The Association between Self-Reported Health and Type of Retirement

Matthew J. Shim, US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine
Benjamin Amick, University of Texas at Houston

Moen’s life course approach to retirement and health was used to help clarify the relationship between retirement and health by accounting for the circumstances surrounding the retirement transition. We identified heads of households and spouses, ages 18 to 60, from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) that reported working or transitioned from work to initial retirement or work to initial permanent disability between 1984 and 2005 (n = 18,757). When compared to those still working, heads of households and spouses reporting ‘good’ pre-retirement health were 72% more likely to be retired than those reporting ‘excellent’ health (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.48, 2.00). Additionally, heads of households and spouses reporting ‘poor’ pre-retirement health were 4.7 times more likely to be retired than those reporting ‘excellent’ health (OR = 4.71, 95% CI = 3.96, 5.61). Health status appears to drive the retirement transition.