ARE THERE GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PREDICTING RETIREMENT DECISIONS

Although there has been speculation about gender differences in retire ment decisions, research directly on the issue has been sparse, and re sults have been inconsistent. This study, which examined hypotheses ba sed on traditional gender roles, is one of the few to examine the inte ractions between retirement predictors and gender. In a random sample of older employees and retirees from a large midwestern manufacturing organization, retirement decisions differed between men and women prim arily when dependents lived in the household, when the health of one's spouse was a consideration, and when one's spouse was retired. These differences appeared to be partially dependent on the operational defi nition of retirement.