TY - JOUR
T1 - Deciding the future
T2 - Do dual-earner couples plan together for retirement?
AU - Moen, Phyllis
AU - Huang, Qinlei
AU - Plassmann, Vandana
AU - Dentinger, Emma
PY - 2006/6
Y1 - 2006/6
N2 - This study examines the retirement planfulness of men and women in dual-earner couples using data from the Ecology of Careers Study and structural equation modeling. It assesses whether each spouse plans independently, whether this is a gendered division of labor, whether both spouses' plans mutually influence each other, or whether decision making about retirement is an individual process for each member of a couple. The authors find that spouses' levels of retirement planfulness are positively related but in different ways depending on gender, cohort, and family circumstances. Perceived control (mastery), income adequacy, and workload all predict both husbands' and wives' planfulness. And husbands' planfulness tends to shape their wives' planfulness in the full sample. However, age cohort and family stage both moderate dual-earner couples' decision making about retirement. Younger couples (those in the trailing edge baby boom cohort) make plans independently, and in this younger cohort, only wives' planfulness can be modeled.
AB - This study examines the retirement planfulness of men and women in dual-earner couples using data from the Ecology of Careers Study and structural equation modeling. It assesses whether each spouse plans independently, whether this is a gendered division of labor, whether both spouses' plans mutually influence each other, or whether decision making about retirement is an individual process for each member of a couple. The authors find that spouses' levels of retirement planfulness are positively related but in different ways depending on gender, cohort, and family circumstances. Perceived control (mastery), income adequacy, and workload all predict both husbands' and wives' planfulness. And husbands' planfulness tends to shape their wives' planfulness in the full sample. However, age cohort and family stage both moderate dual-earner couples' decision making about retirement. Younger couples (those in the trailing edge baby boom cohort) make plans independently, and in this younger cohort, only wives' planfulness can be modeled.
KW - Dual-earner couples
KW - Gender differences
KW - Retirement planfulness
KW - Working couples
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33646414466&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33646414466&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0002764206286563
DO - 10.1177/0002764206286563
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33646414466
SN - 0002-7642
VL - 49
SP - 1422
EP - 1443
JO - American Behavioral Scientist
JF - American Behavioral Scientist
IS - 10
ER -