Abstract For decades, gerontologists have competed to objectively define the ideal later life, often eliding the subjective perspectives of older adults. Yet, definitions of successful aging are only meaningful intersubjectively, making lay evaluations crucial to ground theoretical models in the realities they are meant to serve. Such gaps are consequential to the alignment of retirement policies and workplace arrangements with the experiences of older adults. This study explores Singaporean older adults’ lay evaluations of three classic theories of aging: the Activity (AT), Continuity (CT), and Disengagement theories of aging (DT). Data from the Lifelong Education for Aging Productively (LEAP) in Singapore project was used. 2545 respondents, aged 65 and above, evaluated the propositions of each classic theory. Venn diagram, latent class analysis (LCA) and regression models were used to classify perception types among older adults and examine their correlates. Results show that all three theories found support amongst older Singaporeans, with approximately 60% of respondents supporting more than one theory. Five types of lay preferences were identified via LCA, and they were found to be racially and socioeconomically patterned. While the relevance of the theories is demonstrated, this study reveals lay evaluations to be neither universal, nor reducible to idiosyncratic preferences, and instead diverse and multifaceted, structured by socioeconomic and racial factors. Findings challenge the notion of a singular ideal pathway in later life transitions, suggesting the need for an array of retirement and workplace arrangements, as well as identified groups that may need particular attention for inclusive policymaking.
Abstract Friendship is the most transformative form of high-quality intergroup contact, with the capacity to build solidarity, foster cooperation, and bridge divides. Age-diverse friendships, in particular, offer unique opportunities to connect people of different ages, yet their role in work and non-work settings requires further theorizing. We thus develop a theoretical framework of age-diverse friendship effects that explains how such effects extend beyond the dyad to influence organizations and society at large. Building on intergroup contact theory, the taxonomy of transfer effects, and research on other-oriented processes, we propose that age-diverse friendships generate spillover effects at 3 levels: from individual friends to the broader age group (primary transfer), from age groups to other social groups (secondary transfer), and toward more general liberalization effects that transcend group boundaries (tertiary transfer). Central to these transfer effects are empathic concern and perspective taking, which enable friendships to foster prosocial behavior in work and non-work contexts. We further theorize that the extent and direction of these primary, secondary, and tertiary transfer effects depend on 2 boundary conditions: age distance and semantic distance. Our theoretical framework positions age-diverse friendships as a powerful vehicle of social change, with the potential to not only reduce tensions but also to strengthen intergroup cooperation and address broader societal challenges.
Population aging is reshaping tourism and hospitality, yet research has often overlooked the diversity of experiences, roles, and wellbeing needs across later life. Older adults’ engagement in tourism as travelers, workers, or community participants remains understudied despite its potential to enhance quality of life, social connection, and personal fulfillment. This Special Issue, Aging in Tourism and Hospitality, presents six articles examining a range of tourism stakeholders through diverse research approaches. Two supply-side studies show how tourism work enhances the wellbeing and life satisfaction of older workers and host community members, while the remaining four focus on the demand side, highlighting the benefits of leisure and tourism activities for older travelers. The tanscontinental research settings underscore the global significance of aging in tourism. The editorial concludes by identifying future research directions, emphasizing the value of interdisciplinary inquiry at the intersections of aging, health, and tourism.
Background and Objectives: Older adults in Canada are experiencing increasing demand for housing, but limited evidence exists on how wealth status relates to the transition to seniors' housing. We investigated the association between wealth status and transitions to seniors' housing. Research Design and Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging data. The primary outcome was the transition to seniors' housing from participants' own homes, assessed between baseline and follow-up 1, and between follow-up 1 and follow-up 2. The wealth status was the primary exposure measured by "total savings and investments." We used a multivariable generalized estimating equation model adjusted for confounders. Results: We included 17,837 participants at baseline and 19,756 at follow-up 1, aged 65 and older. Higher wealth (100,000 to <1 million CAD) was associated with 40% lower odds of transitioning to seniors' housing (aOR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.46-0.78) than lower wealth status (50,000 CAD). Being older, living alone, being a home care recipient, mild ADL impairments, poor general health status, and eyesight were associated with higher odds of transitioning. Wealth was significantly associated with transition to seniors' housing in Alberta and Quebec, but not in British Columbia, Ontario, Atlantic, or the Prairie provinces. Discussion and Implications: The association between wealth and transitions to seniors' housing suggests that, overall, in Canada and across the provinces, financial resources play an important role in determining transition to seniors' housing. These findings highlight the need for targeted policies to reduce inequalities across jurisdictions.
To advance the understanding of retirement adjustment by examining how pre-retirement work psychological resources shape post-retirement productive engagement and life satisfaction, drawing on continuity theory, we propose and test a model linking pre-retirement occupational self-actualization to later productive engagement and life satisfaction. Using two-wave survey data from retirees aged 50 and older (411 at Time 1; 356 at Time 2), we find that pre-retirement occupational self-actualization positively affects life satisfaction via one type of productive engagement (i.e., volunteering work). Furthermore, when self-continuity perception is higher, the positive relationship between occupational self-actualization and productive engagement (i.e., volunteering work and caring work) is stronger. These findings help to understand the consistency between retirees' past and present roles as a crucial meaning-making psychological mechanism that sustains the meaning of occupation and promotes productive engagement after retirement.
As technological change accelerates, designing work that supports older workers' learning is a critical organizational challenge. Drawing on cognitive aging and work design literature, we investigate whether job complexity acts as a hindrance or as a catalyst for learning. We examine both objective learning performance and change self-efficacy as 2 key facets of successful learning and adaptation, and whether age moderates the effect of job complexity on learning. We conducted a randomized experimental study including both younger and older workers (N = 312) in which we investigated the causal effect of moderately complex work, compared to low-complexity work, on learning. Results showed that medium job complexity predicted superior objective learning performance (e.g., higher success rates, shorter completion times) and increased change self-efficacy. Contrary to age-differentiated predictions, the benefits of moderate complexity were consistent across older and younger workers. Together, the findings provide causal evidence that manageable job complexity can build both immediate mastery and confidence for future change, challenging deficit-based assumptions about older workers' capacity to learn.
China faces dual challenges of population ageing and labor force restructuring, necessitating a scientific assessment of successful ageing at work to optimize the management of older employees. This study localized and validated the Short Form of the Successful Ageing at Work Scale (SAW-S) using Classical Test Theory (CTT), Item Response Theory (IRT), and Network Analysis. Data from 865 employees were collected. Results demonstrated SAW-S's strong reliability/validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure (Experience and Strategies). IRT confirmed item discriminability but identified disordered response thresholds for some items. Network analysis revealed "Work Flexibility" (S1) as the most central node, bridging individual adaptability and organizational strategies. The study verifies SAW-S's applicability in China, offering organizations an evidence-based tool to design ageing workforce policies.
The motherhood pension gap (MPG) measures the difference in pension entitlements between mothers and childless women and provides some indication of whether parenthood is a risk factor for women's old-age security. In this research report, we focus on the role of pension policies in mitigating the MPG. We raise the question of whether pension-related childcare credits are effective in increasing mothers' public pension entitlements in Germany and whether patterns differ by region (East and West Germany), age, and the number of children for women born between 1952 and 1959. The analysis is based on a subsample of the register data from the German Pension Fund (n = 78,222). The variable of interest is a woman's accumulated public pension entitlement, calculated with and without pension-related childcare credits. The results show a strong and pronounced public pension penalty for mothers in West Germany, but not in East Germany. Once pension-related childcare credits are considered, the motherhood pension gap is greatly reduced for the childbearing years, but widens again at later ages.
The objective of the present study is twofold. First, it provides a diagnosis of the financial literacy (FL) and retirement planning of the adult population in Spain, offering a detailed description of its distribution across different social groups. Second, it evaluates the impact of FL on the decisions made by Spaniards to ensure financial sufficiency in old age, specifically regarding the ownership of financial and nonfinancial assets for retirement and the subscription to private pension plans (i.e., supplementary private pension schemes). The study employs microdata from the Encuesta de Competencias Financieras, a nationwide survey conducted by the Spanish National Central Bank and the Spanish Stock Exchange Commission. Particular attention is given to the potential endogeneity of FL. To address this issue, the estimates are calculated using Lewbel's approach for dealing with endogenous predictors. Our results suggest that fostering basic financial education could empower individuals to manage their retirement more effectively. This is particularly relevant in countries such as Spain, where the sustainability of the public pension system currently represents one of the main challenges policymakers must tackle, given the relatively high intensity of the population's increasing life expectancy and the decline in fertility rates
This study explored how leisure-based cycling among mid-and-later-life adults progresses into active sport-event tourism and commitment to physically active lives. Three concepts framed the study: the tourism–leisure continuum, highlighting continuity between leisure and tourism; liminoid, addressing the transitional nature of event experiences; and the active sport-event travel career, describing progressive and sustained involvement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 Bike Florida participants (aged 49–72; nine men and four women). Using Straussian grounded theory, five themes were identified across four liminoid phases. The pre-pre-liminoid phase involved life transitions and initiation into cycling. Subsequently, the pre-liminoid phase focused on preparation and transition into active sport-event tourism. The liminoid phase was characterized by betwixt-and-between experiences of communitas. Finally, the post-liminoid phase encompassed gaining health benefits and the continuation of regular leisure-cycling and event participation. Findings highlight the connection between leisure-cycling and motivation to participate in cycling events in the Pre-pre and Pre-liminoid phases. During the Liminoid phase, the communitas experienced built social bonds and reaffirmed their cycling subculture membership. During Post-liminoid phase, event-based experiences became embedded in the participants’ everyday lives, contributing to continued engagement in leisure-cycling and sport-event tourism. Rather than existing in separate spheres, leisure and tourism were interconnected, reflecting how participants’ involvement in cycling developed into a sustained pattern of event travel. This sustained involvement potentially supported overall well-being and healthy aging. The study suggests that active sport-event tourism can initiate and maintain physical activity in mid and later life by offering socially engaging and meaningful experiences.
While full retirement age in the United States is increasing, longevity improvements have stagnated, Americans with low educational attainment have not experienced delayed health impairments, and there remain substantial racial disparities in morbidity and mortality. Using the Health and Retirement Study, we ran discrete-time multistate models to examine how these trends together shape educational and racial/ethnic differences in expected time spent in healthy work, unhealthy work, healthy retirement, and unhealthy retirement after age 50 in 1994–2006 and 2008–2020. We found marked educational, and to a lesser degree racial/ethnic, disparities in accessing healthy retirement years—which we defined as years without work and without functional limitations. Compared to 1994–2006, 2008–2020 brought increases in healthy retirement only for college-educated White and Black women (+0.49 and +0.21 years, respectively). Healthy work increased for college-educated White and Hispanic men (+1.35 and +0.49 years, respectively) and for White and Hispanic women with a range of education levels. Disadvantaged groups (e.g., men with only high school degrees, Black and Hispanic women without high school degrees) experienced increased years in unhealthy retirement. Unhealthy work rose for Hispanic men and women and Black men with medium and high education. Taken together, it appears that trends in retirement timing, functioning, and mortality have reduced overall healthy retirement years and expanded educational and racial/ethnic disparities in accessing healthy retirement.
Although research indicates that age-differentiated leadership (ADL) is positively associated with wellbeing outcomes for both younger and older workers, the ways in which it relates to performance and retention-related outcomes, and the mechanisms through which these effects occur, remain an important focus for further examination. Based on the Categorization-Elaboration Model (CEM, van Knippenberg et al., 2004), this study proposes and tests a dual pathway model suggesting that ADL is associated with retention-related outcomes via reduction in age bias, while self-rated performance-related outcomes are enhanced via information exchange. It is expected that these pathways will be stronger for older workers, compared to younger workers, based on lifespan developmental theories (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Carstensen et al., 1999). Using a sample of 416 workers in Australia, the results showed that ADL predicted retention-related outcomes via age bias, and self-reported performance-related outcomes via information exchange. Age only moderated the strength of the performance pathway and not the retention pathway. This study offers empirical support for the theorized social categorization and information elaboration pathways in the CEM through which ADL positively impacts retention and performance-related outcomes, and expands the range of outcomes considered by previous research.
Traditional modes of tourism have undergone a profound transformation with the advancement of technology, and the emergence of autonomous driving technology offers unprecedented possibilities for enhancing the travel experiences of tourists, especially for elderly tourists. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing elderly tourists' acceptance of autonomous sightseeing vehicles in scenic areas, using a mixed-methods approach that integrated in-depth interviews, grounded theory coding, structural equation modeling, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The findings revealed 7 key factors-trust, performance expectancy, closed-mindedness, tourism fatigue, and unusual environments-that significantly impact acceptance. Trust emerged as a critical and consistent factor across all configurations, while performance expectancy and context-specific variables, such as tourism fatigue and unusual environments, exhibited varying effects. In contrast, closed-mindedness exhibits a significant negative effect, while social influence and prior knowledge show more complex effects. Additionally, fsQCA analysis uncovers three distinct paths leading to high levels of acceptance. These insights provide a robust theoretical foundation for improving elderly tourists' acceptance of autonomous sightseeing vehicles in scenic areas.
As the global population ages, research on the well-being of seniors in tourism has gained traction. While much scholarly attention has been paid to the well-being of senior tourists, the well-being of senior residents in host communities remains underexplored. Adopting continuity theory and PERMA model of well-being, this study investigates how host-guest interactions influence senior residents' well-being in a rural tourism context. Qualitative data were collected from Qiaoxiang village, China. Four interaction types (i.e., economic transactions, informal communications, personal narrative sharing, and reciprocal hospitality) were found to enhance senior residents' positive emotions, engagement, and sense of life meaning. Crucially, these well-being gains are underpinned by residents' perceptions of continuity-both in their external activities and social roles, and in their internal sense of identity and accumulated experience. This study not only enriches the theoretical discourse surrounding tourism, aging, and well-being but also offers practical implications for promoting active aging in rural tourism destinations.
The escalating demographic shift towards an aging population in China underscores a critical need to examine the intergenerational support dynamics within the senior tourism sector, a realm previously dominated by studies focusing on the experiences of senior tourists in Western contexts. This research pivots to scrutinize the roles of adult children as facilitators of their elderly parents’ travel, integrating a culturally contextual framework that leverages social exchange theory, social support theory, and leisure constraint theory. Based on a quantitative survey of 505 participants, this study examines how travel support motivations influence adult children’s supportive behaviors toward their senior parents’ travel, and whether travel support constraints moderate these relationships. Our findings highlight that while filial piety is less influential, novelty-seeking and recognition prominently drive support intentions. Unexpectedly, family togetherness has failed to predict support behaviors. Furthermore, the study reveals that health concerns substantially deter support, and travel support constraints uniquely influence the relationship between recognition and support intentions. Collectively, these insights contribute to a deeper theoretical understanding of family dynamics in senior tourism, tailored to the collectivist ethos of China.
In recent years, the implications of an age-diverse workforce have attracted significant scholarly interest and public debate, especially in light of an increasingly aging population. Accordingly, we systematically review existing research on age diversity within workplaces and organize and critically appraise the literature focusing on three themes: 1) conceptualizations, operationalizations, and relevant constructs, 2) underlying theoretical mechanisms and outcomes, and 3) contextual moderators/boundary conditions. Based on these themes, we synthesize findings into an integrative framework to provide a holistic view of the literature. Emphasizing the importance of taking a multilevel, multidimensional, and process-oriented approach when conducting research on age diversity in workplaces, we raise specific issues and opportunities for future research across each theme while discussing their theoretical and practical implications. We hope that our comprehensive, systematic, interdisciplinary review will open new avenues of research on this important topic.
The number of retired migrants has vastly increased in Western societies and is projected to grow further in the decades ahead. Many of those migrants are more likely than nonmigrants to encounter severe financial hardships during their retirement years, raising the following question: What explains this “migrant pension penalty?” Based on a systematic literature review of 86 articles, this article presents a comprehensive model for understanding the migrant pension penalty. This model is inspired by the life-course framework and shows the most important explanations clustered into four “life course constraints and opportunities.” First, there are institutional constraints and opportunities such as pension policies. Second, the economic constraints and opportunities such as incomes throughout the life-trajectory play a role. Third, sociocultural constraints and opportunities such as language skills and cultural norms for saving are an important explanation for the migrant pension penalty. The connections with others such as families and neighbors—known as linked lives—constitute the fourth life-course constraint and opportunity. Based on this comprehensive model, we summarize the scientific knowledge on the migrant pension penalty, identify knowledge gaps, formulate a research agenda, and provide policy implications for reducing the migrant pension penalty.
Workplace agism research has primarily focused on older workers, in spite of the fact that agism can also target younger workers. Given the growing body of research on workplace youngism (agism toward younger workers) and its need for assessment and synthesis, we conducted a scoping review aimed at mapping the range and characteristics of the workplace youngism literature. Unlike previous reviews, we focused exclusively on younger individuals in the workplace. A search of peer-reviewed literature identified 108 articles published between 1976 and 2022, containing 143 empirical studies from 21 countries, including 58,158 participants in total. The review is guided by three broad research questions: (1) How has workplace youngism been assessed?, (2) What are the main theories and conceptual approaches used to investigate workplace youngism?, and (3) What are the main antecedents and consequences of workplace youngism? For each research question, we summarize what is known and well-supported by evidence, identify disagreements and gaps in the literature, and propose directions for future research. This scoping review highlights the need for research on workplace youngism to broaden the range of methodological designs used, develop instruments specifically assessing agism toward younger workers, and extend the research to a wider range of national and cultural contexts. In addition, future research should investigate prescriptive age stereotypes toward younger workers, consider the perspective of middle-aged workers, pay greater attention to consequences of workplace youngism for the enablers, and extend the intersectional identities investigated.
Gender plays a complex and critical role in retirement decisions and outcomes. Despite its relevance, many reviews of the retirement literature have given little attention to gender-specific factors. Previous single-gender reviews also lack comparative analyses, shedding little light on where gender differences in retirement lie. To address this gap, we aim to integrate research on gender differences in retirement decisions using a comparative approach. Our systematic literature review reveals how gender interacts with factors such as marital status, pensions, work history, and traditional gender norms to shape differential retirement decisions and outcomes between men and women. The life course perspective, gender role theory, and joint retirement behavior are identified as key theories referenced in the literature to explain gender differences. We group key antecedents of gendered retirement decisions into family, macroeconomic, work-related, and individual factors; and identify key differentials in postretirement activities. By examining gender’s interaction with key factors, we elucidate why men and women experience different retirement decisions and outcomes, thereby disentangling gender’s complexity in retirement. We further contextualize the findings across countries and cohorts to explain differences in women’s retirement decisions across space and time. Finally, we identify the lacunae in the current literature and provide recommendations for future research, aiming to inform policies that promote gender equality in retirement decision-making and outcomes.
Uncertainty is a pervasive and increasingly defining feature of work and careers across the lifespan. Uncertainty is a topic of growing relevance in light of demographic shifts, evolving career and retirement patterns, and ongoing work-related changes, such as technological advancements, shifting economic landscapes, and unforeseen global events. While traditionally regarded as an aversive state to be avoided, uncertainty is also recognized as a catalyst for growth, learning, and personal development. The aim of this special issue is to promote a more explicit consideration and integration of uncertainty in research related to work, aging, and retirement. In this editorial that accompanies the special issue, we (a) introduce the contributing articles and highlight how they enhance our understanding of the role of uncertainty in work, career, and retirement; and (b) discuss key issues and directions for future research and practice to support individuals, teams, and organizations in navigating uncertainty across diverse stages of working life.
