Economic Pressure and Marital Conflict in Retirement-Aged Couples

Keywords

retirement, marriage, family stress model, assets, debts

Abstract

Tests of the relationship between economic difficulties and marital distress have generally excluded retirement-aged couples. Given the aging U.S. population and the upcoming retirement of the baby boom cohort, this research gap is problematic.To rectify this omission, this study uses longitudinal data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH; N = 3,853) and assesses whether the family stress model operates differently for three retirement-aged groups of couples (one group that retired before the study, one that retired during the study, and one group of retirement-aged couples that did not retire during the study) and a comparison group of younger couples. The family stress model did not operate for married couples that began the NSFH already retired but did operate for the two other retirement-aged couples. The authors discuss the potential mechanisms behind these findings and the implications for the upcoming retirement of the baby boom cohort.

Original Publication Citation

Dew, J. P., & Yorgason, J. (2010). Economic pressure and marital conflict in retirement-aged couples. Journal of Family Issues, 31, 164–188.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2009-09-08

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/7322

Publisher

Journal of Family Issues

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Family Life

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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