IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v136y2018i3d10.1007_s11205-016-1531-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Search for Happiness: Work Experiences and Quality of Life of Older Taiwanese Men

Author

Listed:
  • Li-Hsueh Wu

    (Tunghai University)

  • Ruey-Ming Tsay

    (Tunghai University
    The University of Tokyo)

Abstract

Taiwan’s pension systems do not always ensure corresponding benefits for those who have achieved their career goals in labor markets, thus retirement decisions are often difficult for the majority of its citizens. Retirement is not only a social institution shaped by labor market and social welfare policy, but also a process affected by personal life chance and family situations, and therefore influences their citizen’s well-being. While scholars have maintained that retirees’ happiness is related to earlier life experiences, there is little empirical evidence that explains this relationship. This paper investigates the midlife work experiences and the resources workers acquired to determine the extent to which they affect the happiness of retirees. Data for examining study hypotheses are drawn from four waves of the Taiwan Longitudinal Survey on Aging. The results indicate that midlife work experiences exert significant influences on life satisfaction, and also play a moderate role on the relationship between seniors’ resources and their life satisfaction. Bridge employment is found to have varying effects on seniors’ life satisfaction depending on their occupation. We conclude that the happiness of older Taiwanese men is mainly a product of both their present situations and their recollections of their earlier occupational experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • Li-Hsueh Wu & Ruey-Ming Tsay, 2018. "The Search for Happiness: Work Experiences and Quality of Life of Older Taiwanese Men," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 1031-1051, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:136:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1531-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1531-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-016-1531-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-016-1531-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Linda K. George, 2010. "Still Happy After All These Years: Research Frontiers on Subjective Well-being in Later Life," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 65(3), pages 331-339.
    2. Patrick Royston & John B. Carlin & Ian R. White, 2009. "Multiple imputation of missing values: New features for mim," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(2), pages 252-264, June.
    3. Patrick Royston, 2005. "Multiple imputation of missing values: update," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 5(2), pages 188-201, June.
    4. Sonja Drobnič & Barbara Beham & Patrick Präg, 2010. "Good Job, Good Life? Working Conditions and Quality of Life in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 205-225, November.
    5. Patrick Royston, 2005. "Multiple imputation of missing values: Update of ice," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 5(4), pages 527-536, December.
    6. Milena Nikolova & Carol Graham, 2014. "Employment, late-life work, retirement, and well-being in Europe and the United States," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-30, December.
    7. Jungmeen E. Kim & Phyllis Moen, 2002. "Retirement Transitions, Gender, and Psychological Well-Being," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 57(3), pages 212-222.
    8. Joseph F. Quinn & Richard V. Burkhauser & Daniel A. Myers, 1990. "Passing the Torch: The Influence of Economic Incentives on Work and Retirement," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number pt.
    9. Patrick Royston, 2005. "MICE for multiple imputation of missing values," United Kingdom Stata Users' Group Meetings 2005 02, Stata Users Group.
    10. Jennjou Chen & Ching-Hsiang Chuang, 2012. "Phased Retirement for Older Workers in Taiwan," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 328-337, September.
    11. Jen D. Wong & Melissa A. Hardy, 2009. "Women's Retirement Expectations: How Stable Are They?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(1), pages 77-86.
    12. Lindsey Baker & Lawrence Cahalin & Kerstin Gerst & Jeffrey Burr, 2005. "Productive Activities And Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults: The Influence Of Number Of Activities And Time Commitment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 431-458, September.
    13. James M. Raymo & John R. Warren & Megan M. Sweeney & Robert M. Hauser & Jeong-Hwa Ho, 2011. "Precarious Employment, Bad Jobs, Labor Unions, and Early Retirement," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 66(2), pages 249-259.
    14. Chang, Hung-Hao & Yen, Steven T., 2011. "Full-time, part-time employment and life satisfaction of the elderly," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 815-823.
    15. Gangaram Singh & Anil Verma, 2003. "Work History and Later-Life Labor Force Participation: Evidence from a Large Telecommunications Firm," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(4), pages 699-715, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Wei-Pang & Wu, Li-Hsueh & Zhang, Wei & Tsay, Ruey-Ming, 2019. "Culturally-specific productive engagement and self-rated health among Taiwanese older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 79-86.
    2. Sisi Yang & Katja Hanewald, 2022. "Life Satisfaction of Middle-Aged and Older Chinese: The Role of Health and Health Insurance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 601-624, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:iab:iabfme:201202(en is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Jaenichen, Ursula & Sakshaug, Joseph, 2012. "Multiple imputation of household income in the first wave of PASS," FDZ Methodenreport 201202_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    3. Lee, Chioun & Ryff, Carol D., 2016. "Early parenthood as a link between childhood disadvantage and adult heart problems: A gender-based approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 58-66.
    4. Denney, Justin T. & Brewer, Mackenzie & Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert, 2020. "Food insecurity in households with young children: A test of contextual congruence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    5. Gerko Vink & Laurence E. Frank & Jeroen Pannekoek & Stef Buuren, 2014. "Predictive mean matching imputation of semicontinuous variables," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 68(1), pages 61-90, February.
    6. Watkins, Adam M. & Melde, Chris, 2018. "Gangs, gender, and involvement in crime, victimization, and exposure to violence," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 11-25.
    7. HwaJung Choi & Robert F. Schoeni & Kenneth M. Langa & Michele M. Heisler, 2015. "Spouse and Child Availability for Newly Disabled Older Adults: Socioeconomic Differences and Potential Role of Residential Proximity," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(3), pages 462-469.
    8. Simon Grund & Oliver Lüdtke & Alexander Robitzsch, 2018. "Multiple Imputation of Missing Data at Level 2: A Comparison of Fully Conditional and Joint Modeling in Multilevel Designs," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 43(3), pages 316-353, June.
    9. Jason R. D. Rarick & Carly Tubbs Dolan & Wen‐Jui Han & Jun Wen, 2018. "Relations Between Socioeconomic Status, Subjective Social Status, and Health in Shanghai, China," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 99(1), pages 390-405, March.
    10. David W Lawson & Arijeta Makoli & Anna Goodman, 2013. "Sibling Configuration Predicts Individual and Descendant Socioeconomic Success in a Modern Post-Industrial Society," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-9, September.
    11. HwaJung Choi & Robert F. Schoeni & Kenneth M. Langa & Michele M. Heisler, 2015. "Older Adults’ Residential Proximity to Their Children: Changes After Cardiovascular Events," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(6), pages 995-1004.
    12. Brewer, Mackenzie & Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert, 2014. "Neighborhood context and immigrant children's physical activity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-9.
    13. Lee, RaeHyuck & Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne & Han, Wen-Jui & Waldfogel, Jane & Zhai, Fuhua, 2014. "Is participation in Head Start associated with less maternal spanking for boys and girls?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 55-63.
    14. Lombardi, Caitlin McPherran, 2021. "Family income and mothers’ parenting quality: Within-family associations from infancy to late childhood," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    15. Minda Tan & Shuiyun Liu, 2023. "A Way of Human Capital Accumulation: Heterogeneous Impact of Shadow Education on Students’ Academic Performance in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    16. Angela Cipollone & Carlo D'Ippoliti, 2009. "Women's Employment: Beyond Individual Characteristics vs. Contextual Factors Explanations," Working Papers CELEG 0901, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    17. King, Christian, 2018. "Food insecurity and child behavior problems in fragile families," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 14-22.
    18. Emma Zang & Anthony R. Bardo, 2019. "Objective and Subjective Socioeconomic Status, Their Discrepancy, and Health: Evidence from East Asia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 765-794, June.
    19. Álvaro Choi & María Gil & Mauro Mediavilla & Javier Valbuena, 2016. "Double toil and trouble: grade retention and academic performance," Working Papers 2016/7, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    20. Oya Kalaycioglu & Andrew Copas & Michael King & Rumana Z. Omar, 2016. "A comparison of multiple-imputation methods for handling missing data in repeated measurements observational studies," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 179(3), pages 683-706, June.
    21. Shaun R. Seaman & Ian R. White & Andrew J. Copas & Leah Li, 2012. "Combining Multiple Imputation and Inverse-Probability Weighting," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 68(1), pages 129-137, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:136:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1531-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.