Understanding Heterogeneity in Adaptation to Retirement: A Growth Mixture Modeling Approach

Abstract

Previous research has shown that as people transition to retirement they display heterogeneous growth in outcomes. Typically three subgroups are observed, in which people either increase, decrease, or maintain their scores over time. Extending this research, this study investigates whether subgroups exist independent of the retirement event and compares growth in two outcome measures–retirement adjustment and life satisfaction. Survey data were collected from 360 retirees across three time points. For life satisfaction, growth mixture modeling identified three distinctly growing subgroups. The majority maintained their scores over time, and two smaller groups showed increases and decreases in life satisfaction over time. No subgroups were identified for retirement adjustment. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.