Is It Good to Care? Gender Differences in the Cognitive Benefits of Social Support before and after Retirement Among Middle-Aged and Older Europeans

As people age, regularly engaging in cognitively stimulating activities becomes critical for their cognitive functioning. For most people, however, retirement marks a shift in opportunities for such activities, thus putting them at risk for cognitive deterioration. Theories related to cognitive enrichment draw attention to social support exchanges, derived from relationships with family members and friends, in determining whether an individual’s cognitive abilities thrive following retirement. This study yields two significant contributions to this strand of research: First, longitudinal data from men (N = 21,146) and women (N = 23,222) aged 50+ in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) was used to assess trajectories of cognitive functioning (measured as episodic memory and verbal fluency) before and after departure from the labor market. Second, fixed effects regression models examined cognitive trajectories associated with social support in two directions: the provision and receipt of care. Results indicated that changes in cognitive functioning, particularly memory performance, associated with retirement hold mainly for women. Moreover, for both genders, better memory performance is associated with providing family members and/or friends with assistance in personal care, household help, administrative tasks, or grandchild care; however, when such support is received, only women show better memory performance.

Furthermore, the benefits of social support for women’s memory performance after retirement depend on its direction. Whereas providing support helps enhance memory performance the longer they remain out of employment, receiving such support during the same period significantly offsets its benefits. These findings point to the cognitive importance of fostering autonomy and agency outside of employment, which may be exercised through downward support transfers to members of one’s social network. Further steps include robustness checks and investigation of other sub-group heterogeneities.