On the quality of adjustment to retirement: The longitudinal role of personality traits and generativity

Abstract

Objective: Although psychological factors have been explored in relation to other life transitions, their influence on retirement adjustment quality has been largely overlooked. This study assessed the contribution of personality traits and generativity before retirement in the prediction of hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing at two temporal points after retirement. Method: This article analyses data from the MIDUS (Midlife in the United States) longitudinal sample. Specifically, it uses a sub-sample of people who were not retired at Time 1, but were 9 years after at Time 2 (n=548) and 18 years after at Time 3 (n=351). Results: After controlling both for initial values on hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing and for the effects of personal attributes and resources, higher scores on extraversion at Time 1 significantly predicted hedonic wellbeing at Time 2 while lower scores on neuroticism and higher scores on generativity at Time 1 significantly predicted eudaimonic wellbeing at Time 2. Neuroticism and generative concern at Time 1 remained significant in the prediction of eudaimonic wellbeing at Time 3. Conclusions: The study shows that personality traits and generative concern at midlife explain a meaningful part of the variation in individuals’ quality of subsequent retirement adjustment.