Professional women's retirement adjustment: the experience of reestablishing order

Abstract

Twenty-four interviews with 14 retired professional women were conducted and the results were presented as a four-stage process model [Price, C.A., 1998. Women and retirement: the unexplored transition. New York, Garland]. Because retirement adjustment for professional women has been a topic largely overlooked, the data pertaining to the women's adjustment experiences were reexamined in light of current literature and within the frameworks of identity theory and role theory. Retirement adjustment, for these women, was influenced by the following factors: (1) role expansion, (2) maintaining a sense of self, (3) reestablishing structure through time, and (4) community involvement. Results indicate that adjustment to retirement, for professional women, may be enhanced by utilizing work-related skills, maintaining active lifestyles, and nourishing individual self-concepts to counter the loss of former professional roles.