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Retirement, Personality, and Life Satisfaction: A

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DOI: 10.1177/073346489301200209

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 Journal of Applied
Gerontology
http://jag.sagepub.com/

Retirement, Personality, and Life Satisfaction: A Review and Two

Models
Myrna Reis and Dolores Pushkar Gold
Journal of Applied Gerontology 1993 12: 261
DOI: 10.1177/073346489301200209

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Retirement, Personality, and Life
Satisfaction: A Review and Two Models

Myrna Reis
Dolores Pushkar Gold
Concordia University

This article reviews the literature of life satisfaction in retirement, focusing on the retiree’s
personality. Personality effects are examined in a context including other determinants of life
satisfaction: involuntary retirement, stress, health, finances, and activities, and issues of control
and adaptivity are explored. Heuristic models specifying direct and indirect effects of personality
traits on life satisfaction in retirement are proposed. The models are based on the findings
reviewed and on a variety of theories, including five-factor personality theory, stress theory, and
attachment theory. Directions for retirement counseling, planning, and research are suggested.

Retirement has been variously defined as an event, a role, or a process,

involving a change from employment for income (Ekerdt, 1987a; Evans,

Ekerdt, & Bosse, 1985). Because retirement entails discontinuity from pre-
vious behavioral patterns and economic position, retiring individuals must
adapt and make a major life transition.
Retirement can provide a late-life opportunity for further self-develop-
ment and the achievement of life satisfaction. It is often contemporaneous I
with Erikson’s (1959) final stage of ego development in which the develop-
mental challenge is emotional integrity-the emotional understanding that
life events have unfolded with purposefulness and meaning. The search for
meaning and purpose may influence the choice not only of retirement
activities in general but also of a second career for which fulfillment is the
driving force. This career could combine the satisfaction of doing something
perceived as worthwhile and the pleasure of choice, previously found in
leisure (Roadburg, 1985). Palmore, Burchett, Fillenbaum, George, and

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Requests for reprints should be addressed to Myrna Reis, Center for Re-
search in Human Development, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Concordia University, Mon-
treal, Quebec H36 1 M8.
The Journal of Applied Gerontology, Vol. 12 No 2, June 1993 261-282
0 1993 The Southern Gerontological Society

261

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262

Wallman (1986), for example, conclude that many retirees choose to resume
work at least part-time because they find work satisfying and enjoy feeling
useful, as well as for income supplementation.
We review the literature relevant to the consideration of personality and
life satisfaction in retirement. We also present two models of life satisfaction
in retirement that include a focus on personality to help guide research in and
counseling for retirement. The personality trait approach is explored in the
context of a review of retirement issues salient for life satisfaction, including
preexisting health, finances, control, enforced retirement, stress, and activi-
ties during retirement.

Personality and Life Satisfaction in Retirement

Personality traits are defined as consistent and enduring dispositions

involving individual differences in style or content of thought or behavior

(Costa & McCrae, 1986). Longitudinal studies support the hypothesis that
adult personality remains stable over time, across ages and stages, across a
wide range of personality characteristics, and as measured by a variety of
instruments (Costa & McCrae, 1984, 1986, 1988; Siegler, 1987). Aging
processes do not ordinarily cause changes in central personality traits. Rather,
a basic stability of traits helps to determine responses to important life events
and transitions (Siegler, 1987), including those involved in retirement.
Stable personality traits could be connected to stability or continuity in
life satisfaction, in work and retirement (Ekerdt, 1987a). The concept of
life-satisfaction has been variously investigated under headings such as
morale, happiness, and well-being (Ryff, 1982), and appears to be a complex
process involving cognitive appraisals and emotions. However conceptual-
ized, earlier levels of life satisfaction best predict satisfaction in later life
(Baur & Okun, 1983). Individuals appear to have relatively stable predispo-
sitions toward satisfaction or dissatisfaction, in general life assessment
(Kozma & Stones, 1983) and in more situation-specific assessments. For
example, Schmidt and Pulakos (1985) conclude that some variance in job
satisfaction reflects the characteristics of the person rather than those of
the job.

Relevant Personality Theory

Although there has been little empirical work examining personality
influences in life satisfaction after retirement, a number of personality
theories are potentially relevant to this issue. A theoretical approach can be

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 263

made within the framework of the comprehensive five-factor personality

theory, which posits five major dimensions of personality corresponding to
traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscien-
tiousness (Norman, 1963). These five dimensions provide a stable framework
within which all verbal descriptions of personality are likely to be found
(Digman & Inouye, 1986; Noller, Law, & Comrey, 1987). In Table 1, we
summarize some predicted direct effects of these central personality traits on
the individual’s behavior, affective state and cognitions, their predicted
indirect effects within a retirement context, and the expected outcomes of
such effects on the individual’s life satisfaction in retirement. These predic-
tions are specific and can be readily tested in empirical research.
Openness, extraversion, and neuroticism may be particularly salient to the
study of retirement. Neuroticism and extraversion are domains of personality
that have received relatively greater empirical attention, and similar con-
structs are used in almost all personality systems (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka,
1970; Noller et al., 1987; Watson & Clark, 1984).
Neuroticism-adjustment includes subtraits of anxiety, hostility, depres-
sion, self-consciousness, impulsivity, and vulnerability (Costa & McCrae,
1985). It is a continuum of a broad domain of personality traits, along which
individuals can be placed ranging from well-adjusted to emotionally unstable
(McCrae, 1987b), with individuals at the latter end point prone to maladap-
tive behaviors. As indicated in the predictions presented in Table 1, individ-
uals high in neuroticism are likely to see the problems of old age as crises
and to complain about poor health (Costa & McCrae, 1980b). Neuroticism
is a powerful determinant of life satisfaction, morale, well-being, unfounded
health complaints, and negative-affect scores (Costa & McCrae, 1980a,
1980b, 1984). In addition, the greater self-consciousness of more neurotic
individuals should facilitate self-focusing, associated with more depressed
affect in stressful situations (Ingram, Cruet, Johnson, & Wisnicki, 1988).
Individuals scoring high in neuroticism could make up an at-risk population
prone to negative emotions and maladaptive behavior carrying over into
many situations, including retirement. Retirees scoring high on neuroticism
might benefit from specific interventions aimed at prevention or alleviation
of problems in retirement and poor life satisfaction.
The extraversion-introversion continuum includes personality subtraits of
warmth, gregariousness, excitement-seeking, assertiveness, and activity
(McCrae, 1987a). These qualities should render retirement more congenial
and satisfying for extraverted retirees by disposing the individual to remain
active, effective, and socially involved after retirement and to appraisals of
greater control in dealing with people and institutions. Introverted people
with poor social relationships report poorer overall happiness (Hotard,

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 265

McFatter, McWhirter, & Stegall, 1989). Longitudinal data have indicated

that both extraversion, as well as neuroticism, have important effects on the
well-being of seniors (Carp, 1985).
Openness, manifested in a rich fantasy life, aesthetic sensitivity, aware-
ness of inner feelings, a need for variety in activity, intellectual curiosity, and
liberal value systems (McCrae & Costa, 1985) has received less empirical
attention. Nevertheless, such qualities could reflect intrapersonal resources
and a rich activity orientation, not necessarily interpersonal, that could help
determine interests and activities in retirement and could affect life satisfac-
tion. Costa (personal communication, January 26, 1988) has suggested that
&dquo;closed&dquo; retirees may have leisure time interests linked to vocational inter-
ests, whereas those high in openness could be encouraged to explore new
hobbies, ventures, interests, and further education, leading to new sources of
enjoyment in retirement.
In addition to the broad five-factor theory approach, other more specific
personality concepts could play important roles in prediction (Shaver &
Brennan,1991 ) and in retirement counseling and planning and research. Two
examples are Kobassa’s (1979) personality trait construct of Hardiness, and
the attachment theory constructs (Bowlby, 1982).
The construct of Hardiness, which includes lower-level trait components
of challenge, commitment, and control, could have implications for the life
satisfaction of retirees. Hardiness enables individuals to be less threatened
by change and role transitions and to withstand stress with unimpaired health.
Consequently, hardy individuals should adapt more easily to the changes
associated with retirement and to retirement-related stressors, for example
when retirement is involuntary. Hardy individuals also appraise life events
more positively (Rhodewalt & Agostdottir, 1984), which should also result
in greater life satisfaction.
Attachment theory posits specific attachment styles that develop in early
childhood are grounded in adaptive principles, are thought to underlie per-
sonality, and may thus predict the adaptation required when retiring and some
consequent positive outcomes in retirement. There is support for the concur-
rent and divergent validity of attachment style inasmuch as five-factor
personality subtraits were found to correlate in theoretically predictable ways
with attachment styles but were not redundant with them (Shaver & Brennan,
1991). The three basic attachment styles are secure, an internal affective
model and pattern of interaction that is friendly, good-natured, and likable,
and of seeing others as well-intentioned and trustworthy; anxiouslanibivalent,
which involves feeling misunderstood and not confident, and perceiving
others as unreliable and uncommitted; and avoidant, involving suspicious-
ness and aloofness, and seeing others as unreliable or overeager in relation-

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266

ships (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). Such styles of relating
could affect the amount and quality of interpersonal activity and social
support during retirement, which would help predict life satisfaction.

Research on Personality and Life Satisfaction

Despite a variety of approaches, satisfaction in retirement has not yet been
systematically examined from the perspective of the influence of personality,
although the hypothesis that retirement may be more stressful for certain
personality types has been advanced (Howard, Marshall, Rechnitzer,
Cunningham, & Donner, 1982). Considering the strong evidence for the
stability of personality traits and their possible influence on reactions to
retirement, it is surprising that the health, financial situation, and leisure
behavior of retirees are currently the almost exclusive foci of retirement
research. An exception is a study of retirement personality and life satisfaction
by MacLean (1983). MacLean, using the 16PF personality inventory (Cattell
et al., 1970), and the Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten, Havighurst, &
Tobin, 1961) found that a personality factor partly characterized by enjoy-
ment was a significant predictor of satisfaction in retirement. Another excep-
tion is the Smith and Robbins (1988) finding that a personality construct of
goal instability predicted poorer life satisfaction in an early retiree popula-
tion. Robbins, Payne, and Chartrand (1990) argue that goal instability-the
inability to set direction, provide initiative and maintain drive-leads to dif-
ficulty in life transitions, including adjusting to retirement. It is worth noting
that a goal instability trait could be related to Kobassa’s (1979) commitment
trait within the construct of Hardiness.
In contrast with the findings supporting the importance of personality in
retirement, at least one study found that personality traits did not predict the
experience of stress in retirement (Bosse, Aldwin, Levenson, & Workman-
Daniels, 1991). Although 30% of the retirees studied reported having a
retirement problem of moderate intensity, neither extraversion nor emotion-
ality predicted stress in retirement. Self-reported health, financial state, and
marital problems did predict stress. Bosse and his associates ( 1991 ) conclude
that although their data did not support the prediction that retirement would
be more stressful for certain personality types, a more complete assessment
of personality is necessary to test the hypothesis.
Personality traits of retirees sometimes may also exert indirect, rather than
direct, influences on life satisfaction, for example, through effects on health
complaints and marital problems. Bosse and his associates (1991) did not
examine such indirect effects. Emotionality has been characterized as an
index of negative affect and has been found to predict self-reported health

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 267

(Watson & Pennebaker, 1989). Other personality concepts may sometimes

be more salient-for instance, the goal instability concept of Smith and
Robbins (1988) and the Hardiness and attachment style approaches. For
example, the control subtrait within the Hardiness construct may be more
salient for those who have been forced to retire earlier than expected or
desired or who have otherwise experienced a loss of personal control.

Enforced Retirement and Stress

Retirement generally affects income, but not health or life satisfaction

(Palmore, Fillenbaum, & George, 1984). However, early retirement has
stronger effects and is connected to poor health (Chown, 1977). Early
retirements may be prone to stress, in accordance with Neugarten’s (1979)
thesis that developmentally off-time events will be experienced more nega-
tively. For example, Beck (1984) found that retiring 5 years before the
expected age negatively affected retirement satisfaction. Similarly, univer-
sity faculty members retiring early in response to an early retirement incen-
tive plan were in poorer health (Monahan & Greene, 1987).
If early retirement involving poor health is conceptualized as a special
case of enforced retirement, then an element of loss of control is involved.
Environmental constraints have negative effects on life satisfaction (Palmore
et al., 1986; Wolk & Telleen, 1976), and, consequently, early or involuntary
retirement may well create adjustment problems. The constraint to retire,
caused by health problems, may imply not only being forced to leave a job,
which may have been of long duration, but also being constrained to quit the
work arena in general and loss of structure, status, income and interpersonal
contacts as well as health-connected resources. Enforced retirement may well
represent a serious diminishment of personal control and as such be a major
stressor. Individuals anxious about impending retirement have been found to
expect to exert little control over their lives after retirement (Fletcher &
Hansson, 1991). Because the maintenance of control is basic to outcomes for
seniors (Matthews & Shipsides, 1989), it is not surprising that involuntary
retirement has been found to have negative influences on emotional
satisfaction, self-image, emotional stability, and interpersonal relationships
(Palmore et al., 1984; Peretti & Wilson, 1975).
Health problems are but one cause of enforced retirements and diminish-
ment of personal control. Although age-discrimination legislation now usu-
ally forbids mandatory retirement rules, such legislation is not yet universal
and the enforcement of existing legislation is undoubtably as yet imperfect.
Companies may well unofficially exert more or less subtle pressures on older

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268

employees to accept retirement. Unofficial age-driven retirement policies of

companies fail to take into account the finding that age, per se, has little
independent effect on job commitment (Hanlon, 1986). Rather, job commit-
ment, which may well be partly connected to a person’s experience of
purposefulness and meaning, is affected by job satisfaction, occupational pres-
tige, and the feeling of being healthy and effective (Eden & Jacobson, 1976).
Enforced retirement, health, stress, control, commitment, and life satis-
faction thus appear to be linked. Some individuals who are forced to retire
early, for health or other reasons, may benefit from counseling or therapy for
help in adapting to the many unexpected simultaneous losses, including
losses in control, focus of commitment, and purpose, as well as in dealing
with unresolved work issues that could also affect retirement satisfaction.
For others, a solution benefiting both companies and older workers might be
the creation of increased opportunities for retraining and part-time paid or
volunteer employment. This could augment feelings of commitment, pur-
pose, control, and life satisfaction; provide cost-effective sources of labor
and expertise; and decrease the drain on public funds.

Personality and Health

Because health problems are often implicated in early enforced retire-
ments and life satisfaction, the direct impact of personality traits on health
are worth considering. In enforced retirement, individuals with certain per-

sonality traits may experience more health difficulties, further reducing their
life satisfaction. The university faculty members choosing to retire early not
only had poorer health but also were less satisfied with their teaching
assignments, rated themselves lower in research productivity, felt they re-
ceived less recognition, felt they were consulted less in important decisions,
and that they fit less well in their departments (Monahan & Greene, 1987).
Such negative appraisals and self-perceptions could partly reflect not only
their personal adjustment in the work situation but also more general personal
dispositions, involving personality traits.
Personality has been directly connected to poorer health reports-for
instance, the links between neuroticism and health previously mentioned.
Personality traits other than neuroticism also predict health. Kobassa’s
(1979) personality construct of hardiness has been found to predict concur-
rent and future health even when previous illness is included as an indepen-
dent predictor (Kobassa, Maddi, & Kahn, 1982). Hull, Van Treuren, and
Virnelli (1987) have found that two aspects of hardiness-lack of control and
lack of commitment-directly affect health. Lack of commitment could also

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 269

be conceptually similar to the goal instability personality construct found to

predict life satisfaction (Smith & Robbins, 1988).
Another connection between personality and health outcomes is the
well-known coronary-prone Type A behavior pattern. Recent empirical evi-
dence does not support the global Type A behavior-illness hypothesis (Linden,
1987), but the influence of the hostility trait component of the Type A
construct on health continues to receive empirical support. For example,
hostility is linked with early-stage essential hypertension and coronary
disease. Hostility is a facet of neuroticism (McCrae & Costa, 1984), suggest-
ing the involvement of that central personality trait in coronary disease.

A General Model of Personality Influence on

Life Satisfaction in Retirement Contexts

We propose a second heuristic model linking personality and life satisfac-

tion in retirement (see Figure 1). This model provides a more comprehensive
overview of how personality dispositions influence response to the retire-
ment situation, whereas the personality model (Table 1) gives more specific
testable predictions based on one personality theory, the five-factor theory.
Despite a general absence of retirement effects on life satisfaction (Palmore
et al., 1986), direct and indirect relationships may link personality and life
satisfaction, particularly when retirement is enforced and adaptiveness and
the maintenance of control become salient issues, as suggested earlier.
Personality traits, as stable dispositions toward cognition, emotions, and
behavior, are hypothesized to predict appraisals of the self and retirement
context, and emotional reactions to the retirement context and behaviors,
such as the development of new interpersonal activities. Personality may,
therefore, predict life satisfaction directly and indirectly.
The appraisal of stress is included in the model within the category of
cognition and appraisals. An appraisal of stressors as being severe, according
to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), involves the appraisal of a situation as
straining one’s resources and abilities, rather than providing a challenge that
can be successfully handled with positive outcomes. In the retirement con-

text, as in other situations, such a feeling of strain could be experienced as a

situation slipping beyond the individual’s control. The present retirement
model is influenced by the Lazarus stress model in that both include, among
a number of other elements, overlapping conceptual elements and links

among elements. The Lazarus model, however, contrasts with the retirement
model in its focus on stress rather than on personality.

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 271

The model allows for the interplay of the personal and situational contexts,
both of which undoubtedly influence the retiree’s appraisals of the possession
of personal and situational resources needed to cope adequately and of stress
or strain on those resources. The personality, situational context, and apprais-
als of stress affect the activities of the retiree, which in turn help to determine
the outcomes of life satisfaction and the maintenance of health and control.
The health of the retiree may be conceptualized both as cause and effect that
is, as an outcome variable influenced by personality, stress, and activities,
and as preexisting health in the situational context influencing outcomes. The
influence of other situational factors, such as occupational characteristics and
government policies on work satisfaction, continued employment and retire-
ment are important but deserve examination and discussion apart from this
article, which focuses on the influence of personality.

The Role of Finances on Life Satisfaction in Retirement

The model includes finances among the situational variables, because

retirement almost always involves a decrease in income. Not surprisingly,
income, like health, has been found to be an important predictor of satisfac-
tion in retirement (Chown, 1977; Fillenbaum, George, & Palmore, 1985;
MacLean, 1983). It can also be speculated that income is at least partially,
and directly and indirectly, dependent on health and personality. For instance,
some enduring personality dispositions such as high levels of neuroticism
could contribute to health problems, enforced early retirement, and conse-
quent income loss.
Although income is undoubtedly important in making retirement plans,
relatively small changes in income may have little effect on retirement
satisfaction. Job satisfaction among older workers is not predicted by income
(McNeely, 1988). Neither is the U.S.-legislated increase in the age of eligi-
bility for full Social Security benefits expected to have much impact on the
age of retirement (Gohmann & Clark, 1989).
It may be that, once a basic economic standard is reached, less marked
changes in income become relatively less important. Campbell (1975) pro-
posed an adaptation-level phenomenon: the tendency to adapt to a given level
of stimulation and then to notice and react to changes from that level. The
adaptation-level phenomenon can explain downward adjustment, for in-
stance, if income decreases at or during retirement. Even accident victims
who are paraplegics generally adapt and revert to their usual levels of
happiness after an initial period of adjustment (Schultz & Decker, 1985),
which may well reflect enduring personality dispositions. As well, a negative

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 272

standard of comparison can establish a relative perspective as a context for

self-appraisal (Crocker & Gallo, 1985). Some elderly people may have a
broader temporal and experiential perspective allowing for the perception of
the silver lining in loss of income by comparing downward across a wide
variety of situations and problems experienced by others as well as them-
selves. Personality traits such as extraversion, with its component predispo-
sition toward cheerfulness, and neuroticism, with its component of hostility,
are likely to influence the adaptation-level phenomenon and the selection of
relevant others for self-appraisal.

Activities During Retirement

The model focuses the activities of the retiree, because the retirees’
on

functional, social, cognitive, and recreational activities are important in

determining positive outcomes in retirement, including the maintenance of
health, control, independence, and life satisfaction. Limitations in activity
kind or level may disrupt attempts of the retirees to keep occupied and
maintain continuity in activity and diminish positive outcomes in retirement.
Ekerdt (1986) proposes that retirement is legitimized for some people by
adopting a work-like ethic that values keeping busy in retirement. Senior
volunteer programs offering unremunerated employment for persons aged
60 or over result in increased confidence and sociability for participants
(Crawford, 1976).
Health and control are linked with activities or activity level because
retired individuals sometimes lose the ability to maintain past or preferred
activities partly because of physical changes. For older individuals, problems
related to health and safety may limit participation in outdoor recreation
(McGuire, Dottavio, & O’Leary,1986). Leisure activities for the elderly may
be more likely to be indoors, sedentary, and cheap (Roadburg, 1985).
Limitations in activity may be experienced as constraints and, as has been
indicated, constraint in retirement could lead to problems in health outcomes
and life satisfaction.
The emphasis on activity is consistent with activity theories; for example,
Havighurst, McDonald, Maeulen, and Mazel (1979) emphasize the impor-
tance of social participation for the life satisfaction of elderly people. Social
and recreational activities can be important predictors of life satisfaction
(Riddick, 1985). Social contacts can buffer against increases in anxiety
(Bolger & Eckenrode, 1991), and interpersonal pursuits and relationships are
keys in life satisfaction (Wingrove & Slevin, 1991). Steinkamp and Kelly
(1987) found that social integration, rather than general leisure activity level,

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 273

accounted for significant amounts of variance in life satisfaction for older

adults. The development of a social network to replace the social contacts
habitually found in work settings could prove to be important for the life
satisfaction of retirees. The degree of importance of the social network in
influencing life satisfaction for retirees, however, would vary with their
personality. The greater self-sufficiency of introverts, for example, would
presumably make them less dependent on social networks.
Retirees could be encouraged to participate in activities that integrate
them into a social group if their personal dispositions such as extraversion-
introversion are taken into account. Research is required to examine links
between traits such as extraversion-introversion and openness and the effects
of interpersonal and intrapersonal activities on life satisfaction. Similarly,
because negative and positive affect have been found to be strongly related
to personality traits, activity levels may have differential effects on positive
and negative affect, depending on personality traits. Beck and Page (1988),
for example, found that involvement in activities resulted in higher levels of
positive affect for older men but had little effect on negative affect.

Counseling and Preparations for Retirement

Participation in retirement preparation programs is helpful in maintaining
positive retirement attitudes and the expectancy of control (Abel & Hayslip,
1987). Individuals who take part in retirement counseling programs are
happier in retirement (Ekerdt, 1987b). Part of the demand for counseling may
also reflect questions concerning financial or other preparations, the wish to
forestall problems due to the myth of inevitable problems in retirement, and
actual or anticipated problems related to health and problematic early and
involuntary retirements. Participation in a retirement counseling program
could also reflect the desire to meet the developmental challenge of emo-
tional integrity and the chance to plan for self-fulfillment.
Because of the long-term preparation needed to establish leisure activity
patterns and financial security, counseling should begin well in advance.
Retirement preparations now generally take place quite late in life, just prior
to or even after retirement when it might be impossible, or at least difficult,
for them to be sufficiently effective in areas such as savings and investment,
and exercise and nutrition (Atchley, 1981).
Early preparation might be helpful particularly when retirement is earlier
than expected or involuntary. That retirement can be viewed as an orderly
event is indicated by the two thirds of participants in a longitudinal Veteran’s
Administration Normative Aging Study who did retire when they had planned

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274

to do so (Ekerdt, Vinick, & Bosse, 1989). However, about one third did not
accurately foresee the date of their retirement. This suggests that some
retirements are the result of sudden urgent situations such as health problems,
and that there is further room for improvement in advanced planning,
including &dquo;rainy day&dquo; preparation. The earlier that preparation begins, the
more options are likely to be open (Ekerdt, 1987b).

Despite the apparent current relative interest in financial and leisure

preparation, many individuals actually do only limited planning or partici-
pate in counseling. In a U.S. national survey (Harris, 1979), 62% of workers
aged 50 to 64 felt they had not planned sufficiently, and half did not even
know the extent of their Social Security or pension benefits. Some of the
inadequate preparation is caused by limited availability and access to coun-
seling programs (Ekerdt, 1987b).
Some attempts have been made to identify the extent of use of retirement
counseling and to predict participation in retirement preparation programs.
A U.S. national survey (Beck, 1984), found that most counseling participants
were men aged 60 to 74 who made up only 4% of the population. Those most
in need of such help, such as low-income workers, were least likely to
participate in these programs. Similarly, women are less likely to participate,
even though they report more stressful events preceding retirement and

appear to be more affected by such events during retirement (Szinovacz &

Wasko, 1992). Projections based on the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey
of Mature Men in 1981 (Campione, 1988) suggest that men most likely to
have access to any sort of retirement preparation program are married, hold
more prestigious jobs, and have higher incomes and better health. However,
the extent of preretirement financial preparation has been found to be limited
even among professional workers (Kilty & Behling, 1986). Results of one

study indicate that retired professors feel that more help is needed in terms
of planning, support for continued work, and gradual retirement options
(Dorfman, Conner, Ward, & Tompkins, 1984).

Better Retirement Counseling

Consideration of the personality life satisfaction models provides a basis

for suggestions for improving retirement counseling. If retirement counsel-
ing programs were more available, universal, and of longer duration, it would
be more feasible to take the time to explore retirees’ leisure activities and
life-styles in the context of their personality dispositions. There is continuity
of leisure activities over time (Havighurst et al., 1979; Kelly, Steinkamp, &
Kelly, 1986) consistent with the supposition that stable personality traits
influence choice of leisure activity. Personality may also affect retirement

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 275

program participation; Ekerdt (1987b) points out that preretirement programs

involve self-selection of participants, which confounds the evidence of
program effectiveness. Self-selected participants may generally tend to feel
more positive about, or tend to plan more carefully for, retirement, implying
the importance of stable personality dispositions, such as conscientiousness.
A high level of retirement preparation has been associated with the personal
values of action-orientation, self-actualization, virtuousness, and altruism
(Price, 1983).
Entine (1977) proposes a retirement counseling model that posits that
appropriate counseling involves internal and external changes or needs
related to retirement. Retirement counseling currently tends to concentrate
on health, leisure, finance, views of retirement, and perceptions of the future

(Bartlett & Oldham, 1978; MacLean, 1983). It rarely considers the specific
stable dispositions of the individual retiree.
Improved retirement counseling might evolve from attention to the prac-
tices usually followed in career counseling. Career counseling, unlike retire-
ment counseling, involves a wide range of explorations of the inner person
and the situation to make plans and set goals (Holland, 1985; Osipow, 1987;
Tolbert, 1980). Career counseling focuses on personality as well as on
idiosyncratic interests, abilities, preferences, needs, values, person-situation
interactions, problems, coping skills, and personal limitations. It also in-
cludes consideration of full- and part-time work, paid and unpaid, and leisure
activities over the adolescent and adult life span. Career counseling can be
an intermittent intervention spanning several years, conducted either individ-

ually or in groups. Group work in career counseling is not intended to take

the place of individual interventions, because group counseling tends to fall
into the time-limited workshop format and to address only discrete issues
such as job-hunting skills.
Retirement counseling might also profitably borrow from the career
counseling approach by incorporating standardized measures of relevant
psychological traits or skills. Personal exploration in career counseling
frequently involves the use of standardized tests, although not necessarily
formal assessment of personality traits (Holland, 1985; Osipow, 1987;
Tolbert, 1980). Tests are chosen according to individual needs, and test results
serve as points of departure for initiating open, nonjudgmental discussion,
for further exploration and verification, for gaining an overview, and for a
focus on personal strengths and weaknesses. Typically, testing opportunities
are offered to the client along with appropriate explanations and reassur-
ances. The option to test is usually welcomed. Test interpretation, including

personality tests, does not present a particular hurdle to the trained counselor,
just as exploration of personal problems is routine to the psychotherapist.

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276

The infrequentuse of standardized tests in retirement counseling pro-

grams may reflect not only the current limited depth and focus of the
counseling but also the widespread use of the group workshop format or a
brief individual format. With either format, standardized test interpretation
is difficult to perform at an adequate level. In addition, older people are
assumed to be apprehensive of psychological testing (Bartlett & Oldham,
1978). Tests and inventories supposedly appear artificial and contrived to the
elderly (Sinick, 1976). Although it is undoubtedly wise to be alert to potential
problems when testing an older population that may have less formal educa-
tion and be less accustomed to testing than younger adults, valid tests have
been devised and widely used with the elderly. For instance, the Retirement
Maturity Index (Johnson, 1982), assesses individuals believed to be at risk
for poor retirement adjustment. Other tests could be designed or adapted for
use. Personality assessment for retirees using, for instance, a short form of
the NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1985) or the Hardiness
Scale (Kobassa, 1979) might help to highlight enduring tendencies of the
individual that could be linked to past, current, and prospective interests,
leisure activities, situational contingencies and problems, and retirement
health and happiness. Plans could be made accordingly by the individuals
assessed, with the counselors’ aid.
Retirement counseling might also profitably borrow from career counsel-
ing in terms of theory. Career counseling theory, like personality theory,
emphasizes stability and continuity in a central career developmental theory.
Super’s theory (1980a, 1980b), for example, emphasizes the continuity of
accumulation of transferable skills from late adolescence on (Strong,1951)
that could also be salient in considering retiree activities and life satisfaction.
Costa, McCrae, and Holland (1984) stress the similarity of vocational inter-
ests and personality dispositions in terms of their stability across adulthood.
They suggest research on the effectiveness of supplementing vocational
interest tests with personality measures in counseling older adults. Similarly,
Campione (1987) suggests that future retirement research investigate per-
sonal and attitudinal factors as well as financial issues.

Contribution of the Personality

and Life Satisfaction Retirement Models

We have provided a review of the literature and proposed two models of

life satisfaction in retirement, emphasizing the potential utility of incorpo-
rating a personality trait focus in the area of retirement. The personality

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 277

model and commensurate research may ultimately broaden our understand-

ing of the determinants of satisfaction in retirement. Only a few studies have
attempted to examine the effects of personality on positive outcomes in
retirement, with mixed results emerging. The potential validity and useful-
ness of the personality orientation and models should be subjected to further

empirical verification. Empirical findings relevant to the literature exist, but

no comprehensive assessment of personality interactions with retirement

contingencies as determinants of life satisfaction has been made.

The models provide for the consideration of person and situation variables
and are innovative in their integration of existing theories and approaches
within the retirement area, which has not been particularly theory oriented.
A strength of the models is their basis in the theories and related findings of
five-factor personality theory, attachment theory, control theory, and stress
theory. The models also contribute by extending the scope of the usual topics
of retirement, leisure activities, finances, and health, and linking these topics
with personality traits. Both models may be particularly relevant to research
issues involved in voluntary versus involuntary retirement and control in
retirement.
The models are also potentially applicable to other areas of research; for
instance, the study of competency in aging. As in successful retirement,
competency and related positive outcomes involve adaptive responding in
specific situations (Scheidt & Schaie, 1978). Competency in aging requires
successful adaptation to multiple changes and losses in areas such as health,
income, family and marital relationships, friends, social supporters, status,
daily roles, activities, and availability of future time. Such adaptiveness may
have a basis in traits, in terms of stable dispositions toward adaptive behavior,
emotional responses and cognitions, including appraisals of stressors, and
the ability to adapt expectations and activities downward.
Jung (1933) has declared that the art of living is the most distinguished
and rare of all the arts. Successful living by adapting to increased life sat-
isfaction in retirement can potentially transform the meaning and signifi-
cance of old age. An ultimate goal of exploring the life satisfaction of retirees
within a personality focus is the provision of a better understanding of the
determinants of the art of living and successful retirement.

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Myrna Reis is based at the Centre for Research m Human Development at Concordia
University, where she is an adjunctpsychologyprofessor She is also an adjunctprofessor
of McGill University, Department of Medicine, and IS affiliated with the Jewish General
Hospital. Her research interests include retirement, dementia caregivmg, competency in
aging, home-care servicesfor the elderly, elderly abuse, and personality.

Dolores Pushkar Gold is the director of the Centre for Research m Human Development
and a professor in the psychology department at Concordia University. She is a member
of the Canadian Agmg Research Network, one of the 15 networks of the Centre of
Excellence supported by the government of Canada to strengthen the country’s perfor-
mance in strategic areas of research and development.

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