To Be or Not to Be? Bridge Employment and Depressive Symptoms Among Retirees in the United States: A Longitudinal Analysis Using Fixed Effects

Xiao Yu Gong , McGill University
Amelie Quesnel Vallee, McGill University

Bridge Employment (BE) is described as moving gradually from employment to fully retired status, rather than retiring abruptly. In the U.S. in 2010, more than 50 percent of retirees aged 50-80 reported BE participation sometime in their lives. However, the mental health consequences of BE are still under debate. This study uses ten waves and three cohorts of the Health Retirement Survey to examine the effect of BE participation on mental health. The data were centered on the year of retirement (n=7967, person-waves=45,848), allowing to estimate fixed effects models to control endogeneity created by unmeasured time constant, pre-retirement and life course elements. We find that working in BE improves people’s mental health, especially when people work in non-stressful and non-physically demanding BE. BE trajectories also affect mental health outcomes.

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 Presented in Session 200. Pensions, Social Security, and Retirement