The age and well-being "paradox": a longitudinal and multidimensional reconsideration.

This paper explores qualifications to the much-discussed paradox that although aging is associated with multiple physical and social losses, subjective well-being (SWB) is stable or increasing in later life. We explore age-related changes in cognitive, affective, and eudaimonic dimensions in three waves of data spanning up to 15 years from the Norwegian NorLAG study (N = 4,944, age 40 - 95). We employ fixed-effect models to examine the nature and predictors of aging effects on SWB. Results indicate a general pattern of stability well into older age, but negative changes in advanced age across well-being measures. Declines in SWB are less pronounced and with a later onset for the cognitive compared with the other measures. Loss of health, a partner, and friends are robust predictors of declining SWB. Women report both more negative affect and engagement than men, and these differences increase with age. In conclusion, while increasing SWB from midlife to the mid-70 s attests to the adaptive behaviors and coping resources of young-old adults, the significant downturns in SWB in advanced age point to limits to psychological adjustment when health-related and social threats and constraints intensify. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-022-00709-y.

Employment trends at older ages: policy impact or secular change?

Observed increases in retirement age are generally attributed to policies to extend working lives (PEW). In a quasi-experimental design, we examine to what extent increases in employment of older workers can be attributed to secular changes in individual characteristics as opposed to PEW. We compare two countries: one with clear PEW (the Netherlands) and one without PEW (Norway). Data come from the Dutch Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam and the NORwegian Longitudinal study on Aging and Generations. From each study, two same-age (55-64 years) samples are selected, one recruited in 2002-03, and one recruited after five (Norway) and ten years (Netherlands). In pooled regression analysis, paid work is the outcome variable, and time of measurement, the main independent variable. Individual characteristics include age, sex, educational level, self-perceived health, functional limitations, sense of mastery, and work status of partner. Employment rose in both countries, faster in the Netherlands than in Norway. Of the rise in employment, individual characteristics explained less in the Netherlands than in Norway. Accounting for these, the interaction country*time was significant, indicating an extra rise in employment of 5.2 and 7.5% points for Dutch men and women, net of individual characteristics and unobserved factors that are assumed to be similar in both countries. The extra rise in the Netherlands represents 57% of the total rise for both sexes. Thus, secular change in individual characteristics explains part of the rise in employment in both countries. In the Netherlands, other factors such as PEW may additionally explain the rise in employment. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00664-0.

Unemployment transitions and self-rated health in Europe: A longitudinal analysis of EU-SILC from 2008 to 2011.

The Great Recession of 2008 has led to elevated unemployment in Europe and thereby revitalised the question of causal health effects of unemployment. This article applies fixed effects regression models to longitudinal panel data drawn from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions for 28 European countries from 2008 to 2011, in order to investigate changes in self-rated health around the event of becoming unemployed. The results show that the correlation between unemployment and health is partly due to a decrease in self-rated health as people enter unemployment. Such health changes vary by country of domicile, and by individual age; older workers have a steeper decline than younger workers. Health changes after the unemployment spell reveal no indication of adverse health effects of unemployment duration. Overall, this study indicates some adverse health effects of unemployment in Europe--predominantly among older workers.

Can Self-Enhancement Values Predict Retirement Behavior? An Analysis Combining Survey and Register Data From Norway.

This analysis investigates to what extent the self-enhancement values in the Schwartz taxonomy-achievement, power, and hedonism-can predict retirement behavior. Self-enhancement values were measured using the Norwegian Life Course, Generations and Gender Study beginning in 2007. Register data were merged with the survey data to identify those collecting a pension by the end of 2010; these persons were defined as being retired. Statistical analysis was performed using discrete time proportional odds (logistic regression) duration models for each birthday. The results show that two self-enhancement values, achievement and hedonism, discourage disability retirement but do not affect nondisability retirement. These results are largely consistent across statistical models controlling or not controlling for other known predictors of retirement behavior, including education and income, occupational group (class), and health. The hedonism effect is partially associated with the fact that individuals holding hedonistic values are in good health.

Job insecurity and sickness absence: correlations between attrition and absence in 36 occupational groups.

AIMS: To investigate how job insecurity, as indicated by attrition rates out of employment, affects sickness absence among remaining workers. METHODS: A longitudinal analysis investigated how the percentage of workers absent due to sickness was affected by attrition out of employment in Norwegian Labour Force Surveys from 1997 to 2005, between 31 quarterly observations at the level of 36 occupational groups. RESULTS: Rising attrition is associated with more sickness absence. CONCLUSIONS: Previous research has argued that job insecurity can lead to more absence because of a stressor effect as well as to less absence because of a disciplinary effect. This research indicates that the stressor effect is stronger than the disciplinary effect.

Can personality predict retirement behaviour? A longitudinal analysis combining survey and register data from Norway.

This study investigates how far personality can predict the timing and routes of people's retirement. It uses a large comprehensive Norwegian survey, with larger sample size than earlier related studies, providing estimates of personality based on the five-factor model. The survey data are matched with administrative data, allowing observations of retirement over the 2002-2007 period. The analysis distinguishes between the disability and the non-disability retirements. Retirement is investigated using discrete time, competing risk, logistic regression models amongst individuals aged 50-69. Results indicate that personality predicts disability retirement but not non-disability retirement. Neuroticism increases the risk of disability retirement in women. Agreeableness and extraversion may prevent disability retirement, whereas openness may increase the risk of disability in men. Personality effects are generally consistent across models controlling, or not controlling, for well-known predictors of retirement behaviour including education, income and occupational group. The main exception is that poor health explains the effect of neuroticism on women's disability retirement.