HEalth, Aging and Retirement Transitions in Sweden - HEARTS
Short description
The HEalth, Aging and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study is a longitudinal research project targeting the transition from work to retirement. The project was initiated in 2015 and includes 5913 individuals born between 1949 and 1955. The overall aim of HEARTS is to improve our understanding of the retirement process and the factors contributing to continuity and change in psychological health in the years before and following retirement.
Project description
The transition from work to retirement is a major life event with substantial changes in everyday life. How do people cope with these changes? What contributes to continuity and change in psychological health over the retirement transition? In the Health, Aging and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) project, we focus on the psychological process of retirement, and investigate changes in health, well-being and lifestyle in the years before and following retirement.
Rapid demographic change, with a growing proportion of older adults and financial incentives to increase the retirement age, additionally highlights the need to better understand the opportunities and challenges associated with a prolonged working life. The HEARTS project therefore aims to further investigate the role of work in later life and the extent to which continued labor force participation, beyond the normative retirement age, influences health and well-being.
The project started in the spring of 2015, when a nationally representative sample of 14990 individuals born between 1949 and 1955 was recruited from the register of all persons resident in Sweden (Statens personadressregister; SPAR). Of those, 5913 individuals agreed to take part in the study. The HEARTS sample is generally representative of the population (individuals in Sweden born between 1949 and 1955), but consists of slightly more women than men and a higher proportion of individuals born in 1949–50 than in 1954–55. Compared to the population, the sample also contains a larger proportion of individuals with higher education.
The HEARTS study is survey-based and includes questions on socio-demographic background, work and retirement status, reasons for retirement, expectations toward and experiences in retirement, as well as different aspects of health, lifestyle, psychological well-being, cognitive functioning, personality, and social networks. The survey also contains questions on working life, such as occupational characteristics, employment conditions, workload, job demands, work motivation, and reasons for continuing working. The survey data is further supplemented by information available from national registries such as Statistics Sweden’s longitudinal integrated database for health insurance and labour market studies (LISA), the Swedish Defence Conscription and Assessment Agency, and the Swedish National Board for Health and Welfare.
The project has a longitudinal study design with annual follow-ups conducted each spring to facilitate evaluation of changes over time in relation to the retirement event. For more information concerning the project and our findings so far, please see the below publication list.
Publications
Change and Continuity in Psychological Health Across the retirement transition: Interindividual Differences and Post-Retirement Adjustment.
Georg Henning, 2019-09-27
Retirement and Life Satisfaction: A Resource-Based Dynamic Perspective.
Isabelle Hansson, 2019-09-20
- Agahi, N., Kelfve, S., Hassing, L. B., & Lindwall, M. (2021). Alcohol Consumption Over the Retirement Transition in Sweden: Different Trajectories Based on Education. Work, Aging and Retirement.
- Kivi, M., Hansson, I., & Bjälkebring, P. (2021). Up and about: Older adults’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Swedish Longitudinal Study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 76(2), e4-e9.
- Bjälkebring, P., Henning, G., Västfjäll, D., Dickert, S., Brehmer, Y., Buratti, S., . . . Johansson, B. (2020). Helping out or helping yourself ? Volunteering and life satisfaction across the retirement transition. Psychology and Aging.
- Hansson, I., Buratti, S., Thorvaldsson, V., Johansson, B., & Berg, A. I. (2020). Disentangling the mechanisms of retirement adjustment: Determinants and consequences of subjective well-being. Work, Aging and Retirement, 6(2), 71-87.
- Hansson, I., Henning, G., Buratti, S., Lindwall, M., Kivi, M., Johansson, B., & Berg, A. I. (2020). The role of personality in retirement adjustment: Longitudinal evidence for the effects on life satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 88(4), 642-658.
- Hed, S., Berg, A. I., Hansson, I., Kivi, M., & Waern, M. (2020). Gender differences in resources related to depressive symptoms during the early years of retirement: A Swedish population-based study. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 35(11), 1301-1308.
- Henning, G., Stenling, A., Bielak, A. A. M., Bjälkebring, P., Gow, A. J., Kivi, M., . . . Lindwall, M. (2020). Towards an active and happy retirement? Changes in leisure activity and depressive symptoms during the retirement transition. Aging and Mental Health.
- Kelfve, S., Kivi, M., Johansson, B., & Lindwall, M. (2020). Going web or staying paper? The use of web-surveys among older people. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 20(1)
- Stenling, A., Henning, G., Bjälkebring, P., Tafvelin, S., Kivi, M., Johansson, B., & Lindwall, M. (2020). Basic psychological need satisfaction across the retirement transition: Changes and longitudinal associations with depressive symptoms. Motivation and Emotion.
- Hansson, I., Buratti, S., Johansson, B., & Berg, A. I. (2019). Beyond health and economy: Resource interactions in retirement adjustment. Aging and Mental Health, 23(11), 1546-1554.
- Henning, G., Bjälkebring, P., Stenling, A., Thorvaldsson, V., Johansson, B., & Lindwall, M. (2019). Changes in within- and between-person associations between basic psychological need satisfaction and well-being after retirement. Journal of Research in Personality, 79, 151-160.
- Henning, G., Stenling, A., Tafvelin, S., Hansson, I., Kivi, M., Johansson, B., & Lindwall, M. (2019). Preretirement work motivation and subsequent retirement adjustment: A self-determination theory perspective. Work, Aging and Retirement, 5(2), 189-203.
- König, S., Johansson, B. E. A., & Bolin, K. (2019). Invisible scars or open wounds? The role of mid-career income for the gender pension gap in Sweden. Frontiers in Sociology, 4
- König, S., Lindwall, M., & Johansson, B. (2019). Involuntary and delayed retirement as a possible health risk for lower educated retirees. Journal of Population Ageing, 12(4), 475-489.
- Zulka, L. E., Hansson, I., & Hassing, L. B. (2019). Impact of retirement on cognitive function: A literature review. GeroPsych: The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry, 32(4), 187–203.
- Hansson, I., Berg, A. I., & Thorvaldsson, V. (2018). Can personality predict longitudinal study attrition? Evidence from a population-based sample of older adults. Journal of Research in Personality, 77, 133-136.
- Hansson, I., Buratti, S., Thorvaldsson, V., Johansson, B., & Berg, A. I. (2018). Changes in life satisfaction in the retirement transition: Interaction effects of transition type and individual resources. Work, Aging and Retirement, 4(4), 352-366.
- König, S., Lindwall, M., Henning, G., & Johansson, B. (2018). Retirement as a lens for socioeconomic differences in cognition and well-being. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 8(2), 63-80.
- Henning, G., Hansson, I., Berg, A. I., Lindwall, M., & Johansson, B. (2017). The role of personality for subjective well-being in the retirement transition – comparing variable- and person-oriented models. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 385-392.
- Lindwall, M., Berg, A. I., Bjälkebring, P., Buratti, S., Hansson, I., Hassing, L., . . . Johansson, B. (2017). Psychological health in the retirement transition: Rationale and first findings in the HEalth, Ageing and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1634.
- Henning, G., Lindwall, M., & Johansson, B. (2016). Continuity in well-being in the transition to retirement. GeroPsych: The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry, 29(4), 225–237.
Researchers
Project director:
Project manager:
Steering committee:
Boo Johansson
Linda Hassing
Anne Ingeborg Berg
Valgeir Thorvaldsson
Researchers:
Magnus Lindwall
Sandra Buratti
Pär Bjälkebring
PhD Students:
Affiliated researchers:
Stefanie König
More information
The project is carried out in the research group Lifespan Development Lab (LIFE LAB) at the Department of Psychology.
