Dissonance between predicted and actual retirement statuses to address heterogeneous effects of retirement on mental health; evidence from JSTAR.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Many studies have explored the relationship between retirement and health outcomes but findings are inconsistent, mainly owing to endogeneity in the relationship between retirement decisions and health, and the effect of heterogeneity across retiree attributes. Recent studies indicate that the mental health effects of retirement vary according to the volitionality of retirement choices taking an exogenous shock as an instrument. In this study, we proposed an alternative strategy to address retirement volitionality and effect heterogeneity using social comparison and cognitive dissonance theories, to treat the dissonance between retirement propensity and actual choice behavior.

Methods

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data for 1,544 Japanese men age

SUBMITTER: Misawa W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12592161 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature