ASSESSMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING THEORIES ON RETIREMENT

Abstract

Prior research points to the gendered nature of work and private routines, however, surprisingly few studies have explored the influence of gender on the sources of psychological well-being in retirement in an attempt to apply the usefulness of psychological well-being theories to understand retirement. Drawing on resource theories and theories on the gendered division of labour, this article examines how preretirement resources relate to retirees’ psychological wellbeing by using examples from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. It is hypothesized that possessing key resources prior to retirement as well as losing or gaining resources in the transition to retirement influence retirees’ well-being and that these effects are partially conditioned by gender. Inferences from the hypothesis indicate that preretirement physical health, tenacity in goal pursuit, and flexibility in goal adjustment are beneficial for men’s and women’s well-being alike. By contrast, financial assets and job dissatisfaction are more strongly related to men’s psychological well-being in retirement and preretirement social contacts to that of women. Thus, the article underscores the importance of considering gendered resources in retirement research.