Resource Loss and Gain, Life Satisfaction, and Health Among Retirees in Spain

This article focuses on retirement transition from the Conservation of Resources (COR) perspective to better understand how aged participants' perceptions of retirement losses and gains significantly explain retirement well-being. In this article, the mediation of social support in the losses-well-being relationship is explored.

The study was conducted with a two-wave longitudinal design. Participants at T1 were aged Spanish workers (>64 years) and at T2 were retirees, with a final sample of 275, who had retired during the previous 6 months.

Findings supported the assertion that losses better explain well-being than gains. In addition, specific losses revealed a higher explaining power of life satisfaction and health complaints depending on their content. Social support mediated between perceived losses and well-being.

This study suggests that both perceived losses and gains associated with retirement and social support during retirement should be taken into account when addressing postretirement well-being.