ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how retirement affects women's health and wellbeing. People who retire earlier than expected or planned are more likely to experience decreased psychological wellbeing on entering retirement. The chapter argues that a key issue for researchers in estimating the effects of retirement on health and wellbeing is that these are confounded with age. Thus, what might seem to be a consequence of retirement may merely be part of the ageing process? Women who choose to retire early may do so because of poor health or because, although healthy, they want to enjoy retirement activities while still fit enough to do so. Marriage quality and positive and negative influences during retirement were labelled as wellbeing and wellbeing, retirement planning, and emotions and feelings towards retirement were labelled as retirement adaptation. Ill health was also, unsurprisingly, negatively associated with maintenance of a wellbeing-oriented lifestyle, and women were more likely to report that ill health limited their daily activities.
