Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:24:14.957Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How health affects retirement decisions: three pathways taken by middle-older aged New Zealanders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2009

RACHAEL POND ,
CHRISTINE STEPHENS  and
FIONA ALPASS
RACHAEL POND*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
CHRISTINE STEPHENS
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
FIONA ALPASS
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
*
Address for correspondence: Rachael Pond, School of Psychology, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222Palmerston North, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand E-mail: R.L.Pond@massey.ac.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Concerns about the economic impact of an ageing population have triggered many developed countries to advance policies that attempt to extend working lives and discourage early retirement. There is considerable evidence of a relationship between poor health and early retirement, but some researchers have suggested that there is a ‘justification bias’ in claims that ill-health is the cause of retirement. This paper reports a longitudinal qualitative study that interviewed 60 New Zealanders aged between 55 and 70 years on two occasions, and analysed their explanations of health-related retirement decisions. Although the participants' explanations included poor health as an important reason for retirement, two additional health-related retirement pathways were identified: the ‘maximisation of life’, being decisions to retire whilst healthy to fulfil other life goals; and ‘health protection’, being decisions motivated by health protection and promotion. These health pathways interacted with other factors such as financial security. An elucidation of these motivations pays particular attention to the social and discursive context of explanations of retirement, and considers the three identified health-retirement pathways in relation to the sickness justification bias and current government policies to extend working lives.

Keywords

healthillnessretirementworkpositive ageinghealth promotionageingjustification bias
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , April 2010 , pp. 527 - 545
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alavinia, S. M. and Burdorf, A. 2008. Unemployment and retirement and ill-health: a cross-sectional analysis across European countries. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 82, 1, 39–45.Google Scholar
Alpass, F., Towers, A., Stephens, C., Davey, J., Fitzgerald, E. and Stevenson, B. 2007. Independence, wellbeing and social participation in an ageing population. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Health Ageing and Longevity, Melbourne 13–15 October 2006. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1114, 241–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, K. H. and Burkhauser, R. V. 1985. The retirement–health nexus: a new measure of an old puzzle. Journal of Human Resources, 20, 3, 315–30.Google Scholar
Au, D. W. H., Crossley, T. F. and Schellhorn, M. 2005. The effect of health changes and long-term health on the work activity of older Canadians. Health Economics, 14, 10, 999–1018.Google Scholar
Auer, P. and Fortuny, M. 2000/2. Ageing of the Labour Force in OECD Countries: Economic and Social Consequences. Employment Paper 2000/2, Employment Sector, International Labour Office, Geneva.Google Scholar
Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. 1990. Successful Ageing: Perspectives from the Behavioural Sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biggs, S. 2001. Toward critical narrativity stories of aging in contemporary social policy. Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 4, 303–16.Google Scholar
Biggs, S., Phillipson, C., Money, A. M. and Leach, R. 2006. The age-shift: observations on social policy, ageism and the dynamics of the adult lifecourse. Journal of Social Work Practice, 20, 3, 239–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bound, J. 1991. Self-reported versus objective measures of health in retirement. Journal of Human Resources, 26, 1, 106–38.Google Scholar
Bury, M. 1982. Chronic illness as biographical disruption. Sociology of Health and Illness, 4, 2, 167–82.Google Scholar
Cai, L. and Kalb, G. 2006. Health status and labour-force participation: evidence from Australia. Health Economics, 15, 3, 241–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charmaz, K. 1994. Identity dilemmas of chronically ill men. Sociological Quarterly, 35, 2, 269–88.Google Scholar
Chirikos, T. N. and Nestel, G. 1984. Economic determinants and consequences of self-reported work disability. Journal of Health Economics, 3, 2, 117–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, P. 2007. Governing the healthy male citizen: men, masculinity and popular health in Men's Health magazine. Social Science and Medicine, 65, 8, 1606–18.Google Scholar
Dalziel, L. 2001. The New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy 2001. Senior Citizens Unit, Ministry of Social Policy, Wellington.Google Scholar
Davey, J. 2008. Qualitative Interviews. Health, Work and Retirement Survey: Summary Report for the 2006 Data Wave. School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Available online at http://hwr.massey.ac.nz/resources/qualitative_interviews-davey.pdf [Accessed 28 August 2009].Google Scholar
Davey, J. and Glasgow, K. 2006. Positive ageing: a critical analysis. Policy Quarterly, 2, 4, 21–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dwyer, D. S. and Mitchell, O. S. 1999. Health problems as determinants of retirement: are self-rated measures endogenous? Journal of Health Economics, 18, 2, 173–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ekerdt, D. 1986. The busy ethic: moral continuity between work and retirement. The Gerontologist, 26, 3, 239–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faircloth, C. A., Boylstein, C., Rittman, M., Young, M. E. and Gubrium, J. 2004. Sudden illness and biographical flow in narratives of stroke and recovery. Sociology of Health and Illness, 26, 2, 242–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, E. 2005. The effects of health, wealth, and wages on labour supply and retirement behaviour. Review of Economic Studies, 72, 2, 395–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fullagar, S. 2002. Governing the healthy body: discourses of leisure and lifestyle within Australian health policy. Health, 6, 1, 69–84.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2005. Contexts of Ageing: Class, Cohort and Community. Polity, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gustman, A. L. and Steinmeier, T. L. 2001. Economics of retirement. In Smelser, N. J. and Baltes, P. B. (eds), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Pergamon, Oxford, 13289–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansson, R. O., DeKoekkoek, P. D., Neece, W. M. and Patterson, D. W. 1997. Successful aging at work. Annual review, 1992–1996: the older worker and the transitions into retirement. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51, 2, 202–33.Google Scholar
Henretta, J. C., Chan, C. G. and O'Rand, A. M. 1992. Retirement reason vs. retirement process: examining the reasons for retirement typology. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 47, 1, S1–7.Google Scholar
Humphrey, A., Costigan, P., Pickering, K., Stratford, N. and Barnes, M. 2003. Factors Affecting the Labour Market Participation of Older Workers. Research Report 2003, Department for Work and Pensions, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Norwich, UK.Google Scholar
Hurnard, R. 2005. The Effect of New Zealand Superannuation Eligibility Age on the Labour-force Participation of Older People. Working Paper 05/09, New Zealand Treasury, Wellington.Google Scholar
Jensen, J., Spittal, M. and Krishnan, V. 2005. ELSI Short Form: User Manual for a Direct Measure of Living Standards. Ministry of Social Development, Wellington.Google Scholar
Jimenez-Martin, S., Labeaga, J. M. and Prieto, C. V. 2006. A sequential model of older workers' labor force transitions after a health shock. Health Economics, 15, 9, 1033–54.Google Scholar
Karp, D. A. 1991. A decade of reminders: changing age consciousness between fifty and sixty years old. In Hess, B. B. and Markson, E. W. (eds), Growing Old in America. Transaction, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 67–92.Google Scholar
Kemp, C. L. and Denton, M. 2003. The allocation of responsibility for later life: Canadian reflections on the roles of individuals, governments, employers and families. Ageing & Society, 23, 6, 737–60.Google Scholar
Laslett, P. 1989. A Fresh Map of Life: The Emergence of the Third Age. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.Google Scholar
Leveälahti, H., Tishelman, C. and Öhlén, J. 2007. Framing the onset of lung cancer biographically: narratives of continuity and disruption. Psycho-Oncology, 16, 5, 466–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lupton, D. 1995. The Imperative of Health: Public Health and the Regulated Body. Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magee, W. 2004. Effects of illness and disability on job separation. Social Science and Medicine, 58, 6, 1121–35.Google Scholar
McDonough, P. and Amick, B. C. 2001. The social context of health selection: a longitudinal study of health and employment. Social Science and Medicine, 53, 1, 135–45.Google Scholar
McGarry, K. 2004. Health and retirement: do changes in health affect retirement expectations? Journal of Human Resources, 39, 3, 624–48.Google Scholar
Mein, G., Martikainen, P., Stansfeld, S. A., Brunner, E. J., Fuhrer, R. and Marmot, M. G. 2000. Predictors of early retirement in British civil servants. Age and Ageing, 29, 6, 529–36.Google Scholar
Mutchler, J. E., Burr, J. A., Pienta, A. M. and Massagli, M. P. 1997. Pathways to labor force exit: work transitions and work instability. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 52B, 1, S4–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 1998. Maintaining Prosperity in an Ageing Society. OECD, Paris.Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2000. Reforms for an Ageing Society. OECD, Paris.Google Scholar
Petersen, A. R. 1996. Risk and the regulated self: the discourse of health promotion as politics of uncertainty. Journal of Sociology, 32, 1, 44–57.Google Scholar
Riphahn, R. T. 1999. Income and employment effects of health shocks: a test case for the German welfare state. Journal of Population Economics, 12, 3, 363–89.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. W. and Kahn, R. L. 1997. Successful ageing. The Gerontologist, 37, 4, 433–40.Google Scholar
Rudman, D. L. 2006. Shaping the active, autonomous and responsible modern retiree: an analysis of discursive technologies and their links with neo-liberal political rationality. Ageing & Society, 26, 2, 181–201.Google Scholar
Stephens, C. and Noone, J. 2008. Health. Summary Report for the 2006 Data Wave, Health, Work and Retirement Survey, School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Available online at http://hwr.massey.ac.nz/resources/health_stephens-noone.pdf [Accessed 28 August 2009].Google Scholar
Taylor, P. 2002. New Policies for Older Workers: Transitions After 50 Series. Policy, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
United Nations Organization 1991. United Nations Principles for Older Persons. UNO, New York. Available online at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/olderpersons.htm [Accessed 20 September 2009].Google Scholar
van Dalen, H. and Henkens, K. 2002. Early-retirement reform: can it and will it work? Ageing & Society, 22, 3, 209–31.Google Scholar
Walter, M., Jackson, N. and Felmingham, B. 2008. Keeping Australia's older workers in the labour force: a policy perspective. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 43, 2, 291–309.Google Scholar