His and Her Retirement: Effects of Gender and Familial Caregiving Profiles on Retirement Timing

Abstract

Objectives Retirement timing has been linked to a host of outcomes for individuals, families, and societies. The present study predicted retirement timing using profiles of preretirement family caregiving and gender. Method Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, cluster analysis was used to create profiles of preretirement family caregiving (operationalized as time and financial transfers to aging parents and adult children). These profiles, as well as gender, were used to predict later retirement timing. Results Four distinct preretirement caregiving profiles were evident. All profiles retired, on average, earlier than their full eligibility for Social Security benefits. A main effect of caregiving profile, but not gender, was evident. The Eldercare profile, which was characterized by high levels of time and financial transfers to aging parents, retired the earliest. There was not a significant interaction between caregiving profile and gender. Discussion When men enacted female-typical caregiving roles, their retirement timing resembled women's. Eldercare, in particular, was associated with earlier retirement timing. Implications for individual retirement decision-making and policy are discussed.

Why do men extend their employment beyond pensionable age more often than women? a cohort study

“…Some factors that have been associated with extended employment in previous studies, such as perceived working ability (Virtanen et al 2017), physical workload (Andersen et al 2020;Virtanen et al 2017), and self-rated health (Demou et al 2017) were not included as explanatory factors in this study, as they were not associated with sex and therefore could not have contributed to the sex differences in extended employment. In addition, some of the factors that have previously been associated with the timing of retirement, such as caregiving (Stoiko and Strough 2019) and mental health (assessed with the measure of psychological distress in this study) (Demou et al 2017;Virtanen et al 2014), were not associated with sex or extended employment in this study and were thus excluded from the mediation analyses. The absence of these association was unexpected, as women have been considered to be engaged in caregiving more than men, and this has been suggested as one of the reasons for sex differences in the timing of retirement (Stoiko and Strough 2019).…”

Linking Lives in Ethnically Diverse Families: The Interconnectedness of Home Leaving and Retirement Transitions

“…Women also tend to retire earlier than men. Given such factors as the cultural emphasis on the husband's provider roles, the generally younger age of wives, and the norm of joint retirement, we anticipate that women will retire earlier than men (e.g., Stoiko & Strough, 2019;Szinovacz, 2013). Moreover, personal health status has been found to be one of the most powerful factors affecting the decision to retire (e.g., see von Bonsdorff & Ilmarinen, 2013 for review).…”

“…Similarly, the poorer health of a spouse is found to affect retirement timing. It is common for a partner to take on a caretaker role and this creates an interruption in paid labor force attachment (Stoiko & Strough, 2019).…”

“…Surprisingly, while a burgeoning body of literature has examined population and individual-level patterns in relation to home leaving, retirement, and empty nest transitions (e.g., see Bea & Yi, 2019;Stoiko & Strough, 2019), no research to date has specifically focused on whether, to what degree, and how these pivotal marker events interdigitate. The vast literature on retirement determinants has mainly concentrated on health and wealth precursors to labor force exit (Miller et al, 2018).…”

Desigualdades de gênero e trabalho após a aposentadoria

“…A dupla ou tripla jornada que caracteriza o trabalho da maioria das mulheres, em nossas sociedades, agrava-se com o envelhecimento, não apenas pelas limitações próprias desse período, quanto pela necessidade de cuidar de familiares portadores de graus variados de incapacidade, o que determina a aposentadoria precoce e dificulta a reinserção no mercado de trabalho (CICARELLI; VAN SOEST, 2018;STOIKO;STROUGH, 2018).…”