Health and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, 279 Nguyen Tri Phuong, District 10, 72406, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
School of Economics, University of Economics HCMC, 279 Nguyen Tri Phuong, District 10, 72406, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Glob Health Res Policy. 2023 Aug 24;8(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s41256-023-00320-3.
Mental health issues among retirees have become increasingly concerning because the aging population presents a significant challenge globally, particularly in Western countries. Previous studies on this issue are plagued with bias owing to lacking panel data and estimation strategies. This study investigated the depression levels of European adults around the time of retirement.
We used data obtained from Waves 1-7 of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to create panel data covering the 2004-2017 period. Wave 3 (SHARELIFE) was excluded from the sample because it provided mismatched information. Fixed-effects (FE) and fixed-effects instrumental variables (FE-IV) models with multiple imputations were employed to examine the impacts of retirement on mental health before and after retirement, where being over pension age (normal and early) was used as the instrument variable.
Our results indicated that retirement based on aspirational motivations (β = - 0.115, p < 0.001) and positive circumstances (β = - 0.038, p < 0.001) significantly reduced depression, whereas retiring under negative circumstances could deteriorate one's mental health (β = 0.087, p < 0.001). FE and FE-IV models indicated that overall, retiring reduced retirees' depression (β = - 0.096, p < 0.001 and β = - 0.261, p < 0.001, respectively). The results of FE-IV models showed that adults planning to retire in the next two years experienced less depression compared with others in the workforce (λ = - 0.313, p < 0.01). These adults must have adjusted their lifestyles in response to their impending retirement, thereby evincing Ashenfelter's dip. Two years after retirement, when the "honeymoon" phase was over, retirees may have completely adapted to their new lives and the effect of retirement was no longer important.
Retirement improves mental health before it happens, but not after. Increasing the pension eligibility age may postpone the beneficial effects of retirement on health. However, policy implications should be tailored according to the unique situations of each country, job sector, and population. Providing flexible schemes regarding retirement timing decisions would be better than a generalized retirement policy.
随着全球人口老龄化，退休人员的心理健康问题日益受到关注，尤其是在西方国家。由于缺乏面板数据和估计策略，之前关于这个问题的研究存在偏见。本研究调查了欧洲成年人退休时的抑郁水平。
我们使用了欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查（SHARE）第 1-7 波的数据来创建涵盖 2004-2017 年期间的面板数据。样本中排除了第 3 波（SHARELIFE），因为它提供了不匹配的信息。我们使用固定效应（FE）和固定效应工具变量（FE-IV）模型进行多次插补，以检验退休对退休前后心理健康的影响，其中提前退休（正常和提前）被用作工具变量。
我们的结果表明，基于理想动机（β=−0.115，p<0.001）和积极情况（β=−0.038，p<0.001）的退休显著降低了抑郁水平，而在消极情况下退休可能会恶化心理健康（β=0.087，p<0.001）。FE 和 FE-IV 模型表明，总体而言，退休降低了退休人员的抑郁水平（β=−0.096，p<0.001 和 β=−0.261，p<0.001，分别）。FE-IV 模型的结果表明，计划在未来两年内退休的成年人与在职成年人相比，抑郁程度较低（λ=−0.313，p<0.01）。这些成年人必须根据即将退休的情况调整自己的生活方式，从而表现出阿申费尔特的下降。退休两年后，当“蜜月期”结束时，退休人员可能已经完全适应了他们的新生活，退休的影响不再重要。
退休会改善退休前的心理健康状况，但不会改善退休后的心理健康状况。提高养老金领取年龄可能会推迟退休对健康的有益影响。然而，政策含义应根据每个国家、职业部门和人口的独特情况量身定制。提供灵活的退休时间决策方案将比一般的退休政策更好。
