2. Donald Daughtry, Ph.D., Chair
Richard Ferraro, Ph.D.
Marcia Gragert, Ph.D., R.N.
Michael Loewy, Ph.D.
Kara Wettersten, Ph.D.
3. Introduction
Literature Review
Purpose of Study
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Clinical Implications
Limitations
Future Directions
Feedback from the Panel,
including questions
4. Work is an important element in the lives of
American adults (Moen, 1996)
Leaving one’s employ can means losing an
important identity (Atchley, 1982)
A large number of workers are facing the loss of
this important identity over the next 20 years
(Thorson, 1995)
How does the loss of this important identity
affect the worker and the work environment?
5. Definitions:
Retirement: an individual ceases to work on a
full-time basis
Preretirement: period of time in an employee’s
life where voluntary retirement is seriously
considered and/or is imminent; can last 6-12
months
6. Education: increased access to higher education
Job Availability: linear career paths not always clear;
competition increased for fewer positions
Layoffs & Downsizing: do more with less; “lean & mean”
Unwritten Psychological Contract: reciprocal obligations
no longer true
Workplace Aggression: obstructionism, hostility, overt
aggression
Family Composition: women as head of household,
divorce, dual career/ paycheck
Technology: 5 year turnover of skills
7. Continuity Theory (Atchley, 1989)
Inner & outer continuity to maintain congruence
Life-Course Perspective (Moen et. al, 1992)
Developmental & Life Course pathways coincide
Life Transition Perspective (Theriault, 1994)
Reorganization of Assumptive Belief
Life-Space, Life-Span Theory (Super, 1957)
Pass through Stages within Roles within Arenas
8. Identification with Work Roles mitigate depending on
strength of identification (Ashforth, 2001)
Perceived viability of work and work role; is the work relevant
and important (Ekerdt, et. al. 1998)
Locus of Control over work and tasks (Sterns& Huyck, 2001)
Organizational Commitment to employer and vice versa
(Cook, 1981)
Retirement is a Process not an Event
Identification with Work Roles (Ashforth, 2001)
Perceived Viability of work and work role (Ekerdt, et. al. 1998)
Locus of Control over work and tasks (Sterns& Huyck, 2001)
Organizational Commitment to employer (Cook, 1981)
9. When to Retire: financial, health, bridge employment,
psychological factors (Lin & Hseih, 2001)
Anticipating Retirement: remote (I’ll retire someday…” &
realistic (“Work is too much anymore, I need to retire”)
(Fretz et. al, 1989)
Coworker Attitudes; “younger” colleagues may pressure to
see older workers to leave (Weckerle & Schultz, 1999)
Retirement-Oriented Behaviors; seeking less career-
advancing assignments and the like (Richardson, 1993)
10. Women’s Experiences: heterogeneity, frequent change, &
interruptions are more often found with women’s career
paths; varied & contradictory results found in research
Cultural Differences: constructs for work & retirement vary;
African Americans studied most & found AA women suffered
double indignities
Socioeconomic Factors: Pull to retirement for European
American middle class workers versus Push factors for
working class or poor (poverty, low pay/low status/low
tenure employment versus no benefits/ high risk jobs)
Sexual Orientation Considerations: few studies, need to hide
SO from employers, current climate limits retirement
benefits for partners
11. How do preretirees’ attitudes and behaviors at work
change once the decision to retire is made?
Do preretirement processes determine if there is support
or contradiction for existing career theories regarding
retirement from full-time employment?
What issues, such as changes in the workplace, do Baby
Boomers identify as relevant to their disengagement
process?
12. Participants
N=10 (F=5, M=5)
Overall mean age =65.2 (sd = 4.49)
F =66.4 (sd = 5.77). M =64.0 (sd = 2.916)
All were heterosexual, European American
All were planning to retire within 6-12 months of interview
8/10 were recruited from intercampus mailing
2/10 were recruited from watching local cable access station
9/10 had some kind of college education, from a few classes
through Ph.D. level
8/10 were married; 1 was divorced, 1 was widowed
13. Organizational Commitment Questionnaire
15-item self report (Porter & Steers, 1979)
Internal consistency .82-.93 (Porter & Steers, 1973)
Mean =5.193 (sd =.595), F = 5.2 (sd =.75), M =5.14 (sd
=.95)
Locus of Control
25-item self-report (Rotter, 1966)
Split- half reliability around .70 (Anastasi, 1988)
Mean =7.9 (sd =4.12), F =9.2 (sd =3.899), M =6.6 (sd
=4.336)
14. Demographics Questionnaire
Semi-structured, 45’-1ْ
interview
Audiotaped
Specific questions related to work changes,
engagement in work place, motivation to work versus to
retire, post-retirement plans
15. Consensual Qualitative Research (Hill, et. al, 1997
& 2005)
Explore phenomena as it occurs; reduces bias because
decisions about data must be made by team consensus
& requires auditing process
All team members required to become familiar with CQR
procedures, discuss biases, and keep note of subjective
impressions
1 Primary Researcher, 2-3 team members, 1 Auditor
16. Discuss Consensus, biases
Training in CQR methodology
Interviews
Develop domains
Transcribe, code
Develop core ideas, code
Use frequency labels
Send to auditor
Review auditing revisions
Stability methods
Charting results, if possible
18. CATEGORY DOMAIN AGREE DISAGREE
Thinking about retirement
and what it will entail
Think about retirement 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 3, 5, 6
Lack of anticipation 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 2, 7, 9
Think what retirement will
be like
1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 5, 6, 10
Planning for time in
retirement
1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 3, 5
Plan for health care in
retirement
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 2, 4, 6, 8
Plan for income in
retirement
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10
Continued employment Could remain at their job
even if they could retire
1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10 2, 4, 5, 7
Would like to keep working
as long as possible
1, 2, 3, 5, 6 4, 7, 8, 9, 10
19. CATEGORY DOMAIN PARTICIPANTS
Conception of Work Intrinsic Principle: personal growth, integrity 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9
Extrinsic principles: achieving pragmatic goals such as
money or survival
2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10
Dual Career Partners engaged in other pursuits: work, volunteer, etc. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10
No longer has a partner due to death or divorce 6, 7
Work Changes Structural changes: organization, downsizes, budget cuts,
etc.
1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
Supervisory and personnel changes: new managers, hostile
work environments, etc.
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Technology and instrument changes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
Job-, descipline-, and teaching –specific changes unique to
participant’s particular job or career
1, 3, 6, 8, 9
Motivation to Retire Workplace forces: specific changes in the workplace 1, 3, 5, 6, 8
Personal forces: health, family 4, 6, 7, 9, 10
Level of Involvement in the
Workplace Once the Decision to
Retire has been made
Work changes
Workload remained the same 1, 3, 4, 8, 10
20. CATEGORY DOMAIN PARTICIPANTS
Workload increased 2, 7, 9
Workload decreased 5, 6
Professional activities
Involvement in professional activities decreased 1, 5, 6, 8
Social interactions
Social interactions decreased 1, 4, 5, 6
Type of role relation changed 2, 3, 8, 10
Barriers to Retirement Practical barriers: money, health, etc. 2, 4, 5
Emotional connections: to job, students, coworkers, etc. 3, 7, 8, 9
Post-retirement Plans Continued work plans: part-time, volunteer, adjunct basis 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Personal growth: include activities for personal growth 1, 2, 7, 8
Home-related activities: hobbies, gardening, fishing, etc. 1, 4, 5, 7, 9
Family plans: includes visiting far-away relatives 1, 5, 10
21. Participants attached varying levels of
investment, meaning, & energy into
transitioning from current work into what
they perceived their lives would be like in
retirement
22. Past work changes affected careers; the nature and
extent of changes varied
If one could exert persistent, effortful behavior to
overcome obstacle, outcome was positive
Negative supervisory & personnel problems affected
some participants more deeply
Most were able to successfully deal with technology,
organizational & job changes
23. Job satisfaction, connection to coworkers or lack of
connection with coworkers (i.e. overall morale or high
turnover) influenced retirement decisions
Coworker attitudes towards participants influenced the
workplace; however, it was unclear whether this directly
influenced decisions to retire
Some participants found a change in role, i.e. became the
“elder statesman,” “guru,” or “guide”
No clear patterns were found in engagement with work
duties, engagement with coworkers, or participation in
professional organizations
24. Motivation to retire was psychological in nature for
some participants; coworkers’ attitudes were not
clear
Few barriers to retirement were faced; all participants
had favorable conditions
Postretirement plans included some type of work,
whether it be volunteer, part-time, or adjunct
Their work would be different from the formalized
version of current full-time employment
Not a lot of diversity in our participants
25. Continuity Perspective: participants appeared to be
applying past problem-solving strategies to formulate
solutions to current situation and to continue to utilize
their skills in new ventures; adaptation & persistence
Life Transition Perspective: theory focuses on
reorganization of perceptions, beliefs, expectations &
experiences during major life transition; this study
addressed current conditions rather than past anxiety or
satisfaction with past transitions
26. Life Course Perspective: since theory focuses on
personal circumstances in historical context,
research team was unable to organize a results
chart with any clarity
Life-Space, Life-Span Perspective: did not
address this stage except to mention transition
into leisurite role; participants did not see
themselves in this role but in continued work role
27. Most theories developed during time when retirement
was a well-defined institution
Career theories do not address needs of older workers
who face preretirement concerns & transitions out of
their formalized version of full-time employment
This is a drawback, given so many impending retirees will be
looking to recareer over the next decades
Most career theories do not address needs of those
who are not white, middle-class, healthy, heterosexual
males whose needs are met through retirement
benefits
28. Sample size
Homogeneity of sample
Limited Heterogeneity of research team
Time-based, time-limited phenomenon; no follow-up
interviews, interviews by primary researcher only
Stability checks
Time issues for research team
Benefits issues from primary employer
Problem with initial site chosen; employer changed
benefits package for impending retirees, which forced
6 potential participants to change their plans and
withdraw from the study
29. Larger N
Varied populations: African-Americans, Latino/as, Native
Americans, First Generation citizens, etc.
Address unique needs of GLB preretirees
Higher rates of unemployment and early retirement for
those with disabilities due to health issues
Disengagement scale development
Retool career theory to include 2nd
Fulfillment
Longitudinal study to compare OCQ & LOC with career
position & 2nd
Fulfillment position
Before-and-after treatment, Control Group treatment (with
and without crossover design)
30. Protocols for treatment to address transition, letting go of
roles
This will depend on what further research finds
Will need more than leisure interest inventories
Career interest and skills inventories may be trite,
superfluous
Training counselors and psychologists to deal with
preretirees
Retooling career theories, with research to address
preretirees’ particular needs, especially those of diverse
populations
