TY - JOUR T1 - Mental work demands, retirement, and longitudinal trajectories of cognitive functioning. JF - J Occup Health Psychol Y1 - 2014 A1 - Gwenith G Fisher A1 - Stachowski, Alicia A1 - Frank J Infurna A1 - Jessica Faul A1 - James Grosch A1 - Lois E Tetrick KW - Cognition KW - Employment KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Longitudinal Studies KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Retirement KW - Stress, Psychological AB -

Age-related changes in cognitive abilities are well-documented, and a very important indicator of health, functioning, and decline in later life. However, less is known about the course of cognitive functioning before and after retirement and specifically whether job characteristics during one's time of employment (i.e., higher vs. lower levels of mental work demands) moderate how cognition changes both before and after the transition to retirement. We used data from n = 4,182 (50% women) individuals in the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel study in the United States, across an 18 year time span (1992-2010). Data were linked to the O*NET occupation codes to gather information about mental job demands to examine whether job characteristics during one's time of employment moderates level and rate of change in cognitive functioning (episodic memory and mental status) both before and after retirement. Results indicated that working in an occupation characterized by higher levels of mental demands was associated with higher levels of cognitive functioning before retirement, and a slower rate of cognitive decline after retirement. We controlled for a number of important covariates, including socioeconomic (education and income), demographic, and health variables. Our discussion focuses on pathways through which job characteristics may be associated with the course of cognitive functioning in relation to the important transition of retirement. Implications for job design as well as retirement are offered.

PB - 19 VL - 19 UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84896104239andpartnerID=40andmd5=8a0c0422ba5b68927fdc926a3e8a25b4 IS - 2 N1 - Export Date: 21 April 2014 Source: Scopus Article in Press U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24635733?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC4663987 U4 - Aging/Cognitive Ability/Job Characteristics/Retirement ER -