Retirement is no longer a concern solely for the second half of life. Rather, the idea that we will someday retire is increasingly present to all adults and it is even urged on adolescents. The earliest reaches of adulthood are being colonized by frequent reminders that it takes individual effort to achieve retirement. The changing nature of…

Asserts that the idea that retirement increases risk of illness and death persists because of the availability of vivid anecdotes, a tendency to interpret big events as major causes of illness, cultural celebration of work, theoretical perspectives in gerontology fostering expectations that retirement is disruptive, and misinterpretation of…

The marital relationship is a basic context of retirement, where spouses' separate perceptions of retirement, and of each other's views, are an essential part of the retirement experience. To explore this issue, 297 married men who had been retired for 6 years or less, all participants in the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, reported…

Retirement is recognized as a family experience, affecting retirees, their spouses, and their children. This study examined how the retirement transition affects the middle class, healthy, and financially secure male retiree and his wife. In-depth interviews were conducted with 92 couples from the Boston area in which the husband had been retired…

Compared men who claimed that retirement improved their health (N=114) with men who claimed no effect (N=149). Results showed that retrospective claims of good effects were not corroborated by a corresponding longitudinal, pre- to post-retirement improvement in self-reported health except among men whose retirement reduced prior job strain.…

Examined the possibility that retirement contributed to decline in self-reported health. Within-individual changes in self-reported health for retirees were compared with changes among 386 age peers who continued to work. Eventual retirees had no greater age-adjusted incidence of health decline than did continuing workers. (Author)

To clarify the relationship between planned and preferred age for retirement, concurrent trends in the measures for a sample of workers were compared. Workers generally preferred to retire sooner than they planned to, and preferences were revised over time, tending to converge with the planned age for withdrawal from work. (Author)

Compared changes in self-perceived levels of solitary, social, physical, and cultural activities among recent retirees with changes among continuing workers. Findings reflect a relative continuity in perception of leisure activity levels. Retirees did not see themselves as being more involved in leisure activities than their working peers.…

Suggests that retirement is legitimated on a day-to-day basis in part by an ethic that esteems leisure that is earnest, active, and occupied. This busy ethic, endorses conduct that is consistent with the abstract ideals of the work ethic. It helps individuals adapt to retirement. (Author/ABB)