Predictors Of Canadians’ Psychological Well-Being In Retirement: A Mixed Methods Approach, Jessica Miller

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In prior decades, retirement research focused on the negative effects of the life transition—such as negative psychological well-being caused by factors such as difficulties adjusting to retirement, feelings of a role loss, or the financial effects of retirement. However, there is considerable agreement across recent research studies that post-retirement years are marked by positive psychological well-being due to a variety of factors. For example, retirees often spend more time in roles (such as volunteer positions) that provide life satisfaction. The present study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine factors related to well-being in retirement among individuals living in …

The Effects Of The Social Security Amendments Of 1983 On Employment Status, Alcohol Consumption, And Depression, Adam J. Delgenio

Theses and Dissertations

Nearly four decades ago, Congress passed the Social Security Amendments of 1983. The changes were significant, and they pressured people to delay retirement. In this thesis, I use individual-level data from the Annual and Social Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey and the Health Retirement Study to analyze the effects of the amendments. The amendments affect individuals at the same age, but across different years. Year of birth determines treatment by the amendments. I control for year of birth and age effects in a difference-in-difference model and interact treatment with age to identify the effects of the amendments on …

Puerto Rican Retired Teachers’ Perceptions About Their Financial Sufficiency, Rossana López León

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Puerto Rico, the Teachers’ Retirement System, which has a membership of around 36,000 retired public-school teachers, is currently facing major restructuring and budget cuts, as part of a larger restructuring of all government agencies to meet the economic emergency they were facing. The recent retirement system reforms were focused mainly on cutting benefits, such as medications, Christmas and summer bonuses, and the cost-of-living adjustment. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of retired teachers regarding their financial sufficiency, and to identify their attitudes, beliefs, and opinions/feelings in light of their socioeconomic profile. The research question focused …

The Out-Of-Sport Transition Experience Of Ncaa Athletes: A Systematic Review, Stephanie Tuncel

Theses and Dissertations

During the 2018-2019 academic year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reported 1,004,450 student-athletes across Division I, II, and III universities. Of these athletes, only a small percentage will go on to play at a professional level. The majority of these student-athletes will go through an out-of-sport transition that, without proper preparation, can result in a variety of psychosocial difficulties. However, there are opportunities for student-athletes, athletic departments, academic departments, and psychological counseling centers to target different factors that could increase the likelihood of experiencing a positive out-of-sport transition. The focus of this systematic review was to address two primary …

Puerto Rican Retired Teachers’ Perceptions About Their Financial Sufficiency, Rossana López León

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Puerto Rico, the Teachers’ Retirement System, which has a membership of around 36,000 retired public-school teachers, is currently facing major restructuring and budget cuts, as part of a larger restructuring of all government agencies to meet the economic emergency they were facing. The recent retirement system reforms were focused mainly on cutting benefits, such as medications, Christmas and summer bonuses, and the cost-of-living adjustment. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of retired teachers regarding their financial sufficiency, and to identify their attitudes, beliefs, and opinions/feelings in light of their socioeconomic profile. The research question focused …

Essays In Applied Microeconomics, Joshua C. Martin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The first chapter examines the role that same-sex marriage legalization had on the number of adoptions of children from foster care in the United States. We do so by employing a synthetic difference-in-differences estimator which leverages both the differential timing of these laws across states and the subsequent wave of state-level legal protections which give foster-care agencies the right to deny service to same-sex couples based on religiously-held beliefs. Using highly detailed, county-level data of nearly 20 million children in the foster care system from 1995-2020, our findings reveal that same-sex marriage legalization led to a 3.8%-5.9% increase in the …

Dimensions Of Social Isolation And Adverse Health Outcomes Among Older Men And Women In The United States: How Aging, Living Alone, And Obesity Contribute To Mortality, Youngjoon Bae

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the interaction of a series of potential social and biological mechanisms that may affect inequalities in mortality among those 65 or older. The mechanisms are social isolation and its relationships with obesity and diabetes. Although many prior studies have confirmed social isolation as a risk factor for adverse health outcomes such as obesity, diabetes, and even premature death, how and why social isolation works to generate adverse health outcomes remains mostly unknown. To extend the scholarship on social isolation and health, each chapter of this dissertation tests distinctive aspects of social isolation: living alone, rurality, and retirement, …

The Influence Of Work-Life Balance Directionality On Retirement Decisions, Joshua Craig

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The retirement landscape is ever shifting and has become a dual-decision process more so now than ever before. Employees consider retirement through a family lens and particularly so when there is conflict between life and work domains. Researchers have suggested that work-life directionality does influence work-related decisions (Wiktorowicz, 2018). The impact of work-life directionality, however, on retirement choices has not been substantially examined. Further, socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to influence retirement decisions to some degree (Dushi et al., 2017). Therefore, in the present study, data from a total of 17,146 participants were used from the 2018 wave of …

Mapping The Road Ahead - Charting A Passion Filled Next Chapter, Jennifer Cordes

Community Engagement Student Work

Mature adults are reimagining retirement, seeking encore careers filled with passion and mission. Simultaneously, nonprofits are struggling to attract and retain talent while battling large scale social issues. Our country faces a social justice opportunity to make positive change in our communities by guiding encore career individuals into the social sector. This capstone project creates a toolkit filled with skills and assessments to uncover transferable skills individuals can utilize in their next career. The toolkit was created on a Google Me platform and reviewed by five human resource professionals to assess its utility when mapping an individual's next chapter. The …

Why Do Rich People Not Retire?, Xiya Li

Scripps Senior Theses

Work and leisure are central to the human condition. Scholars from many fields have tried to understand why Americans work so much. Many people believe that when they have enough money, they will retire. However, many people are not willing to retire even if they have enough money to do so. Most people who do not have enough money to retire do not even get any amount of leisure from their jobs. If the view that enough money directly leads to retirement is wrong, then it is time to reconsider using this logic to think of the possibility of retiring. …

The Psychosocial Experiences Of Retired Police Officers: A Phenomenological Study, Steven Maurice Kelsey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThis phenomenological study was conducted to explore retired police officers’ perceptions of their retirement and the factors that positively or negatively affected their retirement. This issue is critical to explore to ensure that officers receive the support they need to transition out of their career into retirement positively and manage some of the emotional turmoil that have been seen to result from retirement (e.g., denial, stress, anger, anxiety). A conceptual framework was designed integrating the theory of continuity and the role theory of retirement. Three research questions were designed to focus the inquiry: How do retired police officers perceive their …

Three Essays In Healthcare Economics And Policy Analysis, Tuyen Pham

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation research consists of three essays on healthcare economics and policy analysis. Chapter 1 investigates and explains the failure of a proposition on limiting dialysis clinic profits in California in 2018. The proposition would have required dialysis clinics to issue refunds to patients or their payers for revenue that exceeds 115% of the direct cost of treatment. In this chapter, a conceptual framework of how voters weigh costs and benefits is developed and two different empirical approaches, simple OLS and Double Post LASSO, are employed to identify key determinants of the voting outcome. The empirical results suggest that counties …

Party Central: Networks, Influence, And Party Change In The Us House Of Representatives, Sean M. Goff

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

For decades, scholars have devoted considerable attention to the causes and processes of party change. In this dissertation, I offer a new theoretical framework that not only takes into account the behavior of Members of Congress, but also how that behavior is constrained and conditioned by the relationships they share with other Members. This web of relationships forms a party network, the structure of which changes as Member-to-Member relationships change over time. I also identify three mechanisms of party change: a Member of Congress shifting their position to align with another (assimilation); a Member being pushed to the periphery of …

Assessment Of Psychological Functioning In Retired Firefighters, Jordana Simone Pepper

Theses and Dissertations

The past decade has witnessed a significant increase in clinical attention directed to mental health problems in firefighters. The basis for heightened activity in this area is the convergence of evidence indicating that firefighters demonstrate significantly high levels of psychological disorders such as depression and PTSD (Henderson et al., 2016). A previously unexplored risk factor for psychopathology in firefighters is active retirement. Retirement can lead to a decline in psychological functioning, as well as a decline in a person’s self-concept clarity through group loss (Slotter, Winter & Soto, 2015). This loss has the potential to cause, or enhance, feelings of …

Retired Military Officers’ Length Of Service And Loss Of Social Identity In Second Careers, Moriah Elizabeth Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many past researchers have reported problematic issues and challenges with militarypersonnel transitioning to civilian life and to the civilian workplace. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of 20 retired military officers who had between 24 and 42 years of military service regarding how they may have experienced the losses of social identity and organizational socialization and how those losses may have impacted their second careers in civilian organizations. Data for this study were collected via semistructured interviews and the use of interview protocols. The conceptual framework consisted of a combination of social identity theory …

Online Retirement Planning Training: The Effects Of Usability On Cognitive Load And Retirement Planning Activity Levels, Natasha Hardy

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The shift from defined benefit to defined contribution retirement plans for the current generation of retiree planners, Generation X, has placed the onus on individuals to gather, comprehend, and utilize complex financial information in order to plan their own retirement. Low savings rates and retirement planning activity indicate that individuals are not up to the challenge. This research investigates the interplay of three facets of cognitive load, usability, tech and retirement anxiety and the effects of a usability intervention on retirement planning activity levels.

Study 1 used semi-structured interviews and cognitive task analysis to explore themes of computer and retirement …

Psychological Well-Being During Retirement Transition And Adjustment For Southern Baptist Pastors: A Phenomenological Multi-Case Study, Tresa Gamblin

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological multi-case study was to understand the psychological well-being experience of Southern Baptist pastors during transition and adjustment to retirement. Questions centered around their upbringing, their calling experience, their education, career progression in churches, reasons for retiring, preparation for retirement, experience after retiring, and how identity and purpose may or may not have been related to their role as pastor. The goal of the study was to investigate these experiences to provide rich data and analysis that is missing in current literature.

The research was based on two theories: continuity theory and role theory. The study …

The Days, Months, And Years After The Last Game: Retirement In Canadian Student-Athletes, Melissa Pare

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), 98% of student-athletes will retire from sport during and/or after their collegiate career (NCAA, 2015) from one of four causes (e.g., eligibility, deselection, injury, or choice) and this number is even higher in Canadian student-athletes. Athlete retirement has been widely studied across professional and elite athletes using multiple theoretical models (Schlossberg, 1981; Stambulova, 1997; Taylor & Ogilvie, 1994); however, student-athletes’ experiences are not widely studied. Furthermore, Canadian university sport (U SPORTS) does not currently have programs or services dedicated to support student-athletes through retirement. The purpose of this cross-sectional qualitative study was …

Factors Influencing Retirement Decision Making For Louisiana State Government Employees, Osama A. Amous

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Public pension members continually face factors affecting their decision to retire in the changing American society. Workers are living longer and need more medical care with better retirement benefits. For Louisiana public employees specifically, no prior studies have examined the factors affecting workers’ decision to retire nor evaluated the factors impacting workers’ decision.

This multiphase study aimed to identify factors and evaluate the decision-making process that enables Louisianans to retire happily and satisfied with a guaranteed income, and to examine millennials’ decision-making process. In the initial phase, ten active and retired male and female participants answered questions in-person, leading …

Rethinking Retirement For The 21st Century, Stephen C. Russo

Major Papers

Canada’s labour force has been gradually growing older in recent decades. An aging labour force creates significant problems for the country and the future growth of our economy. With an aging labour force, comes the need to start rethinking how Canadians look at retirement in the 21^st century and how both the government and private sector can contribute solutions to adapting to an older workforce. This problem is not unique to Canada, most of the industrialized west has been or will begin to experience the same demographic shift as we are in Canada. The main challenge this paper examines …

Retirement Planning Versus Family Support: What Drives Peoples` Decisions?, Radion Svynarenko

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

A slight majority of American households headed by 55–64-year-olds do not have any savings for retirement, and those who have retirement savings have a median of around $109,000 saved, which is equivalent to an inflation-protected annuity of $405 per month (i.e., well below the official poverty level). Among the main reasons cited for the lack of retirement savings among parents is a desire to provide financial support to their young adult children. Indeed, on the whole, parents spend twice as much on financial support of their adult children as they save for retirement (Merryl Lynch, 2018). Understanding the precursors and …

Psychosocial Development And Well-Being In Retirement: The Relationship Between Generativity, Ego Integrity, And Regret Among Canadian Retirees, Shauna Spirling

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Transitions such as retirement may facilitate change in social and psychological dynamics, perhaps encouraging what Butler (2002) refers to as a life review: an introspective process encouraging reflection on the life course, potentially eliciting regret(s). Older adults may especially be tasked with coming to terms with the life they have lived given time constraints and perceivably less opportunity to rectify paths not taken. Drawing upon Erikson’s (1950) stages of generativity and ego integrity, the purpose of the present study is to understand the role of psychosocial development in the presence or absence of regret as well as to further understand …

Self-Employment In Later Life: Implications For Financial, Physical, And Mental Well-Being, Cal Halvorsen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More than one in five working Americans aged 50 and older are self-employed, yet scholarship that examines the relationships between self-employment and personal health and financial well-being is limited. Using data from six biennial waves of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally-representative panel study of Americans past 50 years of age, this quasi-experimental dissertation documents the characteristics of self-employed older adults in comparison to wage-and-salary workers, as well as compares self-employed and wage-and-salary workers in later life on a set of financial well-being and personal health outcomes. This study incorporates inverse probability of treatment weighting (also referred to as …

Essays On Retirement Behavior During The Housing Boom And Bust, Wancong Fu

Dissertations - ALL

This study contains two chapters. The first uses the Prentice-Gloeckler-Meyer proportional hazard model with individual heterogeneity to investigate the effects of loss aversion concerning the housing market and the local foreclosure rate on retirement during the housing bust periods. The second chapter creates a dynamic programming life-cycle model with the housing wealth and uses the Method of Simulated Moments to systematically study the retirement and saving behavior during the housing boom and bust (the years 2000-2014).

Housing wealth is one of the biggest savings for elderly. It relates to the financial security of elderly after retirement. After the incredible growth …

Predicting Agency Contributions For The Federal Employment Retirement System (Fers) Fund, Raymond L. Mims Ii

Theses and Dissertations

The Federal Employment Retirement System is a pension fund for federal employees and is managed by the United States Office of Personnel and Management (OPM). Each year OPM publishes an annual Civil Service Retirement and Disabilities Fund (CSRDF) report that provides information on the health of the fund. The report contains historical cash flows from income provided by contributions to the fund from employees, agencies, and the U.S. Treasury. Additionally, the report shows actuarial valuations of the total liabilities owed to all current employees and annuitants. The actuaries at OPM use their estimates to provide projections needed to maintain the …

Life-Long Creativity: Changing The Narrative Of Aging And Retirement, Jennifer K. Gippel Dr

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The current narratives and stereotypes around retirement and aging are both inaccurate and incomplete. The popular media regularly portrays retirees and older citizens as blissfully happy but bland; or physically feeble and forgetful. Rarely are they portrayed as achievers and vibrant problem solvers. Instead they are perceived by policy makers as a problem to be solved. This project offers a different narrative ― one that presents retirement and aging as a unique time of creative opportunity, possibility, and freedom to choose. The primary outcome of the project is two chapters of a book entitled: Retirement by design: How to discover …

Effects Of The Great Recession On American Retirement Funding, Tanner G. Hamil

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A New Method For Helping Chinese People Who Are Facing Retirement To Exert Greater Control Over Their Financial Resources, Xuanmu Yan

Dissertations - ALL

In China, personal financial advisers are not common. Chinese people who are facing retirement have a difficult time to plan for their retirement. This causes a very serious problem in China: many older Chinese do not have enough money in retirement. Therefore, my goal is to help Chinese people that are facing retirement without a detailed financial plan. In order to do so, I’ve conducted research to understand the long-term goals of those Chinese people. As a qualitative research approach, I've created three probes to explore the problems they are facing and the reasons why existing solutions do not work …

Health Factors And The To-Work, At-Work, And To-Retire Goals Of Older Workers, Thomas John Borawski Jr.

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Our workforce continues to gray due to advances in medical science and new technology, which allows workers to remain in the workforce longer. Furthermore, we need our current workforce to remain motivated and work until an older age due to decreased birth rates and the smaller size of the post baby boomer cohorts. An in-depth examination of the motivation of our aging workforce is necessary to determine how we can increase motivation and keep older workers (those 55 and older) in the workforce longer, while remaining productive. In this study, three divisions of health (i.e., Major Illnesses, Functional Impairments, and …

Understanding The Communicative Processes Of Baby Boomer Women Adjusting To Retirement: Connecting Micro And Macro Discourses, Patricia E. Gettings

Open Access Dissertations

Baby Boomers are changing the face of retirement in the United States. For example, retirement traditionally refers to the time when an individual who has worked full-time for the majority of her life chooses to entirely and permanently exit the workforce, but now includes a range of formations (e.g., bridge employment). Baby Boomer women are most affected by this “new” retirement because they have worked a broader range of jobs for longer periods of time than ever before. Transitioning to retirement implicates processes of adjusting beyond just a change in one’s employment status as retirees potentially confront instrumental (e.g., where …