This is a revised competing continuation application to explore the interconnections between marital/family and retirement experiences and to explore alternates the consequences of retirement on well being among different groups. It is argued that post-retirement well-being is contingent on selected marital/familial statuses, contexts, and pathways and their intersection with the retirement experience. The proposed research will assess how status, context, and pathways moderate or mediate retirement effects on well-being. The prevalence of selected marital/family/retirement pathways in the population at large will also be explored as will whether retirement under adverse marital circumstances enhances the probability of re-entry into the labor force. The data sets to be used are the Health and Retirement Survey and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Mature Women. The project addresses several gaps in the literature including the neglect of heterogeneity and diversity among retirees and insufficient interconnections between the family and work spheres. Because retirement-related stress can manifest itself in physical health problems and health risk behaviors, stressful retirement transitions have consequences for health care utilization and costs. Better knowledge concerning these issues will inform retirement planners and counselors as well as public policy and resource utilization. A considerable amount of additional detail is provided in this revised application concerning the theoretical basis of the study, the treatment of specific sampling issues (e.g. missing data, sampling bias, etc.), and the analysis plan for the proposed research. Limitations of this secondary analysis study are also recognized and detailed.
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