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The Journals of Gerontology. Series B,... Jan 2022Mental health is determined by social, biological, and cultural factors and is sensitive to life transitions. We examine how psychosocial working conditions, social...
OBJECTIVES
Mental health is determined by social, biological, and cultural factors and is sensitive to life transitions. We examine how psychosocial working conditions, social living environment, and cumulative risk factors are associated with mental health changes during the retirement transition.
METHOD
We use data from the Finnish Retirement and Aging study on public sector employees (n = 3,338) retiring between 2014 and 2019 in Finland. Psychological distress was measured with the General Health Questionnaire annually before and after retirement and psychosocial working conditions, social living environment, and accumulation of risk factors at the study wave prior to retirement.
RESULTS
Psychological distress decreased during the retirement transition, but the magnitude of the change was dependent on the contexts individuals retire from. Psychological distress was higher among those from poorer psychosocial working conditions (high job demands, low decision authority, job strain), poorer social living environment (low neighborhood social cohesion, small social network), and more cumulative risk factors (work/social/both). During the retirement transition, greatest reductions in psychological distress were observed among those with poorer conditions (work: absolute and relative changes, p [Group × Time interactions] < .05; social living environment and cumulative risk factors: absolute changes, p [Group × Time interactions] < .05).
DISCUSSION
Psychosocial work-related stressors lead to quick recovery during the retirement transition but the social and cumulative stressors have longer-term prevailing effects on psychological distress. More studies are urged incorporating exposures across multiple levels or contexts to clarify the determinants of mental health during the retirement transition and more generally at older ages.
Topics: Aged; Employment; Female; Finland; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Psychological Distress; Retirement; Risk Factors; Social Environment; Stress, Psychological; Workplace
PubMed: 34396418
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbab054 -
Social Science & Medicine (1982) Jan 2020Poor health after retirement may have an important economic and societal impact and may be affected by macro-level factors. Our aim was to examine whether macro-level... (Review)
Review
Poor health after retirement may have an important economic and societal impact and may be affected by macro-level factors. Our aim was to examine whether macro-level factors are associated with health and educational differences in health in recent retirees. We used data covering 18 European countries from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) on 8867 respondents who had been retired less than 5 years. We performed multi-level linear regression analyses to examine whether social expenditure in nine policy areas, minimum pension replacement rates, and unemployment replacement rates explained cross-country differences in post-retirement self-rated health (SRH) and educational inequalities in SRH. In both men and women, a higher total expenditure as well as higher expenditures on health, old age, housing, and 'other social policy areas' (non-categorical cash benefits to low-income households and other social services) were associated with better SRH. Cross-level interactions showed that in the presence of a higher old age expenditure, a higher unemployment expenditure, and a higher total expenditure, the absolute educational inequalities in post-retirement SRH were smaller than with lower expenditures in these areas, in both men and women. We found the same effect in women only for a higher expenditure on health as well as a higher minimum pension replacement rate. A higher expenditure on survivors pensions, a lower expenditure on family, and a higher unemployment replacement rate had this effect in men only. This study showed that social expenditure and replacement rates were associated with post-retirement health and health inequalities.
Topics: Aged; Aging; Europe; Female; Health Status; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Multilevel Analysis; Retirement; Socioeconomic Factors; Unemployment
PubMed: 31739142
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112669 -
Social Science & Medicine (1982) Apr 2017Research has recently suggested that retirement may decrease cognitive engagement, resulting in cognitive aging. Few studies have systematically documented whether or...
BACKGROUND
Research has recently suggested that retirement may decrease cognitive engagement, resulting in cognitive aging. Few studies have systematically documented whether or how selectivity into retirement shapes the relationship between retirement and cognitive aging.
METHODS
We draw on data from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2012) to examine the relationship between cognition and retirement for 18,575 labor force participants. Longitudinal regression discontinuity modeling was used to examine performance and decline in episodic memory. Models differentiated three forms of selection bias: indirect and direct selection as well as reverse causation. To further interrogate the disuse hypothesis, we adjust for confounding from health and socioeconomic sources.
RESULTS
Results revealed that individuals who retired over the course of the panel were substantially different in terms of health, wealth and cognition when compared to those who remained employed. However, accounting for observed selection biases, significant associations were found linking longer retirement with more rapid cognitive decline.
DISCUSSION
This study examined respondents who were in the labor force at baseline and transitioned into retirement. Analyses suggested that those who retired over the course of the panel had worse overall functioning, but also experienced more rapid declines after retirement that increased the rate of aging by two-fold, resulting in yearly losses of 3.7% (95% CI = [3.5, 4.0]) of one standard deviation in functioning attributable to retirement. Results are supportive of the view that retirement is associated with more rapid cognitive aging.
Topics: Aging; Cognitive Dysfunction; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Retirement
PubMed: 28213301
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.019 -
The Journals of Gerontology. Series B,... Apr 2018To analyze whether there was an increase in retirement or in part-time work among older workers after January 2014, when new health insurance coverage options became...
OBJECTIVE
To analyze whether there was an increase in retirement or in part-time work among older workers after January 2014, when new health insurance coverage options became available because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
METHOD
We analyze trends in retirement and part-time work for individuals aged 50-64 years in the basic monthly Current Population Survey from January 2008 through June 2016. We test for a break in trend in January 2014. We also test for differences in trends, both before and after 2014, in states that expanded their Medicaid programs in January 2014 under the ACA compared with those that did not.
RESULTS
We find that there was no change in the probability of retirement or part-time work among older workers in 2014 and later, either overall or in Medicaid expansion states relative to nonexpansion states.
DISCUSSION
Although many observers had predicted that an unintended consequence of health reform would be reduced labor supply, we find no evidence of this for older workers in the first 2.5 years after the law's major coverage provisions took effect.
Topics: Employment; Female; Health Care Reform; Humans; Male; Medicaid; Middle Aged; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Retirement; United States
PubMed: 27591731
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbw115 -
International Journal of Environmental... Nov 2022(1) Background: Retirement is a life event that can influence physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) and can be used as an opportunity to promote positive...
(1) Background: Retirement is a life event that can influence physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) and can be used as an opportunity to promote positive lifestyle choices. The aims of this study were to (a) to identify changes in PA and SB resulting from retirement and (b) to explore predictors of any changes in PA and SB following retirement in Maltese civil servants. (2) Methods: a hybrid mixed-method (MM) study, using first quantitative followed by qualitative methods, of civil servants aged ≥60 years, who were followed during their retirement transition for two years. A proportion of the research participants in the MM study retired while the others remained employed. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. (3) Results: there were no changes in total PA and sitting behaviour with retirement in Maltese civil servants. People who retired carried out more domestic PA compared to when they were in employment, which resulted in more moderate-intensity PA behaviour. People perceived that their sitting time increased with retirement in the qualitative interviews, but this was not observed in the quantitative data. Past PA behaviour was an important predictor of future PA behaviour, but not for SB. (4) Conclusions: A change in PA occurs with the retirement transition. However, the uptake of exercise is a personal choice that is dependent on previous experience. Increasing SB is perceived as part of the retirement plan but is not necessarily seen in the measured quantitative data.
Topics: Humans; Sedentary Behavior; Retirement; Exercise; Motor Activity; Sitting Position
PubMed: 36361478
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192114598 -
International Journal of Aging & Human... Jul 2022Retirement can be a time of identity disruption for many older adults. Identity process theory (Whitbourne et al., 2002) states that age-related changes, such as...
Retirement can be a time of identity disruption for many older adults. Identity process theory (Whitbourne et al., 2002) states that age-related changes, such as retirement, can prompt an individual to incorporate new information about themselves into their personal identity using one of three identity process: assimilation, accommodation, and balance. Additionally, individual identity and the manner in which individuals retire-voluntary or involuntary-are associated with post-retirement well-being (Newton et al., 2018). The current study examined the relationship between identity processes, planned/unplanned retirement, and hedonic (life satisfaction) and eudaimonic (meaning in life) well-being in a sample of retired Canadians. Results indicated that identity accommodation and balance were associated with both types of post-retirement well-being, whereas unplanned retirement was consistently only related to life satisfaction. This study emphasizes the importance of including individual difference factors when examining older adults' well-being and the utility of measuring well-being in multiple ways.
Topics: Aged; Canada; Humans; Personal Satisfaction; Retirement
PubMed: 33739150
DOI: 10.1177/00914150211001586 -
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association... Dec 2017Knowing when physicians retire and how they practise in the pre-retirement years is important information for health human resource planning. We identified patterns of...
BACKGROUND
Knowing when physicians retire and how they practise in the pre-retirement years is important information for health human resource planning. We identified patterns of retirement for physicians in British Columbia and the determinants of when and how physicians retire.
METHODS
For this population-based retrospective cohort study, we used administrative data to examine activity levels and to identify retirements among BC's practising physicians. We included all physicians who were at least 50 years of age as of March 2006 and who had received payments for clinical services in at least 1 year between 2005/06 and 2011/12. We defined retirement as a permanent drop in monthly payments to less than $1667/month ($20 000/yr). We examined the patterns and timing of retirement by age, sex, specialty and location using linear and logistic regression models.
RESULTS
Of the 4572 physicians who met the inclusion criteria, 1717 (37.6%) retired during the study period. The average age at retirement was 65.1 (standard deviation 7.8) years. Controlling for other demographic and practice characteristics, we found that women and physicians working in rural areas retired earlier, by 4.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] -4.9 to -3.2) years and 2.3 (95% CI -3.4 to -1.1) years, respectively. We found no difference in retirement age by specialty. We identified 4 patterns of pre-retirement activity: slow decline, rapid decline, maintenance and increasing activity. About 40% of physicians (440/1107) reduced their activity levels by at least 10% in the 3 years preceding retirement.
INTERPRETATION
During the study period, physicians in BC - particularly women and those in rural areas - retired earlier than indicated by licensure and survey data. Many physicians reduced their practice activity in the pre-retirement years. These trends indicate that forecasts relying on licensure "head counts" are likely overestimating current and future physician supply.
Topics: Age Factors; Aged; British Columbia; Cohort Studies; Female; Humans; Linear Models; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Physicians; Practice Patterns, Physicians'; Retirement; Retrospective Studies; Rural Population; Sex Factors
PubMed: 29229713
DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.170231 -
Journal of Epidemiology and Community... May 2020This study summarised available evidence on the association between early and on-time retirement, compared with continued working, and mortality. Moreover, this study... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
AIM
This study summarised available evidence on the association between early and on-time retirement, compared with continued working, and mortality. Moreover, this study investigated whether and to what extent gender, adjustment for demographics and prior health status influence this association.
METHODS
A systematic literature search of longitudinal studies was conducted. A qualitative analysis of the included studies was performed, followed by a meta-regression analysis to assess the influence of gender, prior health and demographics. Random-effects models were used in a meta-analysis to estimate the pooled effects for relevant subgroups identified in the meta-regression.
RESULTS
In total, 25 studies were included. Adjustment for prior health and demographics influenced the association between retirement and mortality (p<0.05). The results of the meta-analysis of 12 studies are presented for 'insufficiently adjusted' and 'fully adjusted' subgroups. There was no association between early retirement and mortality compared with working until retirement (fully adjusted subgroup: HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.28). On-time retirement was associated with a higher risk of mortality compared with working beyond retirement (insufficiently adjusted subgroup: HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.41 to 1.73). However, in the subgroup that adjusted for prior health, on-time retirement was not associated with mortality (HR 1.12, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.28).
CONCLUSION
Early retirement was not associated with a higher risk of mortality. On-time retirement was associated with a higher risk of mortality, which might reflect the healthy worker effect. It is important to consider information on prior health and demographics when studying the association between retirement and mortality to avoid biased findings.
Topics: Female; Health Status; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Life Expectancy; Male; Mortality; Occupational Health; Retirement
PubMed: 32079605
DOI: 10.1136/jech-2019-213023 -
Advances in Life Course Research Mar 2017This study examines the relationship between retirement and cognitive aging. We build on previous research by exploring how different specifications of retirement that...
This study examines the relationship between retirement and cognitive aging. We build on previous research by exploring how different specifications of retirement that reflect diverse pathways out of the labor market, including reason for leaving the pre-retirement job and duration spent in retirement, impact three domains of cognitive functioning. We further assess how early-life factors, including adolescent cognition, and mid-life work experiences, condition these relationships. To do so, we draw on longitudinal data from the , a cohort study of Wisconsin high school graduates collected prospectively starting in 1957 until most recently in 2011 when individuals were aged 71. Results indicate that retirement, on average, is associated with improved abstract reasoning, but not with verbal memory or verbal fluency. Yet, when accounting for the reason individuals left their pre-retirement job, those who had retired for health reasons had both lower verbal memory and verbal fluency scores and those who had retired voluntarily or for family reasons had improved abstract memory scores. Together, the results suggest that retirement has an inconsistent effect on cognitive aging across cognitive domains and that the conditions surrounding the retirement decision are important to understanding cognitive functioning at older ages.
Topics: Aged; Aging; Cognition; Female; Humans; Life Change Events; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Retirement; Wisconsin
PubMed: 28781588
DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2016.10.004 -
Clinical Medicine (London, England) Oct 2018We have a medical workforce crisis where we have insufficient trainees, demonstrated by rota gaps, and in turn nearly half of advertised consultant physician posts... (Review)
Review
We have a medical workforce crisis where we have insufficient trainees, demonstrated by rota gaps, and in turn nearly half of advertised consultant physician posts cannot be appointed to. Most physicians retire around age 62, and already 5% of the total consultant workforce is those who have retired and returned. If those reaching retirement age chose not to retire but continue working less than full time this would, at least in part, benefit the workforce and utilise valuable skills and experience to the benefit of the individual, the wider medical community and therefore our patients.
Topics: Consultants; Humans; Job Satisfaction; Middle Aged; Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; Physicians; Retirement; Surveys and Questionnaires; United Kingdom
PubMed: 30287434
DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-5-397