This longitudinal project studies women's decisions to retire and their adaptations to retirement, as compared to the retirement decisions and adaptations of men. The impact of health on these outcomes is a major focus of the research. A sample of 800 women and men aged 60 - 64, plus their spouses, will be followed over a three-year period. This panel is randomly selected from members of a large and diverse health plan in Cleveland, Ohio and is broadly representative of the non-institutionalized northern urban aged in the U.S.
The first aim of the study is to assess health effects on female retirement. Financial factors, social security benefits, attitudes toward work and retirement, and marital and family relationships will also be evaluated, while controlling for standard demographic variables. A comparative assessment will be made for males. The general hypothesis is that, for both men and women, health will have greater moment than financial factors on both retirement decisions and adaptations. However, health will have greater effect on decision and adaptation among women than men. No gender differences are expected in the impact of attitudes toward work, work histories, and commitment to work on the dependent variables. But marital and family relationships will have greater effect on women's retirement decisions and adaptations than on men's and the characteristics of a spouse will have greater impact on wives than on husbands. Data will be collected by face-to-face structured interviews in the respondents homes at two time points, 1983 and 1985, and from medical records at the HMO of which they are members. The availability of these clinical reports is a unique feature of the study, offering a more discriminating assessment of health than in other studies. Attention is also given to the proper specification of """"""""social security"""""""" and """"""""retirement."""""""" Cross-sectional data will be analyzed by univariate and multivariate techniques, with interactions taken into account. The longitudinal design permits analysis of change in retirement status and adaptations as related to changes in health and other factors, after appropriate corrections for sampling and measurement error. The overall objectives of this research are to delineate the retirement process among women, as compared to men, and using improved health measures, to specify the relationship between health and retirement while controlling for other factors.
| Belgrave, L (1988) The effects of race differences in work history, work attitudes, economic resources, and health on women's retirement. Res Aging 10:383-98 |
| Belgrave, L L; Haug, M R; Gomez-Bellenge, F X (1987) Gender and race differences in effects of health and pension on retirement before 65. Compr Gerontol B 1:109-17 |
