Propuesta de sentido a la depresión mayor.

My results pertaining to the factors that are associated with return to work after retirement replicate some previous research results while contributing new knowledge mostly through the study of a set of interaction terms. All of my hypotheses concerning the independent effects of gender, current age, age at retirement, level of education, annual personal income, and general state of health are supported, with the exception of the hypothesis that those of low income will have a higher rate of return to work after retirement than those in the middle range of income. My results pertaining to annual personal income and likelihood of engagement in bridge employment warrant discussion.

The relationship between current annual personal income and involvement in bridge employment found in the present study contradicts some of the findings of other researchers who have investigated this relationship. While I have found the likelihood of having returned to work after retirement to increase with each level of income, other scholars have found that secure financial circumstances are associated with a lower probability of involvement in post-retirement work (Davis 2003; Kim and Feldman 2000; Weckerle and Shultz 1999). While my results agree with Cahill and his colleagues’ (2006) finding that those of high income have a higher likelihood than those of middle income to engage in bridge employment, likely because they are motivated by benefits to their quality of life, my results do not concur with their claim that those of low income are more likely than those of middle income to return to work after retirement because of financial necessity. However, it must be borne in mind that my income variable is a cross-sectional examination of current levels of annual personal income. Causation could work in the reverse direction; post-retirement work itself allows for the earning of income that raises one’s current annual income.

In accordance with scholars who have emphasized that the experience of family circumstances differs by gender (Calasanti 2004; Connidis and Willson 2011; Kim and

Feldman 2000; McMullin 2010; McPherson 1990; Murray et al. 2011; Pleau 2010; Szinovacz and DeViney 2000; Szinovacz et al. 2001; Teevan 2011), I have found through my interaction terms that marital status makes a somewhat larger difference for the return of retired men to the labour force than it does for the return of retired women to paid employment. I have confirmed my hypothesis that single (never married) men are much less likely than are men who have married to have engaged in bridge employment. This outcome could be explained by the persistent gendered norms according to which men hold financial responsibility for the family while women must be concerned with homecare, with the care of children, and with the family’s emotional needs (Calasanti 2004; Connidis and Willson 2011; McMullin 2010; Murray et al. 2011; Teevan 2011). Even after children have reached adulthood and have begun their independent lives, fathers might maintain their obligation to aid their children financially, at least in case an unexpected need develops. Data from the GSS-21 confirms that men who have never married are much less likely to have children (statistics not shown) for whom they are financially concerned, and so this provides an explanation for why they are less likely to have engaged in post-retirement work than are men in other marital status categories who are more likely to have raised children.

Furthermore, my results show widowhood to have a somewhat stronger negative association with the probability that a man has returned to work after retirement than with the likelihood that a woman has engaged in bridge employment. Some research gives reason to believe that widowhood has a greater depressing effect on men than on women (Lee, Willets, and Seccombe 1998; Umberson, Wortman, and Kessler 1992). Other research argues that depression can serve as a barrier to the motivation necessary to perform paid labour (Lerner et al. 2004). In combination, this research provides a reason why widowhood might do more to inhibit work activity among men.

Research concerning dynamics of status and power within marriages provides a reason for why I have not found separated and divorced men, who are likely to experience a greater social need for bridge employment, to be more likely than their married counterparts to have returned to work after retirement. Szinovacz and DeViney (2000) elaborate on how a husband’s desire to maintain his authority within his marriage

could incline him to proceed with paid labour beyond what is financially necessary. The social pull to bridge employment experienced by men who are separated or divorced might be matched by the push towards bridge employment experienced by married men who fear that labour force exit might cause them to lose status within their marriage.

My results show a substantial difference in likelihood of having returned to work after retirement between women who are separated or divorced and women who are widowed. The former have a higher probability of having been involved in bridge employment than the latter. The fact that separated and divorced women were found to have a higher likelihood of having engaged in post-retirement work than women in other marital status categories confirms my hypothesis. While not finding support for his hypothesis that early retirees who are not married have a higher likelihood of becoming involved in bridge employment than their married counterparts, Davis (2003) explains that some scholars have suggested that this proposition is in fact true because married individuals receive from their spouses the companionship they require to replace the social activity they used to enjoy at work. This provides a reason for why separated and divorced retired women are more likely than other retired women to return to paid work. Another reason why divorced and separated women might seek paid work after retirement is because marital separation often leaves women in difficult financial circumstances (Connidis and Willson 2011; Teevan 2011). For some separated and divorced women, responsibilities for the family may have caused them to move in and out of the labour force throughout their early and middle adulthood (Kim and Feldman 2000; Szinovacz and DeViney 2000). As Kim and Feldman (2000:1199) explain, “women may be less likely to have accumulated enough savings and pension benefits to make bridge employment financially unnecessary.” Szinovacz and DeViney (2000) concur that worse financial circumstances can cause women to delay their retirement or to rely financially upon their husbands. The latter option is not available to women who are separated or divorced. The result found in the present study that widowhood is associated with a slight decrease in the probability of a woman having engaged in bridge employment contradicts Pleau (2010) who suggests that widowed women might stay longer in the workforce because of troubled financial circumstances. One possible explanation for the contradictory findings might be that the push towards bridge

employment for widowed women based on financial need is counteracted by the emotional costs of widowhood (Onrust and Cujpers 2006) that limit the motivation to engage in work effort (Lerner et al. 2004).

A noteworthy outcome of my study of the interaction between gender and marital status is that women who have never married only slightly differ in likelihood of having been involved in bridge employment from women who are currently married or in a common-law relationship. Women who have never married are less likely to have had familial responsibilities that have caused them to have erratic work trajectories. GSS-21 data shows that women who have never married are far less likely to have raised children (statistics not shown). This provides an explanation for why single women are known to achieve more than married women in their education and in their careers (Connidis and Willson 2011). While single women might be motivated to return to work for social reasons, their greater financial security often precludes an economic necessity for bridge employment. On the other hand, women who are currently married or in a common-law relationship might avoid an economic necessity for bridge employment through reliance upon the finances of their husbands or partners.

My hypothesis that gender moderates the relationship between current age and probability of engagement in bridge employment, such that younger age has a stronger positive association with the likelihood that a woman has been involved in post- retirement work, has been confirmed. As I expected, younger cohorts of men and women were found to be more similar in their post-retirement work patterns. Recent times have seen convergence in the roles performed by men and women (Teevan 2011), and so it is to be expected that among those of younger current age, being a man or a woman might make less of a difference in one’s likelihood of engaging in bridge employment. The contraction of the manufacturing jobs that traditionally have been the domain of men and the expansion of the service jobs that traditionally have been the domain of women in recent times are macroeconomic changes that have contributed to convergence between the genders in rates of post-retirement employment (Pleau 2010; Pleau and Shauman 2013). Furthermore, recent times have seen the expansion of the education of women to the point that the present-day is characterized by more women in university than men

(Murray et al. 2011). As education opens up many opportunities for better jobs within the labour market (Griffin and Hesketh 2008; McNamara and Williamson 2004; Price 2005), higher levels of education for women are a means through which convergence between the genders within the labour force can be achieved. These societal changes provide explanations for why I have found that younger current age has a stronger positive association with the return of women to paid work after retirement.

My results also confirm the hypothesis that a higher age at retirement has a stronger negative association with the likelihood that a man will engage in bridge employment than with that of a woman. Because men have traditionally undergone more stable work trajectories than women (Kim and Feldman 2000; Pleau 2010; Szinovacz and DeViney 2000), later age at retirement for men is likely to result in circumstances of financial safety that preclude the need for bridge employment. The more fragmented work trajectories experienced by women (Kim and Feldman 2000; Pleau 2010; Szinovacz and DeViney 2000) do not allow for as much of a guarantee that a relatively late retirement will provide the financial security that will make post-retirement paid work unnecessary. Older individuals with pension plans often choose to retire at a later age in order to increase the income they will receive from their pension plans after retirement (Friedberg and Webb 2005). These facts provide an explanation for my finding that age at retirement has a stronger negative association with the probability that a man will engage in bridge employment.

5.4. Association of Post-Retirement Paid Work with Levels of Health and