Hershey Douglas A, Henkens Kène, van Dalen Hendrik P
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 116 North Murray Hall, Stillwater OK, 74078 USA.
Department of Sociology, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI); Tilburg University, P.O. Box 11650, 2502 AR The Hague, The Netherlands.
Eur J Ageing. 2010 Oct 22;7(4):301-311. doi: 10.1007/s10433-010-0167-z. eCollection 2010 Dec.
Nations in Europe have been developing rapidly since the formation of the European Union (EU), not only socially and demographically, but economically as well. One question a number of countries will face during this period of structural transition will be how (and how well) they are able to support their citizens in old age. A related question involves whether individuals worry about their financial future in retirement, and the extent to which they take active steps to save in order to ensure an adequate standard of living. In this study, we analyze data from the third wave of the European Social Survey, which represents 21,416 working adults from 23 countries in Europe. We used multilevel modeling to focus on the explanatory factors that underlie individual and country-level effects in worry about future retirement income and saving behavior. Findings suggest that once individual-level dimensions are taken into account, country-level predictors explain appreciable variance in worry, but not saving practices. Moreover, we found that retirement income worries are more severe in countries with a strong projected increase in future population aging and a high level of income inequality. Finally, pension age reforms were not found to appreciably affect retirement income worries. Results of the study are discussed in terms of not only the individual difference dimensions that precipitate future income worry and saving, but also ways in which macro-level policy initiatives could potentially alleviate some of the worries of European citizens.
自欧盟（EU）成立以来，欧洲各国发展迅速，不仅在社会和人口方面，经济上也是如此。在这一结构转型时期，许多国家将面临的一个问题是，它们如何（以及在多大程度上）能够为老年公民提供支持。一个相关问题是，个人是否担心自己退休后的经济前景，以及他们在多大程度上采取积极措施储蓄，以确保有足够的生活水平。在本研究中，我们分析了欧洲社会调查第三轮的数据，该数据代表了来自欧洲23个国家的21416名在职成年人。我们使用多层次模型来关注影响个人对未来退休收入担忧和储蓄行为的个体层面和国家层面因素。研究结果表明，一旦考虑到个体层面的因素，国家层面的预测因素能够解释担忧方面的显著差异，但不能解释储蓄行为。此外，我们发现，在预计未来人口老龄化将大幅增加且收入不平等程度较高的国家，退休收入担忧更为严重。最后，未发现养老金年龄改革对退休收入担忧有明显影响。本研究结果不仅从导致未来收入担忧和储蓄的个体差异层面进行了讨论，还探讨了宏观层面的政策举措可能减轻欧洲公民一些担忧的方式。
