# RETIREMENT FROM A LIFE-COURSE PERSPECTIVE

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 1991 · $46,590

## Abstract

DESCRIPTION:  (Investigator's Abstract) Conceptualizing retirement as a
dynamic, age-dependent process, we propose to investigate the impact of
mid-and late-career events on retirement, disability and death.  Particular
attention will be devoted to the influence of the timing, direction, and
magnitude of earlier career events on the relative frequency of those
transitions that generally mark the end of the labor force career.  This
focus allows us to empirically evaluate the bonds between major career
events and speaks directly to a theoretical concern with career-line
vulnerability to aging and the ramifications for the retirement process of
career deterioration or advancement.  To better understand career-line
vulnerability to aging, itself, the analysis of the retirement process will
be preceded by an inquiry of the determinants of career mobility.  We will
attend explicitly to those factors that influence the timing, direction,
and magnitude of occupational mobility.  Timing refers to the age at which
mobility occurs, and the direction and magnitude of mobility refer of
changes in the attractiveness of work, both positive and negative,
associated with occupational changes.  The consideration of all three
factors is especially important to achieve an accurate portrayal of the
age-vulnerability of older men's careers.  The analysis is a cohort-based
prospective study based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men.
This is a nationally representative sample of men aged 45-59 years in 1966
who are followed for a 17-year period.  The proposed study is unique in
that it will more fully exploit the longitudinal qualities of the data than
prior studies.  Specifically, based on a subsample of men who are in the
labor force at some point during the observation period, biographical
histories of labor force behavior and time-dependent explanatory covariates
will be developed, and a hazards model approach will be used to formally
model the dynamic processes of career mobility and retirement.  Although
prior studies have recognized the over-arching importance of considering
the consequences of mobility patterns for the retirement process, this
study is the first to explicitly attend to these issues.  Such as approach
promises to provide new insights into the role of the career dynamics for
late-life labor force behavior, and it will serve to integrate the
retirement process with the larger career cycle.  Finally, the results of
this study will be pertinent to critical policy concerns of inequities of
access to retirement, pension policy, the retraining of older workers, and
pre-retirement planning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3121191
- **Project number:** 5R01AG009338-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** G88KLJR3KYT5
- **Principal Investigator:** MARK D. HAYWARD
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $46,590
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1990-08-01 → 1992-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3121191

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3121191, RETIREMENT FROM A LIFE-COURSE PERSPECTIVE (5R01AG009338-02). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3121191. Licensed CC0.

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