RESEARCH ARTICLE


American and German Men and Women Discuss Retirement: A Qualitative Study



Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha*, Karin Volkwein-Caplan, Maureen E. Vita, Matthew Mauriello, Nikki DiGregorio
West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology, West Chester, PA 19383, USA


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Creative Commons License
© 2009 McConatha et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Psychology Department, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, PA 19383, USA; Tel: (610)436-3209; E-mail: JMcConatha@wcupa.edu


Abstract

Retirement can be defined as a socially acceptable removal of oneself from the workplace [1]. The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective retirement experiences of a group of German and American men and women. More specifically, we examined the sources of satisfaction and concern, coping strategies, and the sources of support of our participants. We conducted in-depth interviews of 20 American and 27 German men and women (between the ages of 50 and 82) who volunteered to participate in this study. Analysis of responses resulted in the identification of several similarities as well as differences between German and US participants. The nature of identified similarities and differences in concerns regarding health and health care, finances, relationships, and keeping active are discussed in relation to the literature.