Causal Effects of Retirement Timing on Healthy Behavior

OBJECTIVE: This article explores the effects of the timing of retirement on healthy behavior. Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we test four theory-based hypotheses about these effects: that retirements maximize health outcomes and behaviors when they happen earlier, later, anytime, or on time. METHODS: We employ fixed and random effects regression models with instrumental variables to estimate the short- and long-term causal effects of retirement timing on average number of drinks per day. RESULTS: Early retirements-those occurring prior to traditional and legal retirement age-dampen healthy behaviors. DISCUSSION: Workers who begin their retirement transition before cultural and institutional timetables experience the worst healthy behaviors; this finding offers partial support to the psychosocial-materialist approach that emphasizes the benefits of retiring later. Continued employment after traditionally expected retirement age, however, offers only a short-term boost to healthy behaviors. These findings are consistent to previous research on the effects of retirement timing on subjective physical and emotional health. In combination, these findings offer some support for the cultural-institutional approach, but suggest that we need to modify our understanding of how cultural-institutional forces operate: Retiring too early can be problematic, but no disadvantages are associated with late retirements. Raising the retirement age, therefore, could potentially damage healthy behaviors of retirees by expanding the group of those whose retirements would be considered early.