The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on June 14, 2006
The European Journal of Public Health 2007 17(1):62-68; doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl084
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International perspectives |
Quality of work, well-being, and intended early retirement of older employees—baseline results from the SHARE Study
Johannes Siegrist1, Morten Wahrendorf1, Olaf von dem Knesebeck2, Hendrik Jürges3 and Axel Börsch-Supan3
1 Department of Medical Sociology, University of Duesseldorf Germany
2 Department of Medical Sociology, University of Hamburg Germany
3 Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging, University of Mannheim Germany
Correspondence: Johannes Siegrist, PhD, Department of Medical Sociology, University of Duesseldorf, PB 101007, D-40001 Duesseldorf, Germany, tel: +49 211 8114360, fax: +49 211 8112390, e-mail: siegrist{at}uni-duesseldorf.de
Background: Given the challenge of a high proportion of older employees who retire early from work we analyse associations of indicators of a poor psychosocial quality of work with intended premature departure from work in a large sample of older male and female employees in 10 European countries. Methods: Baseline data from the ‘Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe’ (SHARE) were obtained from 3523 men and 3318 women in 10 European countries. Data on intended early retirement, four measures of well-being (self-rated health, depressive symptoms, general symptom load, and quality of life), and quality of work (effort–reward imbalance; low control at work) were obtained from structured interviews and questionnaires. Country-specific and total samples are analysed, using logistic regression analysis. Results: Poor quality of work is significantly associated with intended early retirement. After adjustment for well-being odds ratios (OR) of effort–reward imbalance [OR 1.72 (1.43–2.08)] and low control at work [OR 1.51 (1.27–1.80)] on intended early retirement are observed. Poor quality of work and reduced well-being are independently associated with the intention to retire from work. Conclusion: The consistent association of a poor psychosocial quality of work with intended early retirement among older employees across all European countries under study calls for improved investments into better quality of work, in particular increased control and an appropriate balance between efforts spent and rewards received at work.
Keywords: demand-control, early retirement, effort–reward imbalance, European comparisons, quality of work