Retired Couples Happiest in Traditional Roles
Can two people who have enjoyed a successful marriage for three decades share a retirement without driving each other crazy? The answer is "no" in some cases, according to psychologists Jungmeen E. Kim, Ph.D., and Phyllis Moen, Ph.D., professors at Cornell University and members of the American Psychological Association. Noting that most couples do not retire at the exact same time, Kim and Moen, Ph.D. found various levels of marital satisfaction and depression for different combinations of employment and retirement.
Newly retired women tend to be more depressed than continuously retired or not-yet-retired women, especially if their husbands remained employed. Newly retired men experience more marital conflict than nonretired men. In addition, newly retired men with employed wives tend to show higher martial conflict than newly retired men with nonemployed wives. However, men who are retired and re-employed with wives who are not employed have a higher morale than couples where neither spouse is working.
"This suggests that late mid-life men in our sample appear to be more satisfied with their lives when their spouses are following traditional gender role expectations," states Dr. Kim. "For men, postretirement employment appears to be beneficial for their psychological well-being. Those who are retired and re-employed report the highest morale and lowest depression," said the authors. "By contrast, men who are retired and not
re-employed experience the lowest morale and most depression." The researchers did not find the same statistical differences for women who became re-employed.
"We do not see retirement as a one-way, one-time, irreversible exit from paid work," states Dr. Kim. "Many retirees go on to new careers or are rehired back as consultants by their old employers." "It is crucial to consider the work/retirement status of both partners because each spouse's retirement transition represents an important life event for the couple, requiring adjustment on the part of both spouses."
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
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Eldercare Costs the Average Worker $659,000
The nearly 23 million Americans who provide care for elderly relatives are paying a huge price, according to the "1999 MetLife Juggling Act Study". Caregiving costs individuals upwards of $659,000 over their lifetimes in lost wages, lost social security and pension contributions, says Dr. Sandra Timmermann, director of MetLife's Mature Market Institute.
The breakdown on the $659,000 includes $567,000 in lost wages, $67,000 in retirement contributions, and $25,000 in social security benefits.
This in-depth analysis of the caregiver burden is a follow-up to a national survey conducted in 1997 that found that 25 percent of all U.S. households provide care for an elderly person. The new MetLife study discovered that 84 percent of caregiver employees made adjustments to their work schedules in the following manner.
- taking sick leave or vacation time
- decreasing scheduled work hours
- taking a leave of absence
- switching from full to part-time work
- resigning or retiring.
"Only recently", says Timmermann, "have policy-makers and business leaders begun to recognize the sacrifices and contributions made by working caregivers." It's important that the business community take notice of this enormous problem because the cost of lost productivity due to employee caregiving is in the billions annually. That figure may double when the baby boomer generation, which is twice the size of today's older population, reaches retirement age.
The "1999 MetLife Juggling Act Study" was produced in cooperation with the National Alliance for Caregiving and the National Center for Women and Aging at Brandeis University.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Family Trends Foster Eldercare Challenges
Assisted Living Offers Cure for Elder Care Limbo
Eldercare Trend Grey, Global and Growing
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