Phyllis Moen

Successful Aging: A Life-Course Perspective on Women's Multiple Roles and Health

Panel data from a sample of 313 women who were wives and mothers in 1956 and were interviewed both in 1956 and in 1986 are used to consider the pathways that lead to health and social integration. Possible relationships were explored between the number, duration, timing, and episodes of various nonfamily roles throughout adult-hood and subsequent health and multiple-role occupancy. It was found that occupying multiple roles in 1956, participating in volunteer work on an intermittent basis, and belonging to a club or organization were positively related to various measures of health and that occupying multiple roles in 1956, as well as doing volunteer work, was positively related to occupying multiple roles in 1986.

Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work-Family Conflict: Schedule Control in a White-Collar Organization.

Work-family conflicts are common and consequential for employees, their families, and work organizations. Can workplaces be changed to reduce work-family conflict? Previous research has not been able to assess whether workplace policies or initiatives succeed in reducing work-family conflict or increasing work-family fit. Using longitudinal data collected from 608 employees of a white-collar organization before and after a workplace initiative was implemented, we investigate whether the initiative affects work-family conflict and fit, whether schedule control mediates these effects, and whether work demands, including long hours, moderate the initiative’s effects on work-family outcomes. Analyses clearly demonstrate that the workplace initiative positively affects the work-family interface, primarily by increasing employees’ schedule control. This study points to the importance of schedule control for our understanding of job quality and for management policies and practices.

Clocking out: Temporal patterning of retirement

This article draws on life history data of the cohorts of recent U.S. retirees to examine the temporal patterning of retirement. Three major dimensions‐‐historical context, social heterogeneity, and, most important, biographical pacing, measured by cohort, gender, and career pathway, respectively‐‐operate simultaneously, yet unevenly, to affect various aspects of the retirement process. Findings suggest that changes over the past few decades have undermined the regularity in retirement timing that was a product of the convergence of diverse institutional features, anchored by a large core of men on traditional career tracks. Focusing on retirement, our model underscores the multiplex nature of the temporal structuring of the life course.

A life course perspective on retirement, gender, and well-being.

The existing research literature on the links between retirement and physical and psychological health is examined. This synthesis characterizes the complexity of the relationship between retirement and health; points out potential gender differences in the nature, experience, and implications of retirement; and develops a life course model of the pathways through occupational career and retirement leading to health. Such a life course model suggests a research agenda that can produce important insights on the dynamics and consequences of the retirement transition, including the mechanisms and conditions linking withdrawal from employment to changes in health and well-being.

Social Integration and Longevity: An Event History Analysis of Women's Roles and Resilience

This paper investigates the implications of multiple roles for the longevity of women. Drawing on a two-wave 30-year panel study of 427 wives and mothers in upstate New York we use event history techniques to test the effects of both the number and the nature of roles on the duration of womens lives. We find that social integration defined by the number of roles occupied promotes longevity but that one form of integration--membership in a voluntary organization--is especially salutary. (EXCERPT)

Gender, employment and retirement quality: A life course approach to the differential experiences of men and women.

Using a life course perspective in integrating 2 theories of retirement satisfaction--role theory and continuity theory--this study draws on a sample of retired men (n = 244) and women (n = 214), ages 50-72, to investigate factors contributing to the quality of their retirement experience. Overall, we find that men report greater retirement satisfaction than women, although the difference is small. For women, increased retirement quality is associated with good health, a continuous career (fewer years spent in part-time employment), an early retirement (though not earlier than anticipated), and a good postretirement income. For men, the key correlates with retirement quality are good health, an enjoyable preretirement job, low work-role salience, substantial preretirement planning, and retiring for internally motivated reasons (e.g., to do other things). These results underscore the importance of a life course focus on gendered pathways to and through life transitions such as retirement.

Caregiving and Women's Well-being: A Life Course Approach

This study demonstrates the utility of incorporating a life course, role context approach in investigations of the ties between particular roles and psychological well-being, using the links between womens caregiving and well-being as a case in point. We draw on panel data from a random sample of 293 women interviewed in 1956 and 1986, considering both current role occupancy and the duration of caregiving as well as a number of factors that may moderate the effects of caregiving on well-being. We find, using ordinary least squares regression, that the effects of caregiving on womens emotional health are moderated by their previous psychological well-being, with caregivers with high prior well-being reporting high subsequent well-being. Other moderators are previous social integration (in the form of religiosity and multiple-role involvements) and other nonfamily roles (worker and volunteer) currently occupied. What women bring to caregiving (in terms of their previous social integration and psychological well-being) shapes its significance for their emotional health. Moreover, the duration and timing of caregiving in womens lives also relate to its effects on their well-being. These findings point to the importance of examining the impacts of particular social roles, such as caregiving, in the context of other roles and resources.

Women's two roles : a contemporary dilemma

The Issue in Context Introduction Recent Trends Consequences Patterns, Problems, and Payoffs for Women Implications for Marriages, Families, and Children Implications for Employers, Unions, and Governments New Directions Conclusions and Implications Bibliography Index

The Relationship Between Work-Life Policies and Practices and Employee Loyalty: A Life Course Perspective

Using a representative sample of 3,381 American workers, this study investigates relationships among work/life policies, informal support, and employee loyalty over the life course (defined by age and parental status and age of youngest child). The central thesis is that our understanding of the impact of work/life policies on employee loyalty will be enriched by consideration of the non-work and work contexts that influence employee attitudes and behavior. The relationship between employee child care policies and loyalty varies for women and men at different stages of parenthood. Flexible-time policies have a consistent, positive association with employee loyalty with some variation based on life stage. Informal support (via supervisors and co-workers) has the greatest positive relationship with employee loyalty.

Gendered Challenge, Gendered Response Confronting the Ideal Worker Norm in a White-Collar Organization

This article integrates research on gendered organizations and the work-family interface to investigate an innovative workplace initiative, the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE), implemented in the corporate headquarters of Best Buy, Inc. While flexible work policies common in other organizations “accommodate” individuals, this initiative attempts a broader and deeper critique of the organizational culture. We address two research questions: How does this initiative attempt to change the masculinized ideal worker norm? And what do women’s and men’s responses reveal about the persistent ways that gender structures work and family life? Data demonstrate the ideal worker norm is pervasive and powerful, even as employees begin critically examining expectations regarding work time that have historically privileged men. Employees’ responses to ROWE are also gendered. Women (especially mothers) are more enthusiastic, while men are more cautious. Ambivalence about and resistance to change is expressed in different ways depending on gender and occupational status.