Consequences of retirement activities for distress and the sense of personal control

We compare retirement with full-time employment on four forms of engaging a ctivity and examine the consequences of retirement activities for the sense of control and psychological distress. We use a 1995 U.S. national telepho ne probability sample of 2,592 respondents with an oversample of persons ag ed sixty and older. In comparison to the activities of full-time employees, those of retirees are more alienating on some aspects but more engaging on others. Retiree activities are more routine provide less of a chance to le arn new things, provide less positive social interaction with others, and t hey ave especially unlikely to involve problem-solving. However, retirees' activities ar-e also equally enjoyable and more autonomous compared to thos e of full-time workers. Autonomous activities, fulfilling activities which are enjoyable and provide the opportunity to learn new things, and integrat ed activities are all positively associated with a sense of control and neg atively associated with psychological distress. However solving problems is associated with both high levels of control and high levels of distress. R etirees have a significantly, lower sense of control than do full-time empl oyees, in large part because of the characteristics of their daily activiti es. At the same time, retirees do not have significantly higher levels of p sychological distress.