Core idea

Is it more beneficial to one’s mental health to retire or continue working?  There is evidence that working is good for older adults’ mental health.  It is believed that the interpersonal interaction and meaningful activities that are found in work are helpful psychologically because they offer a means of receiving role support that maintains one’s self-concept.  Having multiple roles in older adulthood can be useful at a time when other commitments and responsibilities are being reduced. 

What they say

The study included people ages 55-66. The researcher found that both part-time and full-time work was associated with a decrease in depression scores.  Full-time work by itself had a beneficial impact on mental health, specifically among people who worked for at least 1,680 hours annually: they had lower depression scores, whereas part-time workers did not.  The study distinguished between low-level and high-level volunteer commitments. Volunteering at a lower level led to lower depression scores. Overall, people who engage in both full-time work and low level volunteering had better mental health outcomes compared to people who either just worked or just volunteered. 

What it means

There may be many benefits to full-time work.  Full-time workers receive better compensation, better health and retirement insurance coverage, and more social support compared to part-time employees.  Full-time workers may have greater control over their work and greater job satisfaction.  Volunteering can be an extension of formal employment, but high levels of volunteering do not necessarily translate into greater psychological benefit.  

A limitation of this study is that the researcher only looked at ages 55-66 and thus we have no way of knowing whether full-time work and low-level volunteering is what would be optimal for adults over 66 years of age.  Another limitation of the study is that there may be a self selection effect, whereby only the healthiest people (both mentally and physically) are able to work full-time and volunteer.  Depression could lead to a person’s not working rather than working reducing depression.  The causal of this relationship between depression and work relationship needs to be examined further.  However, the study provides important evidence in favor of maintaining productive activities and meaningful roles as people age.

Reference

Hao, Y. (2008). “Productive Activities and Psychological Well-Being among Older Adults.” Journals of Gerontology, 63B,2, S64.