significant influence of basic FL, FRT, and culture on FPR. Moreover, it shows the critical role of culture among those with advanced FL and FRT. Previous studies have examined FL and FRT in FPR without considering the effect of culture as a mediator.
We examine the linkage of couples' late-life work exit patterns with earlier work and family roles. Using data from the 1982
U.S. Social Security New Beneficiary Study, we estimate a sequential model of retirement timing of husbands and wives. The
results indicate that early investments in work and family roles, as well as late-life characteristics, are associated with
how older couples coordinate retirement timing. A woman's employment during the child-rearing years is associated with her
earlier retirement, especially following her husband's retirement. The findings reveal the importance of the early “family
organizational economy” in defining sequences of family events that combine with late-life events to influence the sequential
synchronization of retirement timing.
The transition from employment to retirement is changing dramatically in Canada and other industrialized societies, with a decreasing proportion of working life being spent in stable career progression. This study used a sample of 2,592 subjects, aged 45 to 64, from the 1994 General Social Survey of Canada (GSS): Cycle 9, to describe situations of later-life career disruption (LLCD) in older workers in Canada and to investigate the association between LLCD and self-rated health. Results showed that a large proportion of older Canadian workers had experienced such LLCD as job interruption and job loss. Experience of job loss and job interruption over the prior 5-year period was found to be significantly associated with poor self-rated health, after controlling for age, education, body mass index, and activity limitation. However, after excluding respondents whose LLCD was known to be due to poor health, job interruption and job loss were separately found not to be significantly associated with poor health. The complexity of the findings and the direction of causation between LLCD and self-rated health, as well as some methodology issues, are discussed. Areas of future research are indicated.
This study explores the factors that affect an individual's happiness while transitioning into retirement. Recent studies find that workers often view the idea of gradual retirement as a more attractive alternative than a "cold turkey" or abrupt retirement. However, there is very little evidence as to whether phasing or cold turkey makes for a happier retirement. Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, this study explores what shapes the change in happiness between the last wave of full employment and the first wave of full retirement. Results suggest that what matters is not the type of transition (gradual retirement or cold turkey), but whether people perceive the transition as chosen or forced.
The relationship between employment and retirement is changing dramatically in industrialized societies, with a decreasing proportion of working life being spent in stable career progression. Many who retire from long-service career jobs now seek paid employment in bridge jobs before completely exiting the labor force. There is little research about the effects of employment transitions and instability in later life on health, but limited research on instability early in the working life does show a strong and significant relationship. In this article, the authors investigate the relationship between instability in the retirement transition and health in a sample of early retirees from a major Canadian telecommunications company. Instability is found to be associated with adverse health effects, with variability by gender and type of health measure. In addition, both objective and subjective transition characteristics were related to variability in health.
Little attention has been given to the leisure activities of retired professors, whose activity patterns in retirement may be different from those of other occupational groups because of their lifetime commitment to work. This interview study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to investigate: (a) the leisure and professional activities of retired professors; (b) the anticipated leisure activities of older employed professors; and (c) the relationship between sociodemographic factors and leisure activities of professors in retirement. Respondents were 54 retired (response rate 83%) and 17 employed (response rate 94%) professors aged 70–74 from a major research university. Content analysis of the tape-recorded open-ended questions indicated that volunteer activity, travel, exercise or sports, and work around the house or garden were the most commonly described leisure activities of retirees. A large majority of retirees (70%) also continued professional activities. Travel and exercise or sports were the most frequently planned activity for employed respondents. Correlational analysis revealed little relationship between sociodemographic factors and leisure activities in retirement. Implications for retirement education and leisure programming are discussed.
This brief analyzes patterns of engagement among retirees and how engagement relates to their retirement satisfaction using data from the 2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Engaged retirees are significantly more likely to be satisfied with retirement than their non-engaged counterparts, regardless of age, sex, race, marital status, education, mental and physical health, or income. However, retirees who only provide caregiving are significantly less likely to be satisfied. Finally, the authors examine retirement satisfaction by the intensity of engagement, finding that the retirement satisfaction is positively correlated with increasing engagement hours, but only to a point.
The article develops the argument that successful management of normatively less expected life events and transitions requires from the individual a greater degree of self-regulatory skills than the management of normative events. It is argued that, based on recent historical change, individuals have to master both normative and non-normative developmental demands. With regard to the mastery of non-normative developmental demands, the individual may have to play a more important and active role to compensate for a lack of social structuring and normative orientation. Based on a discussion of literature from the areas of life-span psychology, life-course sociology, and self-regulation, evidence for the importance of the individual in adaptive regulation of non-normative developmental challenges is presented.
This study investigates factors related to retirees’ and their spouses’ individual and joint retirement satisfaction using decision-making theory and a life course perspective. The sample includes 421 retired respondents (ages 50 to 72) and spouses from the Cornell Retirement and Well-Being Study. Although 77% of retirees report retirement satisfaction, only 67% of their spouses are satisfied; even fewer couples (59%) report joint satisfaction. Multivariate logistic regression analyses reveal that retirees’ and spouses’ individual and joint reports of retirement satisfaction are related to perceptions of spousal influence on the retirement decision, with effects varying by gender. Those couples most likely to report being satisfied with retirement, individually and jointly, are retired wives and their husbands where wives reported that their husbands were not influential in their retirement decision. The results underscore the importance of regarding retirement as gendered and as both an individual- and a couple-level experience.
Although it is widely recognized that retirement is a family affair affecting both the retiree and his or her spouse, most studies still treat retirement as an individual phenomenon. Research is focused primarily on individual factors and their impact on individuals’ retirement decisions. Data from the 1995 Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute Survey on Older Workers, in which 1,052 older workers and their spouses participated, show that the decision to retire is much less an individual decision than is generally assumed. Early retirement of one of the spouses is the result of influence processes within the household. This leads to the conclusion that retirement, to a certain extent, can be considered a household decision: social pressures by the partner do play an important role in the decision to retire early. This holds not only for dual-earner couples but also for non–dual-earner couples.
The objective was to study ordinary people's judgments, through the use of external indices, of the expected degree of retirement satisfaction and to characterize the cognitive process involved in making these judgments. The method used was an application of Integration Information Theory (IIT). The total sample was formed of two subsamples of 50 workers and 53 recently retired people. The main results showed that the overall degree of retirement satisfaction and the factors taken into account in the judgment process are surprisingly similar in both groups. There was also no fundamental difference in integration patterns between workers and retirees. All participants used an additive rule.
The present study analyzed retirement intentions and behavior as part of a work role withdrawal process. We examined the influences of the organizational and group contexts in the process of work role exit by means of two sources of work role expectations: human resource practices and group norms. Three different types of human resource practices were taken into consideration: performance enhancement practices, retirement enhancement practices, and organizational pressures toward retirement. Furthermore, three types of retirement indicators were analyzed: age considering retirement for the first time, early retirement intentions, and retirement age. Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out on a sample of 270 retirees to test the hypotheses. Results showed that retirement enhancement practices and organizational pressures toward retirement predict all the retirement indicators. Moreover, group norms moderated the relationships between retirement enhancement practices and two out of the three outcomes: age considering retirement for the first time and retirement age. Overall, our findings showed that organizational and group contexts play an important role in the retirement process. Moreover, our results indicate an interaction between organizational and group factors in the work role exit process.
To explore multiple prenatal antecedents and postnatal correlates of change in marital adjustment and satisfaction in men and women across the transition to parenthood, 102 couples from diverse sociocultural backgrounds were studied longitudinally from pregnancy to the 9th postpartum month. Guided by an ecological model, the pre- and postnatal assessments included questionnaires of marital adjustment, personality traits, attitudes toward parenthood, work role centrality, social support, as well as observations and ratings of infant behaviors, maternal and paternal behaviors, and marital communication. Fathers' caregiving behaviors and play and affiliative behaviors were the most powerful, positive predictors for both spouses. Additional positive predictors for women were personality traits of impulse control and non-Western ethnicity, whereas negative predictors were work role centrality and personality trait of autonomy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this review, the influence of social and work roles are incorporated into a model of retirement adjustment, along with two psychological moderators that may aid the retirement transition. These psychological resources, locus of control and retirement self-efficacy, are those behavioral predispositions that would lead one to engage in proactive strategies for mastering the role changes inherent in the retirement transition. The implications of social and work-related role changes and psychological resources for retirement planning and adjustment are discussed.
From a self-psychology perspective, adaptation to changes in life depends on the ability to maintain stable and meaningful life goals and purpose, or goal continuity. Goal continuity was hypothesized to be a mediator of early retirement adjustment (RA), being a variable between personal and social resources and life adjustment. A multidimensional model of RA was tested with self-report and interviewer indexes from a sample of 157 voluntary early retirees. Structural relations modeling indicated that social support did not directly influence adjustment but was associated with increases in goal continuity, which was linked to increases in leisure quality and life satisfaction. Implications for further research and for the role of personality in mediating midlife and early RA are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The aim of this study is to examine the means by which men on the verge of retirement create continuity or bridges between their past and present in their autobiographical narratives. Based on Whitbourne's ‘lifespan construct model of adaptation’, 56 Israeli men on the verge of retirement were asked to relate their ‘life stories’ and ‘life scenarios’ (their vision of the future). Their bridging strategies were examined using qualitative structural analyses, focusing on the ‘crossovers’ to the future in the ‘life stories’, and those to the past in their ‘life scenarios’. The findings show three main bridging patterns in the life stories and three in the life scenarios. Each was associated with differences in the ways that the men were coping emotionally with the transition to retirement, and pointed to the different ways by which they used continuity to cope with the anxieties aroused by their impending retirement. After trying to account for the greater frequency of bridging attempts in the ‘scenarios’ than the ‘life stories’, the discussion elaborates on the different bridging strategies and their associated features. The findings suggest that the identification of crossover patterns in life stories and life scenarios may be a useful tool for assessing a person's coping abilities and adjustment to difficult transitions.
Conventional wisdom promotes gradual retirement rather than an abrupt end to the working life. This paper compares the outcomes of abrupt and gradual retirement one and three years after the transition to retirement began using data from an Australian panel study. The outcomes included changes in health, positive and negative affect, wellbeing and marital cohesion. For many outcomes there was no difference between gradual and abrupt retirements, but those who retired abruptly were more likely to rate their health as having deteriorated and more likely to report better adjustment to retirement. Control over retirement decisions was also explored; it emerged as a more important factor in retirement wellbeing than whether the transition was gradual or abrupt. The absence of interaction or additive effects between the retirement pathway and the level of control over the process confirmed this result. Thus there is no simple answer to the question in the title. Retiring gradually allows time for people to make changes to their lifestyle, but having control over the timing and manner of leaving work had a greater positive impact on psychological and social wellbeing, and this persisted three years after retirement. The findings suggest that policies and employment practices that promote employees' control of their retirement decisions will enhance wellbeing in later life and facilitate longer workforce participation.
A central theme of ‘innovation theory’, which the author and a colleague have proposed and which is concerned with the triggers, types and benefits of innovation in later life, is that adding brand-new leisure activities after retiring from work enhances post-retirement wellbeing. The study reported in this article aimed to examine this proposition using quantitative data from a nationwide sample in Israel of 378 recently retired individuals. The study explored the frequency of post-retirement innovation in people's leisure repertoires, the association between innovation and retirees' life satisfaction, and factors in the differing life satisfaction of innovators and non-innovators. The results indicate that the inclination toward innovation significantly associated with the respondents' work and retirement histories, as well as with their self-rated health and world region of origin. Innovators had significantly higher life satisfaction than non-innovators, but this difference could not be explained by the number of new activities. In addition, socio-demographic differences failed to explain innovators' wellbeing. While some support for innovation theory was provided, further research is required to explore the dynamics by which innovation at older ages contributes to retirees' wellbeing.
In this paper it is argued that the problem of formulating a comprehensive
theory of successful ageing – and thereby of finding good criteria
for success
– may be attributed to the lack of a suitable multidisciplinary framework
that
meets at least three basic theoretical requirements. These requirements
are
explicated, and some existing theories and approaches of successful ageing
are
discussed in the light of these requirements. An alternative theoretical
framework is presented which can accommodate a number of existing insights,
and which is used as the basis of a new theory of successful ageing, including
theory-guided criteria for success.
Difficulty in adjusting to retirement has consistently emerged as a problem for approximately a third of retirees. A body of research has converged on a description of the poor adjuster as one in poor health, with inadequate income, a negative pre-retirement attitude, but with an increased likelihood of adaptation over time. Findings relating to other factors such as socio-economic status, occupation, activity, career fulfilment, job satisfaction and work commitment are far less conclusive, with interpretation hampered by a failure to control for the more well established correlates of retirement adjustment. This paper reviews the empirical work in this field, evaluates the goal hierarchy model and the political economy of old age literature as bases for explaining differences in retirement adjustment, and proposes a theoretical framework for future research which brings these two perspectives together.
Retirement is an important life-cycle marker and has a major impact on an individual’s functioning. Based upon the social
convoy model, it is hypothesized that retirement decreases the likelihood of continuation of coworker relationships. Socio-emotional
selectivity theory predicts a decline in the number of peripheral relationships with ageing and thereby a decline in network
size and number of co-worker relationships among working and retired people. Data comes from the Longitudinal Aging Study
Amsterdam, with five observations between 1992 and 2002. At baseline, 226 men aged 54–81 years were employed; 166 men retired
in the course of the study. The results of multilevel regression analyses showed a stable network size for both working and
retired men. Among all men, the number of work-related network members declined, but more strongly among retirees. It is concluded
that the convoy model fits better with the data than does socio-emotional selectivity theory.
The authors of this excellent text define social epidemiology as the epidemiologic study of the social distribution and social determinants of states of health, implying that the aim is to identify socio-environmental exposures which may be related to a broad range of physical and mental health outcomes. In the first systematic account of this field, they focus on methodological approaches but draw widely from related disciplines such as sociology, psychology, physiology, and medicine in the effort to develop and evaluate testable hypotheses about the pathways between social conditions and health. The persistent patterns of social inequalities in health make this a timely publication.
Major life changes and role transitions are often treated as stressors that create a generalized demand for adjustment by the individual. Empirically, however, these transitions have been shown to produce a wide range of effects on mental health. Two kinds of models have been proposed to explain this variation: differential access to coping resources for dealing with stressful situations, and variation in the characteristics of transitions, such as their undesirability, foreseeability, etc. This paper emphasizes a logically prior issue: the role context within which the transition event occurs, specifically, the level of pre-existing chronic stress in the social role. The model tested envisions life transition events as nonproblematic, or even beneficial to mental health, when preceded by chronic role problems--a case where more "stress" is actually relief from existing stress. Nine transition events are studied: job loss, divorce, pre-marital break-up, retirement, widowhood, children moving out of the house, first marriage, job promotion, and having a child. Results support the hypothesis that prior role stress reduces the impact of life transition events on mental health for seven of nine events, with some differences in impact by gender. The findings provide a basic framework for interpreting the effects of varying types of life transitions, and argue against the presumption that life transitions are inherently stressful, suggesting instead a need to specify prior social circumstances that determine whether or not a transition is potentially stressful.
This study assesses the effect of spouse and marital relationship characteristics on labor force withdrawal. The authors further explore differences between husbands' and wives' retirement. The analyses are based on two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Marital characteristics influence retirement decisions in several ways and contribute significantly to model fit. Husbands adjust their retirement in terms of wives' benefit eligibility, whereas wives' retirement is contingent on the couple's income. Husbands also tend to leave the labor force when their wives are ill. In addition, retirement decisions seem to reflect considerations about postretirement marital quality and husband's status in the marriage. Gender differences prevail with regard to the impact of work and marital history on retirement decisions.
Drawing on a life course perspective, we examine husbands’ and wives’ perceptions of spousal influence on the decision to retire. Data from 228 couples in the Cornell Retirement and Well-Being Study reveal that retirees and their spouses agree that spouses do influence retirement decision, but spouses view their role as more minor than the retirees, themselves, see it. For retired husbands and their wives, discussing retirement is most closely associated to seeing the wife as influential. For retired wives and their husbands, the impending retirement of the husband is related to perceptions of his influence on her retirement.
This study examines whether the meaning of marital conflict and marital solidarity are affected by the transition to retirement, whether the retirement transition alters stability and variability of, and cross-spouse influences on, marital quality, and whether retirement influences latent means of marital quality. Data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) addressed these questions (N= 407 couples for wives’ retirement, and N= 550 couples for husbands’ retirement). Results suggest that the structure of marital conflict is unaffected by husbands’and wives’transition to retirement, but that wives’ continued employment may be associated with greater conflict longitudinally. Husbands’ and wives’ constructs of marital solidarity differ from one another; they were unaffected by wives’ retirement but converged with husbands’ retirement through changes for each partner in the importance of joint time together and potential for divorce. Effects of the retirement transition are far subtler than previously believed.
Competing views about the effect of retirement on marital quality emphasize the potential strains as well as the potential gratifications that retirement may bring to the marriage. This study compared marital complaints between 92 older couples in which husbands had been retired one year or less, and 125 couples in which husbands remained employed. Participants were members of an ongoing panel study of aging. For a range of instrumental, affectional, and companionate behaviors, findings showed largely similar levels of complaint between couples with retired and nonretired husbands, even after taking wife's employment status into account. Results of this and other research confirm that retirement is not generally disruptive for older couples, but suggest that strains may occur in circumstances that remain to be specified (e.g., dissynchronous role transitions).
Review of the literature shows that while women's adaptation to retirement has been closely studied, little is known of the female retirement decision. No gender differences in adaptation have been demonstrated. Hampered by poor data sets and design, and responsive to the prejudicial assumption that women had low work commitment, early adaptation studies found that women workers adjusted poorly to retirement, often more poorly than men. However, these results have not been confirmed. Recent research shows that most women adjust well, and no consistent gender differences have been found. Gender differences are much more likely to be observed in the decision to retire. Analysis of the timing of retirement among married couples indicates that the characteristics of the spouse influence individual retirement decisions. The effects of these characteristics differ in strength and direction, depending on gender. Future research on female retirement should focus on decision making in the marital unit.
A central characteristic of the family retirement transition is its prolonged nature, beginning with the first spouse's retirement and ending with the second spouse's retirement or the first spouse's return to work. In this article, differences in this process are examined depending on which spouse retires first. Although existing literature implies that women will retire more rapidly following a spouse's retirement, results show no overall difference in men's and women's exit or return rates. However, there are gender differences in particular subgroups of families. Couples in which the wife was employed during child rearing show smaller gender differences. In couples in which the wife was not employed during child rearing, women retire more slowly than men.
During the period of their 1986-1989 General Motors (GM)-United Auto Workers (UAW) contract, about 17% of all GM autoworkers who were eligible to elect early retirement did so. Those who did were distinctive in theoretically expected ways, with expectations defined by individual characteristics such as age, physical health, and pension wealth. But some of the workers were employed in plants that GM had decided to abandon. Did that difference in organizational context make a difference in individual workers' decisions about early retirement? Would workers who chose to take early retirement and who were employed in plants scheduled to close have made the same decision had their plants not been selected for closure? If the rate of early retirement was higher in plants scheduled to close, and it was, how did that difference relate to the process by which individual workers reached their decisions? These are some of the questions asked and answered through multilevel analyses of data from a probability sample of GM's autoworkers. These analyses generate findings not detected in single-level analyses of the same data.
This article argues for the development of an interdisciplinary psychology of loss that is focused on people's pervading commonsense experience and recognition of loss in their own and others' lives. This field may be defined as broader than related fields such as traumatology, thanatology, and stress and coping. The psychology of loss focuses on the perception of major loss deriving from events such as death and divorce, but also on the perception of major loss in connection with such diverse phenomenna as loss of employment, los of bodily functioning, and being the target of violence or prejudice, including genocide. An important research topic for this field concerns people's stories of how major losses are interrelated in their lives. It is argued that perceived loss is a critical phenomenal state that must be dealt with in adaptation to most significant stressors.
While both push (e.g., poor health) and pull (e.g., leisure interests) factors have been found to influence the decision to retire and adjustment after retirement, no published studies have examined how perceptions of these factors differ for voluntary versus involuntary early retirees. Nine-hundred and ninety-two early retirees from wave one data (collected in 1992) of the Health and Retirement Study were examined on both push and pull factors, as well as on their postretirement adjustment. Results from discriminant function analyses indicate that both push and pull factors were important differentiators when deciding to retire. After retirement, the push (or negative) factors became more salient differentiators. In addition, those who perceived their retirement to be voluntary had higher life satisfaction scores and rated themselves as healthier (both physically and mentally) than those who perceived their retirement as involuntary.
This interview study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to: (1) compare personal and professional characteristics of professors who continue to work in their career jobs after age 70 with professors of the same age who retire; (2) explore reasons professors give for continuing to work or to retire; and (3) compare satisfaction levels of the employed and retired groups. Respondents were 17 employed (response rate 94%)and 54 retired (response rate 83%) professors aged 70-74 from a major research university, the type of institution most likely to be impacted by the end of mandatory retirement (Hammond & Morgan, 1991). Results indicated that employed professors were (1) less likely to be married or to have children and grandchildren and (2) were more strongly oriented to the professional role and professional ties outside the university than were their retired counterparts. Employed professors said they continued to work mainly because they enjoyed it, whereas retired professors said they retired because they wanted to do other things, felt it was time to retire, or had workplace concerns. Both faculty groups showed high levels of life satisfaction.
This study is unique in that it concerns the adaptation to retirement of women and their husbands, where both partners are retired. Among the 61 mutually retired spousal pairs studied a person's own health and the family's finances were less important to adaptation than the adjustment to retirement of his or her respective spouse. For retired wives their own higher education also aided adjustment. For retired husbands their retired wives' lower education was salient. The emergence of the retired wife as a key figure in the adaptation of the marital dyad is consistent- with the theoretical perspective that women have a more dominant role in their later years.
Older workers were followed through their first two years of retirement in order to explore the lingering effects of preretirement identities on their retirement adjustment and self-esteem. Several interesting findings emerged. Preretirement identities and social background characteristics influenced initial retirement adjustment and later changes in retirement adjustment. In addition, lingering preretirement worker identity and emerging retirement adjustment influenced self-esteem two years into retirement. Further, while there were no overall gender differences, some individual identities and social background characteristics influenced retirement adjustment and self-esteem in a different manner for men and women.
As part of the downsizing of a large insurance company in Sweden, all personnel 55 years of age and older were invited to apply for early retirement on financially favourable terms. A total of 357 (55%) of senior employees applied for and were permitted early retirement, while 276 remained employed. Effects of voluntary/forced choice of employment status on subsequent adaptation were evaluated. Gender differences were also tested. The study compared early retirees and persons continuing to work over the years following downsizing with regard to satisfaction, well-being, health, and work centrality. 224 ‘retirees’ and 146 ‘stayers’ filled in a questionnaire on mental health and work conditions on two occasions (at an 18-month interval). Results indicated that voluntary (as opposed to forced) choice was directly and positively associated with satisfaction, psychological well-being and health for both groups. Females showed lower values of work centrality, appeared to be more inclined to apply for retirement, and were generally more satisfied with the outcome than males.
This article reviews empirical research on women in retirement since 1976. The articles studied are categorized into four main areas: Women's Attitudes and Orientations Toward Retirement, Women's Preparation and Planning for Retirement, Women's Retirement Timing: Factors Related to Decisions to Retire, and Women's Adjustments to and Experiences in Retirement. Omissions and problems in the literature are identified and examined. Special attention is given to theoretical and methodological issues. The authors suggest new emphases and directions to strengthen research in this area.
The present study focused on: (1) differences in goal disturbance, cognitive coping strategies, and depres-sive symptoms across different types of stressful event; (2) the relationships among goal disturbance, cog-nitive coping strategies, and depressive symptoms; and (3) differences across events in the relationships between cognitive coping strategies and depressive symptoms. A sample of 132 college students filled in a written questionnaire. They were asked to indicate their most stressful event in the past 12 months. These events were categorised into four different types of event. Students were also asked to report the amount of goal disturbance and the use of cognitive coping strategies in response to this particular stressful event. In addition, depressive symptoms were measured. Results showed significant differences across events in the use of certain cognitive coping strategies. Regression analyses showed significant relationships between cog-nitive coping strategies and depressive symptoms. These relationships between cognitive coping strategies and depressive symptoms were rather consistent across the four types of event. Implications for developing interventions that help people to deal with stress and attain their personal goals are discussed.
This study examines the consequences of retirement for the continuation of work-related personal ties. The hypothesis is that their inclusion in personal networks after retirement has become more likely because these relationships have become less role based in today's social-cultural context. Data are from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Members of two cohorts born during the periods 1928-1937 (N = 109) and 1938-1947 (N = 131) were interviewed in 1992 and 2002, respectively, with a follow-up 3 years later. Among retirees, the likelihood of having work-related relationships in their personal network after retirement increased by 19% in 10 years. This suggests that retirement has become less disruptive. Retirees seem more inclined to form intrinsically rewarding work-related relationships that continue to be important following retirement.
Attachment to one's former occupation and met expectations regarding retirement were proposed as predictors of the adjustment of military retirees. While results suggested that occupational attachment had a minimal impact, the extent to which expectations of civilian work, financial, and family aspects of life were met emerged as significant predictors of satisfaction and adjustment after military retirement. These findings suggest that the characteristics of the post-retirement environment, and expectations regarding this environment, outweigh the importance of occupational attachment in determining post-retirement adjustment in this setting.