Retirement and Well-Being : Examining Characteristics of Life Course Transitions

Much literature debates whether transitions to retirement lead to increased or reduced well-being. We attribute this controversy to the lack of theorizing on life course transitions and argue that the effects of such transitions depend on their characteristics such as speed (gradual/abrupt), perceived control (voluntary/forced), anticipation (expected/unexpected), timing (earlier/later), and synchronicity with other life changes (focal/overlapping). Using change models with Heckman correction on the panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the effects of retirement on four dimensions of well-being – psychological, physical, economic, and social. Retirement transitions can be both beneficial and detrimental to well-being, depending on their characteristics, dimensions of well-being, and the specific point in the trajectory of change