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Abstract
Retirement experiences are highly individual and associated research is complex, characterised by many different perspectives. The thesis proposed that retirement research can advance with conceptual frameworks to integrate knowledge on retirement, flexible theory to explain diverse experiences, and analytic techniques to precisely test study aims. First, the Preretirement Transition Adaptation (PTA) framework was developed as an overarching conceptual framework that can connect the main themes in retirement research, define the scope of new investigations, and identify avenues for future research. Second, the theoretical framework of the thesis identified that resources influence diverse individual outcomes in retirement. Third, regression, structural equation modelling (SEM), and SEM-based longitudinal analysis methods were used to test hypotheses. Investigations focused on the role that preretirement planning, exit conditions, and resources played in producing positive retirement experiences. Cross-sectional investigations drew on a sample of retired and semi-retired individuals, ranging from 49 to 88 years old, and having spent five or more years in retirement on average (N = 583). Participants who completed this survey were invited to nominate themselves for participation in future research rounds (N = 433). Longitudinal investigations were based on a subsample of the original population (N = 367), who completed three survey rounds, representing a response rate of 85%. Cross-sectional studies showed that preretirement planning, exit conditions, and resources were stronger predictors than demographics of three related retirement outcomes. In a structural equation model, resources predicted outcomes and also improved preretirement planning and exit conditions. Further, preretirement planning indirectly and exit conditions directly improved retirement outcomes. Longitudinal investigations identified subgroups that displayed distinct patterns of growth in life satisfaction and showed that resource-change matched the direction of life satisfaction growth within these subgroups. Overall, results demonstrated the importance of resources in producing positive retirement experiences, in line with contemporary theory. Opportunities to build on these results in the future and implications for developing our thinking about retirement, improving research approach, and informing the design of interventions and policy are discussed.