Mental Health and Labor Force Exits in Older Workers: The Mediating or Moderating Roles of Physical Health and Job Factors
[June 2003 - Michigan Retirement Research Center] This paper extends earlier health and work studies by examining how mental health affects transitions out of paid work in the years prior to the traditional Social Security retirement ages. Given recent changes in the labor market, optimal mental health may be as important a prerequisite for continuing employment as good physical health. This study uses data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine how mental health is linked to transitions to early retirement or other unemployment in 1996 for middle-aged adults who were currently working in 1992 and whether physical health, job, or sociodemographic factors affect those links. The study results indicated that mental health plays a strong and significant role in the move from paid work to other unemployment in three ways, net of other documented health, job, and sociodemographic correlates of work status. First, higher baseline CES-D depressive symptoms predicted the transition to retiree in male workers. Second, increased CES-D depressive symptoms between 1992 and 1994 (net of baseline symptoms) predicted exits from paid employment and into other unemployment by 1996. Finally, low job autonomy did not have the hypothesized moderating effect on the mental health-work status link. The results also indicated that mental health may be an even more important predictor of transitions out of paid work among middle-aged workers than are physical health and functioning and that patterns of labor force exit differ for men and women. ...

Ageing Societies and the Looming Pension Crisis
[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] Nearly all OECD countries face the need to reform their pensions system. Some have already taken steps, while others are getting ready to. Reforms are necessary to ensure the sustainability of pay-as-you-go schemes. But this is only one part of the equation. Pension reform needs to go hand in hand with changes in the behaviour and attitudes of all actors involved to promote a longer working life. ... In sum, the issues of demography and older workers go well beyond the reform of pension systems. They are a matter of social equity, not only between workers and pensioners, but also between generations. Without reform, and without a change in attitude, it will be our children and grandchildren who will pay the price.

Staying Ahead of the Curve 2003: The AARP Working in Retirement Study
[September 2003 - AARP Research] Although the age of 65 has customarily been associated with retirement, previous research has suggested that many workers who are approaching the customary retirement age plan to continue working well beyond the age of 65. AARP recently conducted a nationwide telephone survey of 2,001 workers between the ages of 50 and 70 years old to explore their vision of retirement and to better understand the types of jobs that workers who plan to work in retirement imagine holding and the types of jobs currently held by today's working retirees. Findings reveal that most preretirees still cling to traditional images of retirement, such as spending more time with loved ones and receiving pension and Social Security benefits; however, the majority also report that their personal definition of retirement includes some form of work. Those who expect to work in retirement are considering a variety of occupations, including positions related to teaching, office support, crafts, retail sales, and health care. ...

Reforming the U.S. Retirement Income System: The Growing Role of Work (PDF)
[September 2003 - BOSTON COLLEGE CENTER FOR RETIREMENT RESEARCH GLOBAL BRIEF] Looking ahead, policymakers must address the continuing solvency problems in Social Security and employer defined benefit pension plans. In addition, the level of income provided by the retirement income system will clearly emerge as a serious concern. Future Social Security benefits will replace a smaller share of pre-retirement income. Employer defined benefit plans are becoming rare. And the limitations and risks in the employer defined contribution system all but guarantee that many retirees will not have the income they need to maintain living standards. As the income provided by the retirement income system recedes, continued work must become a far more important source of support for older Americans. The reforms in both public and private programs facilitate continued full-time or part-time employment by reducing severance incentives and by allowing workers to shift their �retirement wealth� to older ages. The key to retirement income security will thus be the response of workers � and employers � to this new reality.

Old Europe? Demographic change and pension reform (PDF)
[September 2003 - CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN REFORM] David Willetts, in this highly original and thoroughly researched pamphlet, addresses a number of common fallacies in the ageing debate. Many people believe that it is only the tax-financed pension systems of continental Europe that are heading for trouble, and that the UK need not worry. Willetts warns against complacency, however. Italy may have an unsustainable state pension system, but Britain has bankrupt company pension schemes. British people save less than the French and the Germans. And UK figures for age-related public spending are artificially low because UK pensioners get much of their income from social benefits. The sustainability of pension systems is not the only challenge for ageing societies. �Old Europe� will be less dynamic and less productive. The US, meanwhile, has a young and growing population. The economic gap between the two continents will continue to widen. The answers to these problems go well beyond fixing pension systems.

YOUNG RETIREES AND OLDER WORKERS
[National Academy for an Aging Society] For data profiles on young retirees and older workers, see this summary of key questions and answers.

Elderly mental health 'timebomb'
[15 September 2003 - BBC NEWS] The number of elderly people with dementia is set to soar - but social services will be unable to cope, a charity has warned.

NIA/NRC WORKSHOP ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGING
[September 2003 - Washington, DC] The National Research Council, with sponsorship from the National Institute on Aging, will hold a workshop on Social Psychology and Aging in Washington, DC, on Monday, September 29, 2003, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM and Tuesday, September 30, 2003 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The workshop is being held as part of a consensus study that is helping the NIA to revamp its research program in social psychology, adult development, and personality psychology. Nationally recognized experts will present papers that focus on a number of practical questions that affect older adults. Panel sessions will review: how aging affects decision making abilities; stigmatization's effect on older adults; aging and the measurement of self-report data; maintaining a healthy mind for older individuals; and motivating older adults to make behavioral and other changes. Advocates, clinicians, researchers, and public policy specialists interested in older adults will present these papers. The workshop will be free and open to the public.

MSNBC INTERACTIVE SLIDE SHOW: "Aging in America"
[September 2003 - MSNBC] Eight years ago, photographer Ed Kashi and reporter Julie Winokur started documenting the changing face of growing older in America. Two years ago, MSNBC.com brought you �Years ahead: Aging in America,� with photography and audio reporting about youthful seniors and innovative elder care. In 2003, MSNBC.com publishes an updated report on how seniors are staying engaged in their later years, and the love and loss that accompanies growing old together.

The New Old: Why baby boomers won't be pensioned off
[2003 - Demos - UK] We live in a rapidly ageing society, as life expectancy increases whilst birth rates stabilise or decline. By 2007, the number of Britons aged over 65 will exceed the number of those aged under 16 for the first time. The public debate about this demographic revolution has mainly focused on the impact an increasingly old population will have on the future of pension provisions and the potentially negative impact for welfare and care services. However, what has largely been ignored is that, in connection with this demographic revolution, we will also experience radical attitudinal changes, as the large post-war baby boomer generation reaches retirement age within the next twenty years. The baby boomers, having throughout their lives been at the forefront of radical attitudinal and social change, are different to current generations of older people and will redefine the meaning of retirement. In order to understand the implications and consequences of the baby boomers' retirement and to make the transformation a positive experience for all, we need to understand the baby boomers, their attitudes and values. 'The New Old' is an agenda setting report presenting the initial findings of a joint project between Demos and Age Concern. The report explores the challenges the retirement of the baby boomers will present to society and begins to develop a long-term strategy for an ageing society.
Download full text as a PDF (461kb)

Aging's Changing Face
[Jul/Aug 2003 - Psychology Today] Science is reshaping the way we think about the older body, memory and sex drive. More and more, how we grow old is a personal choice. Older folks are going back to school in their 50s, starting businesses in their 60s, training for triathlons in their 70s and, yes, having sex in their 80s.

People keep their distinctive patterns of cognitive ability as they age: Longitudinal study allowed researchers to disconfirm the controversial hypothesis of "dedifferentiation;" cognitive skill levels do not appear to merge late in life
[7 September 2003 - American Psychological Association] Never good with numbers? The bad news: As you age, you may still not be good with them. The good news: You'll still be good at what you're good at today. New research reveals that, contrary to prior thinking, even the very old retain their distinctive patterns of cognitive strengths and weakness. The findings are published in the September issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, which is published by the American Psychological Association. The results of a large-scale, longitudinal study did not confirm popular but unproven theories of "dedifferentiation" -� that for any given person, varied cognitive skill levels start to merge late in life, perhaps due to brain changes. Anstey and her co-authors explain that the dedifferentiation hypothesis �- that individuals "differentiate" cognitively as they mature into adulthood, and then "de-differentiate" as they enter old age -- has a "long history in the fields of intelligence and individual differences, but has rarely been tested on a large, population-based sample of very old adults."

Companies Helping Workers Plan Retirement
[7 September 2003 - Kansas City Star] More companies are looking at ways to help employees plan for retirement. Many of these planning programs consist of seminars, online modeling tools and counseling sessions that are specifically designed to help workers close to retirement figure out when they would like to retire, how much money they'll need to maintain their standard of living, and how much more they need to save to fill gaps between their savings and future needs.

Ageing baby boomers set to rock society: Government faces backlash over treatment of elderly as pensions loom for radical generation
[1 September 2003 - The Guardian] The British political landscape is about to be rocked by changes caused by the ageing of the baby boomers, the generation that has persistently challenged conventional behaviour patterns, the thinktank Demos warns today.