Abstract
Institutionalized retirement at specific ages is disappearing, even as the large Boomer cohort moves toward it. Retirement has become a project, playing out in the emerging encore life stage (ages 50-75 years), the bonus years of healthy life expectancy before old age. Retiring is often a constrained choice, occurring unexpectedly as a result of layoffs or health problems. Its mental health impacts depend on couples' employment/retirement congruence, previous job conditions, and voluntariness of the exit. Mental health in the encore years depends on whether employment or retirement is voluntary or involuntary, promoting or detracting from people's sense of control.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Encyclopedia of Mental Health |
| Subtitle of host publication | Second Edition |
| Publisher | Elsevier Inc. |
| Pages | 47-50 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780123970459 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780123977533 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Adaptive strategies
- Constrained choices
- Cycles of control
- Emerging encore life stage
- Growing life expectancy
- Life course
- Population aging
- Retirement project
- Strategic adaptation
- Stress process theory