Saved by retirement: Beyond the mean effect on mental health

To Work or Not to Work? The Effect of Higher Pension Age on Cardiovascular Health

“…Our results indicate that delaying pension claiming could be a risk factor for cardiovascular health, as it is associated with an increase in the incidence of CVD hospitalization by approximately 21 percent. Consistently with previous works assessing the impact of retirement on different health outcomes (Belloni, Meschi, and Pasini 2016; Carrino, Glaser, and Avendano 2018; Dayaram and McGuire 2019; Kolodziej and Garcia‐Gomez 2019; Mazzonna and Peracchi 2017; Westerlund et al 2009), we have found evidence of substantial heterogeneity depending on the previous occupation and health status. In fact, the detrimental effect of delaying pension age is borne by retirees previously employed in low‐skilled and more physically demanding jobs and by those with worst health at baseline, while we find a null effect among retirees previously employed in occupations offering better conditions or enjoying better health.…”

“…Among the mechanisms behind the retirement–health association outlined by previous scholars, there is that of retirement as a source of physical and psychological relief from the burdens associated with occupational strain (Belloni, Meschi, and Pasini 2016; Carrino, Glaser, and Avendano 2018; Dayaram and McGuire 2019; Eibich 2015; Kolodziej and Garcia‐Gomez 2019; Mazzonna and Peracchi 2017) and low‐quality jobs (Fleischmann, Xue, and Head 2020; Matthews 2014; Westerlund et al 2009). In order to test this potential mechanism, we investigate if the main results shown in Table 4 (single instrument, fully adjusted specification) vary between retirees who before retirement had been exposed to manual/non‐manual occupations and were paid low/high wages (with respect to the median).…”

“…Depending on the health outcome under scrutiny, the effect of retirement varies (for a review, see Van der Heide et al 2013). Limiting this review to studies adopting a quasi‐experimental causal design, most of which exploits eligibility ages or variation in pension policies as sources of quasi‐natural experiments, existing evidence broadly suggests that retirement exerts an improvement of subjective well‐being and mental health (Belloni, Meschi, and Pasini 2016; Charles 2004; Dayaram and McGuire 2019; Eibich 2015; Johnston and Lee 2009; Kolodziej and Garcia‐Gomez 2019) and a decline of cognitive abilities (Bonsang, Adam, and Perelman 2012; Celidoni, Dal Bianco, and Weber 2017; Mazzonna and Peracchi 2012, 2017). In contrast, the effect of retirement on physical health outcomes (in particular physical health indexes, CVD risk factors, hospitalizations, mortality, and self‐reported general health) is less clear, as both positive (Carrino, Glaser, and Avendano 2018; Coe and Zamarro 2011; Insler 2014), null (Dayaram and McGuire 2019; Hagen 2018; Hernaes et al 2013; Johnston and Lee 2009), and negative effects have been reported (Behncke 2012; Dave, Rashad, and Spasojevic 2008).…”

Socioeconomic inequalities in mental health in Australia: Explaining life shock exposure

“…The impact of SES and demographic variables in Australia are similar to what other country studies have found [5,44,45]. This study supports the argument of Kolodziej and García-Gómez [46] that retirement has a protective effect on mental health. This study also showed that 65+ year groups have lower socioeconomic mental health inequality.…”

Mental Health Effects of Retirement

“…These effects are heterogeneous: male health is not affected by the retirement of his spouse, while female health is negatively affected by the retirement of her partner. Kolodziej and García-Gómez (2019) use cross-country data to investigate the heterogeneity of causal positive effects of retirement on mental health. They find that they are larger for those in poor mental health.…”