Results provide some support for hypotheses derived from theories of cumulative stratification, suggesting that earlier employment experiences should influence retirement outcomes indirectly through later-life characteristics. However, midlife employment experiences remain associated with earlier retirement, net of more temporally proximate correlates, highlighting the need for further theorization and empirical evaluation of the mechanisms through which increasingly common employment experiences influence the age at which older Americans retire.

Using data from the first seven waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1992 to 2004), the authors examined the extent to which joint retirement expectations were realized, the role of couple-level agreement in facilitating joint retirement, whether husbands' or wives' expectations were more likely to be realized in cases of disagreement, and factors associated with the realization of expectations. The results indicate that couples expecting joint retirement were over three times more likely to retire jointly than couples in which neither spouse expected to do so. However, the probability of joint retirement did not differ between couples in which both spouses expected to retire jointly and those in which only one spouse expected to do so. Wives' and husbands' expectations were equally strong predictors of joint retirement, and retirement age, health, spouses' relative earnings, and discussions of retirement were related to the likelihood of realizing joint retirement expectations.Retirement has typically been viewed as an event experienced by men at the end of their careers. As such, most families experience only one retirement -that of the husband and breadwinner. However, this simple characterization of retirement is increasingly inappropriate as long-term increases in women's labor force participation across the life course have resulted in more couples with two retirements to coordinate. Joint, or synchronized, retirement of husband and wife has become a salient option for dual-worker couples and several studies have examined the trends, correlates, and consequences of joint retirement (Blau 1998; Gustman and To date, however, little attention has been paid to couples' initial expectations regarding joint retirement and the extent to which these expectations are realized. As a result, there are several missing pieces in our understanding of joint retirement. We do not know whether it is an expected or planned retirement option, whether expectations about joint retirement are shared between spouses, and what factors are related to the realization of expectations. An increasing number of studies have examined relationships between retirement expectations and subsequent behavior at the individual level and conclude that expectations provide useful information for projecting future retirement outcomes (Anderson, Burkhauser and Quinn 1986;Bernheim 1987;Dwyer 2001). Do similar relationships hold for joint retirement? The relationship between expectations and behavior is more complex for joint retirement than at the individual level given the need to coordinate two retirements, each with its own institutionalized schedules. We are not aware of any existing research on the congruence between initial expectations regarding joint retirement and subsequent behavior. This is an important limitation given the increasing number of dual-worker couples approaching retirement together.

Retirement may come more as a relief than as a stressor for individuals previously experiencing high levels of work demands interfering with family life. However, particularly among women, retirement may not relieve the burdens of family life stressors.

In this paper, we evaluate relationships between mid-life work experiences and the realization of preferences for full-time employment, part-time employment, and complete retirement at age 63-64. Using rich data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we demonstrate that the likelihood of achieving one's preferred employment status is related to earlier work experiences including employment stability in mid-life and self-employment, part-time employment, and private pension coverage across the life course. Despite large gender differences in work experiences across the life course, relationships between earlier work experiences and the likelihood of realizing later-life employment preferences are generally similar for men and women. We also find that these relationships are only partially mediated by economic and employment circumstances in late midlife, suggesting the need for further evaluation of the cumulative pathways linking mid-life work experiences to the realization of later-life employment preferences.As the population ages, there is a growing consensus that older Americans will need to work longer in order to ensure their own economic well-being in later life and to limit projected strains on public transfer programs (Munnell and Sass 2008). Despite evidence that the longterm trend toward earlier retirement has slowed or reversed (Friedberg 2007), the mean and modal ages of retirement (63 and 62, respectively) remain below the age of full Social Security eligibility (Burtless and Quinn 2002). At the same time, however, recent attitudinal surveys indicate that a majority of middle-aged Americans plan to work at older ages, with many interested in reduced hours prior to retirement, phased retirement, and part-time work after retirement (AARP 1998(AARP , 2004Merrill Lynch 2006; U.S. General Accounting Office 2001). It is likely that intentions to work beyond retirement have continued to increase in response to the recent economic crisis and associated reductions in pension wealth. The extent to which growing preferences for continued work at older ages will be realized is unclear in light of existing barriers to partial or phased retirement such as pension incentives to completely retire at specific ages and employers' reluctance to hire older workers (Penner, Perun, and Steuerle 2002). Several studies have found that many older Americans find themselves limited to a choice between complete retirement or continued full-time work ( Although a substantial increase in extended labor force participation seems unlikely based on the experiences of recent cohorts, it is important to recognize that the context of retirement is Address correspondence to James M. Raymo, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, 1180 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53706. jraymo@ssc.wisc.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptRes Aging. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 July 1. Published in final edited form as:Res Aging. Although expectations are of clear importance for projecting future behavior, they may di...

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