Retirement and Mental Health: Analysis of the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being (original) (raw)
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Retirement, age, gender and mental health: findings from the 45 and Up Study
Aging & Mental Health, 2014
Objectives: To examine the relationships of retirement and reasons for retirement with psychological distress in men and women at the age of 45À79 years. Method: Data from 202,584 Australians participating in the large-scale 45 and Up Study was used. Psychological distress was measured by the Kessler psychological distress scale. Associations between different work status and reasons for retirement with psychological distress were assessed for men and women at different ages using logistic regression. Results: Being fully retired or unemployed was associated with the high levels of psychological distress compared to being in paid work for men and women aged 45À64 (p < 0.0001), and for men aged 65À74 years (p 0.0014). At the age of 75À79 years, there was no difference in psychological distress between different work statuses. Among retirees, retirement due to ill health, being made redundant or caring duty was associated with the high level of psychological distress. Conclusion: The association between work and mental health underscores the importance of policies and strategies to encourage and enable people to continue in the workforce after age 55, particularly for men. Important reasons for retirement with worse mental health outcomes include redundancy, ill health and needing to care for family or a friend. These circumstances will affect whether a person can continue working and their risk of poor mental health, and both considerations should be addressed in developing approaches for maintaining older workers or assisting them with their retirement transition.
What Is Retirement? A Review and Assessment of Alternative Concepts and Measures
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement, 2009
The Program for Research on Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population (SEDAP) is an interdisciplinary research program centred at McMaster University with co-investigators at seventeen other universities in Canada and abroad. The SEDAP Research Paper series provides a vehicle for distributing the results of studies undertaken by those associated with the program.
Ageing and Society, 2007
Conventional wisdom promotes gradual retirement rather than an abrupt end to the working life. This paper compares the outcomes of abrupt and gradual retirement one and three years after the transition to retirement began using data from an Australian panel study. The outcomes included changes in health, positive and negative affect, wellbeing and marital cohesion. For many outcomes there was no difference between gradual and abrupt retirements, but those who retired abruptly were more likely to rate their health as having deteriorated and more likely to report better adjustment to retirement. Control over retirement decisions was also explored ; it emerged as a more important factor in retirement wellbeing than whether the transition was gradual or abrupt. The absence of interaction or additive effects between the retirement pathway and the level of control over the process confirmed this result. Thus there is no simple answer to the question in the title. Retiring gradually allows time for people to make changes to their lifestyle, but having control over the timing and manner of leaving work had a greater positive impact on psychological and social wellbeing, and this persisted three years after retirement. The findings suggest that policies and employment practices that promote employees' control of their retirement decisions will enhance wellbeing in later life and facilitate longer workforce participation.
Introduction to the Changing Nature of Retirement: An International Perspective
International Journal of Manpower, 2010
Purpose-The purpose of this overview is to provide a brief introduction to the topic of retirement, noting five key issues and directions for future research which are addressed collectively in the compilation of papers that follow: the changing nature of retirement; the need for an interdisciplinary perspective on retirement; the need to look at both individual and organizational perspectives; international variations in contexts and processes; and the need for a broad methodological perspective. The authors then outline and summarize the seven studies included in this special issue, as well as acknowledge those who were instrumental in bringing this special issue to fruition. Design/methodology/approach-The International Journal of Manpower's usual double blind review process was used to select the seven papers included in this special issue. The papers themselves represent a wide variety of designs, methodologies, and analytic strategies used to study retirement. In addition, a wide variety of disciplinary approaches and levels of analyses and perspectives are employed across the seven studies. Findings-The findings of the studies included in this special issue touch on retirement planning and decision making, as well as employer perspectives on the global aging workforce. Practical implications-Each article includes practical implications with regard to retirement for the country and/or constituents examined in the study. Originality/value-Taken as a collective, the papers in this special issue help to propel forward in significant ways the study of retirement from an international and interdisciplinary perspective.
Partial and complete retirement due to ill-health among mature age Australians
Public Health, 2013
An ageing population requires governments to keep older people working longer and delay early retirement. This paper investigates the extent to which common health problems and geographical location are associated with full and partial early retirement among mature-age Australians. Cross sectional. Multinomial logistic regression analysis of self-reported data of 21,719 women and 16,393 men from the 45 and Up Study. retirement status. Women who reported ever having been told by a doctor that they had a stroke, cancer (except melanoma and skin and breast cancer), osteoarthritis, depression, osteoporosis, thrombosis, or anxiety were more likely to be fully retired due to ill-health compared to those without these health problems. Those who reported ever having been told by a doctor that they had depression, breast cancer or osteoarthritis were more likely to be partially retired due to ill-health than those without these health problems. Men who reported ever having been told by a doctor that they had cancer, heart disease, anxiety or depression were more likely to be fullyorpartially retired due to ill-health than those without these health problems. Men who reported having had a stroke, diabetes, thyroid problems, osteoarthritis or osteoporosis were more likely to be fully retired due to ill-health compared to those without these health problems. Men and women living outside major cities were more likely to be fully retired due to ill-health. Men from outer regional areas were also more likely to be partially retired due to ill-health. To reduce early retirement due to ill-health, health practitioners, governments and employers should address targeted health problems, particularly in areas outside capital cities.
Working Conditions and Early Retirement: A Prospective Study of Retirement Behavior
Research on Aging, 2005
occupations. It combines survey data for estimates of job strains, census data for occupations, and income and social insurance/security data, for the transition from work to retirement for 18,847 Norwegian employees between the ages of 60 and 67. Retirement was identified by a drop in work-related income and studied both jointly and separately for disability and nondisability retirement. Data were analyzed using logistic regression (competing risk) "duration" models. Findings indicate that disability retirement is related to physical job strains. Among men, both pathways of early retirement are related to low autonomy in job tasks. Furthermore, psychological job stress may reduce non-disability retirement. The findings are discussed in relation to (a) the prospect of reducing early retirement by changing working conditions and (b) the distributional impacts of actuarial principles in pension systems.
Paradigms of retirement: the importance of health and ageing in the whitehall ii study
Social Science & Medicine, 1998
AbstractÐThis paper evaluates four well established sociological theories of ageing using qualitative data from the British Whitehall II study. We attempt to apply the theories to contemporary retirement and through each theory examine the issue of health in retirement. The eect of lowered income in retirement is discussed in relation to Townsend's theory of structured dependency. Change in participant's health following retirement is examined in respect of the theory of disengagement by Cumming and Henry, adjustment to retirement in relation to Laslett's theory of the third age. Parson's role theory is used to examine how social interactions and relationships change for people who have recently retired. We discuss the need for a multifaceted theory of ageing which can accommodate the continually changing experience and age of retirement. We analysed interviews conducted with 25 male and female civil servants aged between 55 and 63 years, from dierent grades who had been retired for less than 2 years. #
Retirement: strengths and weaknesses for a full and healthy old age
Geopolitical, Social Security and Freedom Journal, 2023
Retirement is a coveted goal for working people. Although it is seen as a period of relaxation and tranquillity, retirement from work, also because it is associated with other relevant changes in an individual's life related to family relationships, brings with it a number of potential risks that may trigger problems of a psychosocial nature (identity crisis, change of parental role, adaptation to new marital relationships, possible marital crisis and divorce, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideas) which, in turn, may be facilitators of fragility also on the physical side. The attention of the various governments is generally focused on the health problems of those who are retired with a view to containing public expenditure, without considering the fact that the main problems for this particular segment of the population may come from problems of reintegration into social life and occupation of leisure time. When there is no adequate adaptation to the changed conditions of life in the transition from worker to pensioner one fatally exposes oneself to the risk of progressive isolation. the reduction of social contracts, the contraction of the use of one's cognitive functions with possible consequences in the medium to long term on one's ability to remain self-sufficient. This would ultimately turn into a socio-medical problem, with the associated costs, when an appropriate policy of psycho-social interventions could delay the effects.
The Social Consequences of Early Retirement
The Political Quarterly, 1982
IN the last 50 years retirement has become a social phenomenon of immense importance. In 1931 more than one-half of men over 65 * The author lectures in Social Policy at the University of Sheffield.