Alternative Retirement Paths and Cognitive Performance: Exploring the Role of Preretirement Job Complexity. (9th July 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Alternative Retirement Paths and Cognitive Performance: Exploring the Role of Preretirement Job Complexity. (9th July 2019)
- Main Title:
- Alternative Retirement Paths and Cognitive Performance: Exploring the Role of Preretirement Job Complexity
- Authors:
- Carr, Dawn C
Willis, Robert
Kail, Ben Lennox
Carstensen, Laura L - Editors:
- Meeks, Suzanne
- Abstract:
- Abstract: Background and Objectives: Recent research suggests that working longer may be protective of cognitive functioning in later life, especially for workers in low complexity jobs. As postretirement work becomes increasingly popular, it is important to understand how various retirement pathways influence cognitive function. The present study examines cognitive changes as a function of job complexity in the context of different types of retirement transitions. Research Design and Methods: We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine change in cognitive function for workers who have held low, moderate, and high complexity jobs and move through distinct retirement pathways—retiring and returning to work, partial retirement—compared with those who fully retire or remain full-time workers. Inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (a propensity score method) is used to adjust for selection effects. Results: There are systematic variations in the relationships between work and cognitive performance as a function of job complexity and retirement pathways. All retirement pathways were associated with accelerated cognitive decline for workers in low complexity jobs. In contrast, for high complexity workers retirement was not associated with accelerated cognitive decline and retiring and returning to work was associated with modest improvement in cognitive functioning. Discussion and Implications: Both policy makers and individuals are beginning toAbstract: Background and Objectives: Recent research suggests that working longer may be protective of cognitive functioning in later life, especially for workers in low complexity jobs. As postretirement work becomes increasingly popular, it is important to understand how various retirement pathways influence cognitive function. The present study examines cognitive changes as a function of job complexity in the context of different types of retirement transitions. Research Design and Methods: We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine change in cognitive function for workers who have held low, moderate, and high complexity jobs and move through distinct retirement pathways—retiring and returning to work, partial retirement—compared with those who fully retire or remain full-time workers. Inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (a propensity score method) is used to adjust for selection effects. Results: There are systematic variations in the relationships between work and cognitive performance as a function of job complexity and retirement pathways. All retirement pathways were associated with accelerated cognitive decline for workers in low complexity jobs. In contrast, for high complexity workers retirement was not associated with accelerated cognitive decline and retiring and returning to work was associated with modest improvement in cognitive functioning. Discussion and Implications: Both policy makers and individuals are beginning to embrace longer working lives which offer variety of potential benefits. Our findings suggest that continued full-time work also may be protective for cognitive health in workers who hold low complexity jobs. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Gerontologist. Volume 60:Number 3(2020)
- Journal:
- Gerontologist
- Issue:
- Volume 60:Number 3(2020)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 60, Issue 3 (2020)
- Year:
- 2020
- Volume:
- 60
- Issue:
- 3
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2020-0060-0003-0000
- Page Start:
- 460
- Page End:
- 471
- Publication Date:
- 2019-07-09
- Subjects:
- Work (after retirement, occupation) -- Productive aging -- Successful aging
Older people -- Periodicals
Older people -- United States -- Periodicals
305.2605 - Journal URLs:
- http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ ↗
http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1093/geront/gnz079 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0016-9013
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4162.300000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 15092.xml