Work, retirement, and well-being: Does what you did for a living influence how you feel in retirement? Women's retirement and self-assessed well-being: An analysis of three measures of well-being among recent and long-term retirees relative to homemakers

This dissertation contributes to the literature on retirement and subjective well-being by focusing on two key questions using data from the Health and Retirement Study: (1) Is retiring from a job that afforded greater opportunities to engage in autonomous, creative, and/or prestigious work linked with greater well-being in retirement? and (2) Are there differences in subjective measures of well-being for women who retire relative to women who are homemakers? Based on prior research comparing workers and retirees, one might expect retirees to report relatively poor well-being (e.g. Dave et al. 2006; Doshi et al. 2008). However, analyses of a sample of respondents who make the transition from working full-time to being fully retired between 1992 and 2006, suggest that retiring from a professional occupation is related to more favorable self-assessments of well-being. The second research question focuses on women's experiences by taking advantage of a unique comparison group which exists for women retiring at the early part of this century, namely homemakers or women who did not participate in the paid labor force. Analyses of female retirees who are compared to homemakers suggest that despite the major role change they experienced, participating in the paid labor force may have been a protective factor with regard to self-assessed well-being.

Homemakers

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