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Published on: January 26, 2019
Retirement intentions and spousal support: a multi-actor approach.
1Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), The Hague, The Netherlands. Henkens@nidi.nl
Summary
Retirement decisions are a shared household affair, particularly for men. Partner support and intentions strongly influence early retirement, making it a joint decision rather than an individual one.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Economics
- Sociology
Background:
- Retirement decisions are often viewed as individual choices.
- The influence of spousal support and intentions on retirement planning is increasingly recognized.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the reciprocal influence of partners' support and intentions on early retirement.
- To determine the extent to which couples make joint decisions regarding retirement.
- To identify which partner's influence is dominant in the retirement decision-making process.
Main Methods:
- Survey data collected from 1,052 older employees and their spouses in Dutch industry and trade.
- Two-stage least squares regression analysis (2SLS) employed to model reciprocal relationships between partners' retirement intentions and support.
Main Results:
- Strong correlations found between partners' retirement intentions and support.
- Early retirement is significantly influenced by intra-household dynamics, indicating it is a household decision, especially for married men.
- No direct causal link observed between a couple's retirement decisions and their social network's retirement behavior.
Conclusions:
- Future retirement decision-making research should prioritize the family unit over the individual worker.
- Research should encompass diverse retirement behaviors beyond early retirement.
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