This policy brief is part of a series of thematic policy briefs prepared as part of the OECD's Resourcing Higher Education Project. It examines the frameworks that govern the employment of academic staff in publicly funded higher education institutions in Israel. It compares these frameworks to those in place in comparable OECD higher education…

Purpose: To explore employment as a social determinant of health through examining the relationship between employment status and mental health. Method: The authors conducted a systematic review of 48 longitudinal studies conducted in Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, and United States…

Purpose: This study was designed to examine whether preretirement intervention, through preparation programs conducted by social workers, enhances retirees' healthy retirement transition, self-mastery, and well-being outcomes. Methods: Data were gathered at preprogram, postprogram, and at 6-month follow-up. A total of 84 participants filled out…

In order to test the hypothesis that retirement would be particularly stressful for this highly motivated cohort, forty retired members of Israeli kibbutzim (22 men, 18 women) were interviewed in an open-ended fashion, concerning their early history, their decision to join the kibbutz, their working life, and their post-retirement adaptation.…

The present study examined the way retirees perceive retirement and continue to work post-retirement. Using a longitudinal design, qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed to examine the effect of preoccupation with work on adjustment to retirement. The findings indicate a wide range of attitudes toward cessation of the working life on…

The purpose of this explorative study was to trace the career experiences, problems, and issues of school principals in late-career stage, the place given to this stage in the principal's career cycle, and the way by which late career is interpreted in principals' life accounts. Based on life story interviews with twelve male and female principals…

Studies marital relations of 469 Israeli couples, in late adulthood, categorized as synchronous (either both pre-retired or both retired) and asynchronous (one spouse working and one retired). Examines differences between the groups for division of household tasks, power relations, and quality of marriage. Martial power relations were generally…

Uncovered three major profiles of the meaning of working. The most salient profile, representing more than 40 percent in a population consisting of 10 Israeli target groups (N=896), was one with high levels of work centrality. The social norm of obligation to society in this leading profile was low. (BH)

Considers retirement as widespread developmental transition. Seeks to exploit and advance Erikson's life cycle model by noting major transition challenges between generativity and integrity; distinguishing between tasks and outcomes in such transitions; and viewing such tasks as derived from historical, biological, psychological, and sociocultural…

Examined adjustment to retirement among 310 former industrial and service workers. Respondents had come to terms with retirement and enjoyed their more relaxed lifestyle. Dominant variables in the path model were retirees' satisfaction with specific aspects of retirement: giving up work, activities with family and friends, rest, and free time. (BH)

Compared leisure behavior patterns after retirement with those of preretirement. Examined data within the context of the spillover and compensatory hypotheses, with retirement representing a nonwork sphere. Findings revealed a spillover effect, characterized by a high degree of passive, solitary leisure behavior both before and after retirement.…

Examined attitudes toward retirement in 805 Israeli people on verge of retirement. The results pointed to importance of distinguishing between perceptions of gains and losses in retirement development transition; identification of blue-collar workers with ambivalent attitudes as a high-risk group; and importance of strong sense of coherence in…

This study examines whether gender and employment status affect burnout, motives for volunteering, and difficulties associated with volunteer activity in social and community services in Israel. The sample included 375 men and women aged 16 through 80. Participants were divided into four groups by employment status: high school students, employed…

Determinants of a favorable attitude toward retirement were sought in an interview study of 179 top executives, age 55 and over in 13 leading Israeli organizations. It was found that attitude towards retirement appears to be associated more closely with feelings about oneself than with perceptions of the job. (Author)

Examined marital dyad as family social system in which individual experiences stressors and coping. Investigated Antonovsky's salutogenic model and its core concept, sense of coherence (SOC). Data from 286 married Israeli retirees suggest, when one spouse has high SOC and other has low SOC, salutogenic versions of family SOC seems to be better…