Purpose: This study explored to what extent early Boomer women who work for pay will be interested in and committed to formal volunteering during retirement. Method: Data for this hermeneutic study were gathered through 2 in-depth conversational interviews of 19 English-speaking early Boomer women living in New Brunswick, Canada. Results:…

Purpose: As part of an ongoing effort to analyze the distributional implications of potential policy reforms to the U.S. Social Security system, we consider the widely discussed reform of earnings sharing. Such an approach has been viewed as a way to "update" Social Security's family benefits based on marital status and as a means to…

Used data from a national sample of over 800 middle-aged married women to examine influences on retirement plans. Although the majority did not plan to retire at the same time as their husbands, having a retired husband as well as women's own retirement benefits were strong influences. (JAC)

Purpose: We compare the economic consequences of widowhood for preretirement age and early-retirement age Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White women. Methods: We use the 1992 and 2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to assess the effects of widowhood on the household incomes and assets of non-Hispanic White, Black, and Hispanic women…

Purpose: The potential effects of implementing three different minimum benefits in Social Security, which have accompanied proposals to privatize the program and reform family benefits, are examined in relation to the adequacy of benefits for women reaching age 62 between 2020 and 2030. Design and Methods: The 1992 Health and Retirement Study is…

Compared correlates of retirement satisfaction for married and widowed rural women. Increase in voluntary association memberships and health were predictors of retirement satisfaction for both groups. Other predictors of satisfaction included financial adequacy, frequency and certainty of aid from friends for married women, and maintenance of…

Analyzes the development of women's pensions compared to the progress of men's benefits from 1960 to 1980 in industrial countries. Comparisons are based on benefit amounts of average wage earners in manufacturing. Findings are that women's benefits did not keep pace with men's pensions in 5 of the nations studied. (Author/ABB)

Theoreticians and practitioners have assumed rather constant roles for women in developing psychosocial theories of aging. A review of recent developments challenges these assumptions and suggests that role inconstancy rather than constancy may account for feminine resilience in old age. (Author)