The role of job-related rewards in retirement planning.

The authors used data from the first wave of the Health and Retirement Study ( F. Juster and R. Suzman 1995) to evaluate whether certain job-related gratifications might reduce retirement planning. Three definitions of retirement planning were evaluated and then regressed separately on a set of variables that included 3 types of job-related satisfactions (intrinsic gratification, positive social relations, and ascendance in the workplace) and 7 covariates: education, age, sex, health, marital status, race, and pension eligibility. Findings indicated that jobs high in ascendance were related to an increase in certain types of retirement planning, but jobs high in intrinsic rewards and positive social relations were related to less planning, regardless of how planning was defined. The findings suggest that information about work-related rewards may be useful in targeting individuals who might benefit from retirement planning programs, in developing planning programs to help workers realize more complex retirement plans, and in assisting employers who hope to retain older workers.

Eddies in the stream: the prevalence of uncertain plans for retirement.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined an assumption of retirement theory that typifies older workers as preretirees who are planfully engaged in paths toward retirement. METHODS: Using survey responses among workers in the 1992 and 1994 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, we described the prevalence of nonsubstantive answers to questions about the expected form and timing of retirement (e.g., "don't know," "haven't thought about it"). We tested explanations for this uncertainty as an artifact of the survey process, but also as an outcome of the opportunity structure for retirement planning. RESULTS: Survey procedure did generate some of these noncommittal responses. Depending on question type, approximately 10% to 40% of workers did not state when or how they would retire, and such responses were less prevalent across age and time. In addition, categorical uncertainty about form and timing was theoretically predictable in a framework that supposed that workers less subject to a socially attended life--at work or away--would be more undecided about the future. DISCUSSION: Uncertainty is an authentic, meaningful stance toward retirement that theory and research design should not ignore. Just as actual transitions to retirement can be ambiguous or blurred, the expectation of retirement, as well, can be untidy.

Influences of family obligations and relationships on retirement: variations by gender, race, and marital status.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether economic and care obligations for family and kin salience influence retirement decisions and whether such influences differ by race, gender, and marital status. DATA: Data from the first 2 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households were used. The sample consisted of individuals who were employed at baseline and aged 55-75 at follow-up (N = 897). Cox proportional hazard regressions were used. RESULTS: Economic kin obligations impeded the likelihood of retiring. Individuals who made financial contributions to children outside the household and White women with resident children in the household were less prone to retire. Among Blacks, household composition effects were more complex and seemed to depend on the mix of care obligations, financial obligations, and financial contributions by resident kin. Kin salience also impinged on retirement decisions. Some groups who lacked family ties (e.g., nonmarried childless men) were less inclined to retire, whereas other subgroups (e.g., nonmarried men with monthly pre-retirement contacts with children) were more likely to retire. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest the importance of family obligations and relationships in retirement decisions and demonstrate considerable diversity in these processes. Models of retirement should pay greater attention to the interdependence of work and family spheres and to the diversity of retirement processes among various population groups.

Effects of surrogate parenting on grandparents' well-being.

OBJECTIVES: This study assesses whether grandchildren's moving into or out of grandparents' households affects grandparents' depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, and whether such effects vary by gender or race. It further examines whether effects of surrogate parenting on grandparents' subjective well-being are direct or mediated through the impact of surrogate parenting on other life changes, namely, health, work hours, income, socializing, and social supports. METHODS: The analyses rely on panel data from the National Survey of Families and Households, Waves 1 and 2. The sub-sample consists of Black and White grandparents with grandchildren younger than age 18 (N = 1,789). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and path analyses are used to identify direct and indirect effects of grandchildren's move into and out of grandparents' household on change in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction (residualized gain scores). RESULTS: The data indicate that grandchildren's move into the household increases depressive symptoms among grandmothers. On the other hand, grandchildren's leaving the household leads to reduced well-being among grandfathers. Grandmothers report less participation in church activities and more supports from friends and relatives after the grandchildren move in, whereas grandfathers frequent bars/taverns more when grandchildren move in and reduce time spent with church activities and paid work when grandchildren remain in the household. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that effects of surrogate parenting differ by gender, and that they are partially contingent on grandparents' vulnerabilities (marital status, education, and presence of childless dependent children in the household) before grandchildren join the household. Mediating effects of other life changes are relatively small.

The retiree identity: gender and race differences.

OBJECTIVES: This study's focus on the retiree identity complements research on institutionalized retirement criteria. We test whether tensions between individuals' own life circumstances and institutionalized retirement criteria manifest themselves in the extent to which individuals assume a retiree identity and in the overlap between self-definitions and attainment of institutionalized retirement criteria. METHODS: The analyses rely on logistic regressions and are based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 1,633). RESULTS: Labor force participation serves as the main basis for the retiree identity, but other life experiences (work history, disability, spouse's retirement, economic status, family history) also contribute to individuals' self-identification as retiree and the "fit" between self-identification and attainment of institutionalized retirement criteria. Men's retirement identity seems more closely tied to their attainment of institutionalized retirement criteria and a continuous and successful work career, whereas a variety of life circumstances impinge on women's retiree definitions. Moderately disabled African Americans are more likely to self-identify as partly or fully retired. DISCUSSION: While employment constitutes the main reference for individuals' self-definition as retiree, other life circumstances also have some influence. Full understanding of retirement transitions will require more attention to the meaning context of retirement among divergent population groups.

Profiling plans for retirement.

Actual decision making for retirement is largely inaccessible to investigation, yet research can focus on plans as a window into the preretirement process. This article proposes a construct that profiles five generic types of retirement plans, including plans to retire completely, change jobs, never retire, and uncertainty about retirement. The heuristic value of the construct lies in its recognition of the heterogeneity of retirement intentions. The five plan types were operationalized among workers aged 51-61 in the 1992 Health and Retirement Study. Convergent validity was demonstrated by comparisons to analogous survey questions. Construct validity was shown by predictable relationships between intentions and elements of workers' opportunity structure. The retirement-plans construct can serve as the foundation for a taxonomy of specific retirement plans (e.g., about timing, employment), to organize research on stability and change in retirement intentions, and characterize the path dependence of eventual retirement behavior.

Alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, and caffeine use and symptom distress in schizophrenia.

The high prevalence of substance use, e.g., alcohol and illegal and nonprescribed drugs, in schizophrenia is widely recognized. One explanation for this high prevalence is that substance use may be a self-initiated method for managing symptoms. To test whether the intake of four substances--alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, and caffeine--would increase with increases in symptom distress, daily self-reports of symptom distress and substance intake over 12 weeks were analyzed with pooled time series analyses. Compliance with neuroleptic medication was added to the analyses to control for any changes in prescribed medication compliance while using nonprescribed drugs or alcohol. Of the four substances studied, only nicotine was significantly related to symptom distress. Higher distress with prodromal symptoms was related to decreases in nicotine use. Analysis of caffeine did not meet the criteria for significance but does provide direction for further research. Higher distress, with neurotic symptoms, was related to increases in caffeine use. Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between nicotine and symptoms.

Determinants of exercise and aerobic fitness in outpatients with arthritis.

Factors that influenced exercise behaviors and aerobic fitness were identified in 100 outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. Data included perceived health status, benefits of and barriers to exercise, and impact of arthritis on health; demographic and biologic characteristics; and past exercise behavior. Exercise measures included range-of-motion and strengthening exercises, 7-day activity recall, and the exercise subscale of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile. An aerobic fitness level was obtained on each subject by bicycle ergometer testing. The theoretical model predicted 20% of the variance in composite exercise scores but none of the variance in aerobic fitness levels. Perceived benefits of exercise was a significant predictor of exercise participation. Subjects with less formal education, longer duration of arthritis, and higher impact of arthritis scores perceived fewer benefits of exercise, while subjects who reported exercising in their youth perceived more benefits of exercise.

Evidence for a preretirement process among older male workers.

As part of a preretirement role-exit process, older workers could be expected to reinterpret their situations and report less favorable job attitudes as they approach retirement. Using 4-wave, 9-year (1978-1987) panel data on 1,365 nonretired male workers aged 50-69, attitudes about job tension and fatigue were examined along the dimension of self-reported proximity (time-left) to retirement. Results from pooled time-series analysis showed that men evaluated their jobs as more burdensome when drawing closer to a fixed age for retirement, regardless of age and other factors. This is evidence for a preretirement dynamic, and it encourages the notion that time-left at work organizes the experience of older workers.