Marleen Damman

The Impact of Midlife Educational, Work, Health, and Family Experiences on Men’s Early Retirement

OBJECTIVES In empirical studies on predictors of retirement, midlife experiences have often remained implicit or been neglected. This study aims to improve our understanding of retirement by examining the impact of midlife educational, work, health, and family experiences on early retirement intentions and behavior. We distinguish theoretically and empirically between financial and nonfinancial preretirement factors through which midlife experiences could affect retirement. METHODS Using panel data of 1,229 Dutch male older workers, we estimated linear regression models to explain retirement intentions and logistic regression models to explain retirement behavior. RESULTS Midlife experiences in all studied life spheres are related to retirement intentions. Educational investments, job changes, late transitions into parenthood, and late divorces are associated with weaker intentions to retire early. Midlife health problems are related to stronger early retirement intentions. For midlife work and family experiences, the relationships are (partly) mediated by the preretirement financial opportunity structure. In the educational, work, and health spheres, the preretirement nonfinancial situation has a mediating effect. Only some of the predictors of retirement intentions also predicted retirement behavior. DISCUSSION Given the destandardization of life courses, information on distal life experiences might become even more important toward understanding retirement in the future.

Late-Career Work Disengagement: The Role of Proximity to Retirement and Career Experiences

OBJECTIVES Even though in retirement and career theories reference is made to a preretirement work disengagement process among older workers, quantitative empirical knowledge about this process is limited. The aim of this study is to improve our understanding of work disengagement in the preretirement period, by examining the impact of proximity to planned retirement (anticipated future) and work, educational, and health experiences (lived past) on changes of work disengagement during late careers. METHOD Using two-wave panel data collected in 2001 and 2006-2007 among Dutch older workers (N = 596), a scale was developed to measure work investments, activities, and motivation during late careers. We estimated conditional change models to examine changes of these scale scores (i.e., disengagement or re-engagement) over the studied period. RESULTS In line with the preretirement work disengagement process hypothesis, this study shows that many older employees disengage more from work when getting closer to their planned retirement age. Making promotion slows down the disengagement process. Declining health, in contrast, accelerates the process. DISCUSSION For achieving a comprehensive understanding of the retirement process, not only the lived past but also the anticipated future (i.e., expected time-left in the current state) should be taken into account.

Missing Work After Retirement: The Role of Life Histories in the Retirement Adjustment Process

Purpose of the Study: Although the process of adjustment to retirement is often assumed to be related to experiences earlier in life, quantitative empirical insights regarding these relationships are limited. This study aims to improve our understanding of adjustment to the loss of the work role, by conceptualizing retirement as a multidimensional process embedded in the individual life course. Design and Methods: Analyses are based on panel data collected in 2001, 2006–2007, and 2011 among Dutch retirees (N = 1,004). The extent to which retirees miss aspects of the work role (money/income, social contacts, status) is regressed on information about earlier life experiences, resources, and retirement transition characteristics. Results: The incidence of adjustment difficulties varies across dimensions. Predictors differ as well. A steep upward career path is associated with fewer financial adjustment difficulties but with more difficulties adjusting to the loss of status. Compared with continuously married retirees, divorced retirees without a partner are more likely to miss the social dimensions of work and those who repartnered are more likely to miss financial resources. The longer individuals are retired, the less likely they are to miss work-related social contacts. Implications: Changing life course experiences might have important consequences for retirement processes of future retirees.

Family Histories and Women's Retirement: The Role of Childbearing and Marital Experiences

Although from a life course perspective women’s retirement timing can be expected to be related to family events earlier in life, such as childbirth and divorce, empirical insights into these relationships are limited. Drawing on three-wave panel data, collected in 2001, 2006-2007, and 2011 among Dutch female older workers (N=420) and if applicable their partners, this study examines retirement intentions and behavior in relation to past and proximal preretirement family experiences. The results show that women who postponed childbearing and still have children living at home during preretirement years intend to retire relatively late, as well as ever divorced single women, even when controlling for established correlates of retirement. Women who repartnered after a divorce do not differ from continuously married women in terms of their retirement intentions. Only few of the predictors of retirement intentions also predicted actual retirement behavior. Generally, the results highlight the importance of the notion of linked lives for understanding women’s retirement processes.

Work Role Residuals Among Fully Retired Individuals Results of a 10-Year Panel Study

From a role theoretical perspective, it can be expected that individuals differ in the extent to which they experience aspects of the work role after they have fully retired from it. This study presents a measure of these “postretirement work role residuals” and examines them in relation to structural preretirement factors, psychological preretirement factors, and the nature of the retirement transition. Heckman selection models were estimated based on three-wave panel data collected among 848 older Dutch individuals who were employed at Wave 1 and fully retired thereafter. Although for the majority of retirees prior work plays only a minor role in their current lives, also for a considerable share prior work is still important. Higher levels of postretirement work role residuals were observed among those who expected to miss work-related social status in retirement, who were less disengaged from work in preretirement years, and among those who retired involuntarily.

De overgang van werk naar pensioen: Ervaren steun van volwassen kinderen@@@The transition from work to retirement: Experienced support from adult children

BACKGROUND Retirement is an important life event, which is often characterized by many changes in the lives of individuals. Support from children can potentially help older adults to cope with these changes. Empirical insights on intergenerational support regarding retirement are limited though. To what extent do parents experience support from their children in the transition from work to retirement and how can potential differences be explained? METHODS The analyses are based on panel data collected among retirees in the Netherlands (N = 709). Information about experienced support from children regarding retirement was collected during Wave 3 in 2011. RESULTS A minority of retired parents experiences support from their children in the transition from work to retirement. Retirees who do not have a partner and retirees having a poor financial situation are relatively likely to experience support from their children when transitioning into retirement. This is also the case for retirees who regularly take care of their grandchildren, or who often help their children with practical chores. CONCLUSION Children are more likely to support their parents if support is exchanged, and only seem to react to potential indicators of need for support surrounding retirement to a limited extent.

De overgang van werk naar pensioen: Ervaren steun van volwassen kinderen

BACKGROUND Retirement is an important life event, which is often characterized by many changes in the lives of individuals. Support from children can potentially help older adults to cope with these changes. Empirical insights on intergenerational support regarding retirement are limited though. To what extent do parents experience support from their children in the transition from work to retirement and how can potential differences be explained? METHODS The analyses are based on panel data collected among retirees in the Netherlands (N = 709). Information about experienced support from children regarding retirement was collected during Wave 3 in 2011. RESULTS A minority of retired parents experiences support from their children in the transition from work to retirement. Retirees who do not have a partner and retirees having a poor financial situation are relatively likely to experience support from their children when transitioning into retirement. This is also the case for retirees who regularly take care of their grandchildren, or who often help their children with practical chores. CONCLUSION Children are more likely to support their parents if support is exchanged, and only seem to react to potential indicators of need for support surrounding retirement to a limited extent.

Experienced support from adult children in the retirement process

The retirement transition is often characterized by major changes in the lives of individuals. Support from their children may assist retirees in coping with these changes. Little is known, however, about intergenerational support upon retirement. To what extent do parents feel they are supported by their children in their retirement process? And how can differences in the degree of perceived support be explained? Two central theoretical frameworks from the literature on intergenerational relationships – one based on the principle of altruism and the other based on the principle of exchange – are combined with insights from the retirement literature to formulate hypotheses. These were tested by analyzing panel data collected among 709 fully retired individuals in the Netherlands. Information about perceived support from children upon retirement was collected during Wave 3 in 2011. The findings show that only a minority of the studied retirees experience support from their children in the retirement process. Retirees who do not have a partner, who have a poor financial situation, who regularly look after their grandchildren, or who often help their children with practical chores, are relatively likely to experience support from their children upon retirement. The number of working hours in preretirement years, involuntary retirement, and subjective health are not associated with the support experienced. This suggests that children are relatively likely to offer support to their parents upon retirement if support is exchanged, and only act on potential indicators of need for support surrounding retirement to a limited extent.

Postretirement Work Role Residuals: The Role of Prior Work in the Lives of Fully Retired Individuals

Purpose of the study: From a role theoretical perspective it can be expected that individuals differ in the extent to which they experience aspects of the work role after they have fully retired from it. Quantitative empirical insights regarding these postretirement “work role residuals�? are scarce though. This study aims at filling this gap, by developing a measure of postretirement work role residuals and examining these in relation with preretirement work characteristics, engagement in alternative roles, and expectations about retirement. Design and Methods: Analyses are based on panel data collected in 2001, 2006/7, and 2011 among 860 older individuals in the Netherlands, who were employed at Wave 1 and fully retired after that. Results: Even though for the majority of retirees prior work plays only a minor role in their current lives, also for a considerable share of retirees prior work is still important. Higher levels of postretirement work role residuals were observed among those retirees who retired recently, used to work in higher occupations, frequently worked overtime, and expected to miss work-related social status in retirement. Implications: Postretirement work role residuals capture a relevant dimension of the postretirement process that has received limited attention in the literature on retirement of older workers thus far.