Journal of Gerontology 1976, Vol. 31, No. 2, 204-211
Selected Social and Psychological Differences Between Men and Women in Later Life1 Robert C. Atchley, PhD :
Older men and women (3630) were examined for sex differences in selected social and psychological characteristics. Compared to older men, older women were found to be as work-oriented and more likely to take a long time adjusting to retirement. Older women were more likely to report "negative" psychological symptoms, while older men were more likely to see changes in social participation. Implications of the findings for current theories are discussed.
recent years there has been a great deal IandNofwomen speculation concerning how older men differ with respect to social and psychological characteristics. It is widely known that, compared to older men, older women are older, more likely to be widowed, more likely to be less well-educated, and more likely to have inadequate incomes. However, sex differences are usually confounded with the effects of these other variables. Riley and Foner (1968) reviewed sex comparisons on more than 80 topics, and because these comparisons failed to control alternative causes of sex differences, they are of limited value. Studies which have included sex comparisons usually lump all respondents into a single age category, usually age 65 and older. Even those studies that do include more detailed age breakdowns almost never control for the large sex differences in marital status, education, or income. This lack of controlled description of sex differences in later life has not stopped theorists from developing hypotheses about them. Unfortunately, the controlled research necessary to discipline these hypotheses has lagged behind. This paper reports male-female comparisons that have been controlled for age, marital status, education, and income adequacy. The 'This research was supported by Grant No. 93-P-57498/5-01 from the Administration on Aging. 'Director, Scripps Foundation Gerontology Center, Oxford, Ohio 45056.
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comparisons cover attitudes toward work and retirement, self-concept, psychological wellbeing, self-reported health, perceived income adequacy, and perceived social participation. The implications of these findings for previous hypotheses about sex differences are also discussed, and some new theoretical statements are developed about sex differences in later life. METHOD
Subjects. — Data were gathered via questionnaires mailed to a random sample of retired teachers in a large midwestern state and to the entire population of people retired from a midwestern telephone company. A total of 3630 questionnaires were returned; 922 respondents were still in the labor force. The response rate varied from 50% for retired males to 70% for female former phone company employees and 81% for female retired teachers. These response rates compare favorably with those from interview studies of older people. Measures. — The selection of measures was constrained by the fact that the data were gathered initially to examine the impact of retirement. However, the measures used represent a wide variety of commonly used concepts in social gerontology. The importance of work to the individual was measured by a checklist of 12 areas of life, including the item, "Being considered good at
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES my work," with the instruction, "In which of the following areas of life would it have bothered you if you had failed? (Place a check mark by all those that apply.)" The respondents were then asked to indicate the three most important. Work was considered important only if two checks appeared by "being considered good at my work." Respondents were classified as in the labor force if they were employed either full-time or part-time or were looking for work. Attitude toward retirement was assessed by asking, "How do you feel about being retired?" (like it, dislike it, don't know). The time required to become accustomed to retirement was measured as follows: "It takes some people a little while to get used to not working full-time. About how long would you say it took you to become used to not working?" (3 mo. or less, more than 3 mo., never got used to it, always worked, don't know). Loneliness was determined by asking, "Would you say you feel lonely?" (a lot of the time, some of the time, hardly ever, never). Anomie was measured by a 9-item agreedisagree Guttman scale developed by McCloskey and Schaar (1965), with items such as, "With everything in such a state of disorder it's hard for a person to know where he stands from one day to the next," and "Everything changes so quickly these days that I have trouble deciding which are the right rules to follow." A score of 6 to 9 was categorized as high anomie. Anxiety was measured by an 8-item Guttman scale developed by Rosenberg (1964) and validated for use with older respondents in an earlier study (Atchley, 1967), containing items such as, "Do you ever have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep?" and "Are you bothered by nervousness?" The scale score was the number of items responded to as happening "often" or "sometimes." A score of 6 to 8 was categorized as high anxiety. Age identification was determined by asking, "In your view, which of the following best describes you?" (very old, old, just past middle age, middle aged). This response pattern avoids more ambiguous terms such as "aged" or "elderly" (Seltzer & Atchley, 1975). In the analysis, "very old" and "old" were combined into a category who accepted a view of themselves as old. Self-esteem, stability of self-concept, and sensitivity to criticism were also measured by
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Guttman scales developed by Rosenberg (1964), again validated for use with older respondents in an earlier study (Atchley, 1967). The scale of self esteem consisted of 10 items, dichotomized into agree-disagree, such as "I feel that I'm a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others" and "All in all, I am inclined to think that I am a failure." A score of 4 to 6 was categorized as low self-esteem. The stability of self-concept scale employed 5 items such as, "Does your opinion of yourself change a good deal or does it always remain the same?" (changes a great deal, changes somewhat, changes very little, does not change at all). A score of 4 or 5 was categorized as low stability of self-concept. The sensitivity to criticism scale included 3 items such as, "How sensitive are you to criticism?" (extremely sensitive, quite sensitive, somewhat sensitive, not sensitive). A scale score of 2 or 3 was classed as high sensitivity to criticism. Rosenberg (1964) also developed a 6-item scale of depression that employed some of the same items that, when scored differently, have been used to measure "life satisfaction" (Streib & Schneider, 1971). Some sample items are, "On the whole, how happy would you say you are?" (very happy, fairly happy, not very happy, very unhappy), and "In general how would you feel most of the time — in good spirits or in low spirits?" (very good, fairly good, neither good nor low, fairly low, very low). A score of 4 to 6 was rated as high depression. Self-reported health was assessed on a 10point rating scale ranging from very good health now to very poor health now. The 4 lowest ratings were considered "poor health." Income adequacy was measured by asking, "Do you consider your present income enough to meet your living expenses?" (yes, no). Perceived contact with friends was measured by asking, "Over most of your adult life have you had, on the average, more, less or about the same amount of contact with your friends as you do now?" (more, less, same). Participation in organizations was measured by asking, "Over most of your adult life have you taken part in clubs, hobby groups or other organizations, on the average, more than you do now, less than you do now, or about the same as you do now?" (more, less, same). Procedure. — In reviewing the literature on sex differences among older people, it became obvious that there are severe methodological
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limitations in our current knowledge. As pointed out earlier, older males and females differ considerably with respect to marital status, age, education, and income adequacy; therefore, the effects of sex are usually confounded with the effects of these other variables. In this study, test factor standardization (Atchley, 1968; Rosenberg, 1962) was used to control the effects of age, marital status, education, and perceived income adequacy in order to get a better measure of sex differences. Test factor standardization is a technique which weights the distribution of cases in a twovariable, cross-break table using as weights the percentage of distribution for the same sample on a third variable called a test factor. This technique allows the logic of partial correlation to be applied to data that are at a categorical level of measurement rather than ordinal or interval. More than one test factor can be used if there are enough cases in the sample to yield no more than one zero per column in the n- dimensional cross-break table. In this study, the number of cases was sufficient to allow the use of four test factors. Table 1 illustrates the importance of test factor standardization. The uncontrolled, zeroorder findings indicate that females are significantly more likely to perceive themselves as having retired voluntarily, but only among retired phone company workers. However, age and marital status have a particularly strong effect on perceived voluntary retirement. Nevermarried women in older cohorts are much less likely to see themselves as having retired voluntarily, and the sample contained a large number
of women in this category. The standardized findings reveal that there is indeed a significant sex difference among retired teachers in the prevalence of perceived voluntary retirement. In fact, the controlled difference is greater among retired teachers than among retired telephone employees. Thus, test factor standardization unmasked an effect of sex on voluntary retirement that was substantially different from the uncontrolled relationships. The results are broken down not only by sex but by industry as well because there were significant differences between the industry groups. The women teachers were overwhelmingly classroom teachers when they retired (96%), while the men contained a sizeable proportion (31%) who had been administrators at the time of their retirement. Among telephone company retirees, 92% of the women were operators, operator supervisors, or clerks at the time of retirement, while 87% of the men were linemen, installers, or maintenance personnel. Thus, the sample has within it two distinct occupational categories for both sexes; therefore, for analytical purposes, it is often invalid to lump the categories together as the data in Table 6 show. RESULTS
Tables 2 through 5 show the basic descriptive statistics for the control variables of age, marital status, education, and perceived income adequacy. Interestingly, these data show that the women tend to be slightly younger as a group than the men, particularly among the former phone company employees. As expec-
Table 1. Zero-Order and Standardized Percentage Distribution of Voluntary Retirement, by Sex and Industry. % Voluntary Retirement Male Total
Female
Phone
Teacher
Total
Zero-Order
37.4
34.3
42.8
Standardized"
35.3
35.4
35.3
N = 363O
1364
862
502
Phone
Teacher
46.9
50.2
45.3
54.1
47.6
57.1
2266
710
1556
'Standardized on Age, Marital Status, Education, and Income Adequacy.
Table 2. Age of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Male Age
Over-all
Total
Phone
Female Teacher
Total
Phone
Teacher
55-59
5.9
2.0
2.6
1.0
8.3
20.6
2.7
60-69
48.2
49.9
56.1
39.2
47.1
56.9
42.6
45.9
48.1
41.3
59.8
44.6
22.5
54.7
3,630
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
70 & over Total
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
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Table 3. Marital Status of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Male
Marital Status Married Widowedseparated divorced Never married Total
Over-all
Total
Phone
Teacher
Total
Female Phone
Teacher
56.5 23.0
86.4 11.8
87.4 10.9
84.6 13.3
38.5 29.8
48.5 32.9
34.0 28.3
20.5
1.8
1.7
2.0
31.7
18.6
37.7
3,630
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
•Only a few respondents were separated or divorced; therefore, they were included with widows in the test factor standardization to minimize problems with cell sizes.
Table 4. Educational Attainment of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Educational Attainment (in Years)
Male Over-all N
0-8 9-12 Over 12 Total
Female
Total
Phone
Teacher
Total
Phone
Teacher
22.9 30.0 47.1
29.8 23.4
1.6 8.6 89.8
18.8 33.9 47.3
56.9 39.2
46.8
46.3 32.0 21.7
3.9
1.4 31.5 67.1
3,630
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
Table 5. Perceived Income Adequacy of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Female
Male
Perceived Income Adequacy Adequate Inadequate Total
Over-all
Total
Phone
Teacher
Total
Phone
76.7 23.3
84.3 15.7
83.3 16.7
86.1 13.9
72.1 27.9
64.4 35.6
75.6 24.4
3,630
,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
Table 6. Sex Differences Among Retired People by Industry for Selected Variables Standardized by Age, Marital Status, Education, and Income Adequacy. Percentages Female
Male
Phone
Teacher
65.5
57.1
71.1
24.2
25.2
23.7
79.4
81.8
84.1
80.7
58.2*
46.7*
44.2
53.5
38.6
21.1*
20.9'
21.4*
28.9
26.5
31.5
22.1*
22.1*
22.2*
High anxiety
31.3*
31.6*
31.0*
17.3 43.8
17.3 48.4
41.8
Identifies as old
85.6'
70.9
59.6
76.2
16.5 8.4*
84.3* 15.2
87.9*
Low self-esteem
19.0*
25.4
18.9
9.6*
6.7*
23.6
17.9
28.5 26.4
40.5 25.4
31.7
Phone
Teacher
Total
60.9
53.0
73.2
27.4
36.4*
85.7
22.3 89.1*
Quickly used to retirement
54.9*
Often lonely High anomie
Variable
Total
Work important In labor force Like retirement
Low stability of self-concept High sensitivity to criticism
27.1*
24.6*
31.5*
50.7
High depression
20.1*
17.0*
25.9*
29.6
17.3
55.4
Poor health
11.7
10.6
13.9
12.6
9.4
Inadequate income*
17.1*
13.9*
23.0*
28.1
26.8
Less contact with friends
26.7
31.5*
18.3
19.7
23.1
18.1
More contact with friends
35.6
31.4
42.7*
34.5
36.8
Less participation in organizations
21.6
23.0*
19.5*
25.0
29.5 27.4
More participation in organizations
29.6
30.1
28.7
30.0
27.0
31.4
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
N(3630)
14.6 28.7
23.9
*Sex differences significant at the .05 level or below. Unless both phone and teacher categories show significant sex differences, the total is not shown as significant, even though the percentage difference may be technically significant.
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ted, older women are much less likely to be married. The women in the sample are also less well educated than the men, and the women are much more likely to report inadequate incomes, particularly the former phone company women. Table 6 summarizes the findings, subdivided by sex and industry group. Keep in mind that the results are controlled for age, marital status, education, and income adequacy. Work and retirement. — Being considered good at their work was important for the majority of respondents; more so for former teachers than for former telephone employees. However, there were no significant sex differences in the importance of work. Former men teachers are significantly more likely to still be in the labor force than are former women teachers. There is no sex difference among former phone employees. Former men teachers are more likely to have had administrative experience which is more transferrable to other jobs than are the skills of classroom teachers or telephone employees. Thus, the larger percentage of former men teachers in the labor force is probably at least partly due to differences in employment opportunities. The findings in Table 1 concerning voluntary retirement show that older women are more likely to report their retirement as voluntary. However, there is a serious problem concerning definitions of voluntary that makes this finding less than clear-cut. Both sexes tended to see the issue in relation to the mandatory retirement date. Those who retired before the mandatory date defined their retirement as "voluntary," while those who waited until the mandatory date to retire defined their retirement as "involuntary." However, many of the women in this study were married at the time they retired, and their husbands tended to be older than they were. In order for the couple to retire at the same time, the man often worked until the mandatory age and the woman retired early. Many of these men eagerly awaited the mandatory retirement age. Streib and Schneider (1971) found a similar pattern. Accordingly, it does not seem prudent to make a great deal of the sex difference in responses to the voluntary retirement question. More than four-fifths of the respondents like retirement. But among retired phone company workers, men were significantly more apt to like retirement than the women were. Older men in general are more likely than older
women to become accustomed to retirement in 3 mo. or less. These findings show in sum that both sexes seriously embrace job success as a life goal and that women are less likely than men to make a quick adjustment to giving up their jobs. Psychological characteristics. — Loneliness is significantly more prevalent among older women than among older men, and the gap is greater among former telephone workers. High anomie is not very prevalent among the respondents, but older men were significantly more likely to have high anomie compared to older women. Older women displayed high anxiety compared to older men, and again the gap was greatest among former phone company workers. When actual age is controlled, a higher proportion of older men see themselves as old (rather than middle aged or just past middle age) compared to older women, and the gap is greater among former telephone workers. Low self-esteem is more likely among former women teachers than among former men teachers, but there is no significant sex difference among former phone company employees. However, both industry groups of older women have a significantly higher prevalence of uncertain self-concepts. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of respondents of both sexes report high self-esteem and stable selfconcepts. Older women are much more likely than older men to be highly sensitive to criticism, and the gap is greater among former teachers. More than half of the former women teachers are highly sensitive to criticism. Older women are also more likely than older men to be highly depressed. Thus, older women show a greater prevalence of "negative" psychological characteristics compared to older men. Older women are more often lonely, anxious, unstable in self-concept, highly sensitive to criticism, and highly depressed. There are also some important variations among older women. Former women phone workers have a significantly larger proportion who are highly anxious, while former teachers show significantly larger proportions with low self-esteem and stability of self-concept, high sensitivity to criticism, and high depression. Health. — Very few of the respondents reported themselves to be in poor health, and
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES there were no significant sex differences in this respect. Income. — Older women are significantly more likely than older men to report their incomes as inadequate, particularly among former telephone company workers. Note that over a quarter of the older women, even in this relatively advantaged sample, reported inadequate incomes. Social interaction. — Among former telephone employees, compared to women, older men more often see themselves as having less contact with friends and less participation in voluntary associations now than in the past. Among former teachers, the pattern is practically the opposite. Contrasted with earlier in their lives, the men more often see themselves as having more contact with friends and less often see themselves as having less participation in voluntary associations as compared to women. DISCUSSION
The findings concerning sex differences in attitudes toward work and retirement raise some interesting questions. The absence of sex differences in the importance of work matches results obtained by Streib and Schneider (1971) and Clark and Anderson (1967) who used different measures of the importance of work. These empirical results do not match the oftvoiced assumption in the literature to the effect that work is not a primary role for women who work. Cumming and Henry (1961) state that: "Retirement is not an important problem for women because . . . working seems to make little difference to them." Based on a review of then-current literature, Donahue, Orbach, and Pollak (1960) state that: The working role for women still does not have a social value equivalent to homemaker or user of leisure. It is, therefore, not unlikely that to leave a second- or third-class role presents an individual with less of a dilemma than to leave one which is recognized as a prime function of the individual.
The fact of the matter is, however, that women do indeed think that work is important. In addition, the women in this sample more often reported difficulty in getting used to retirement than did the men. And among the former phone employees, women were less likely to like retirement than were the men. The implication is obvious. Past assumptions about malefemale differences in attitudes toward work and retirement have not borne the empirical
209
test. In their place should go theoretical assumptions that women can be highly committed toward work, and that retirement can present problems for women, perhaps even more so than for men. Future research should also take into account the idea that the overwhelming majority of both women and men like retirement; and nearly half get used to retirement in a very short time. The findings concerning psychological characteristics are also relevant to theory in gerontology. Rosow (1974) develops a theoretical statement which holds that the ambiguity associated with the role of older person affects the older person's psychological stability and leads to depression, anxiety, anomie, and refusal to view the self as old. Rosow's argument is primarily social-structural in that the problems cited above are said to be due to role loss and lack of clear-cut norms. Using Rosow's argument, we might expect widespread incidence of psychological problems among older people. And we would expect this to show up particularly among men since they are often held to be traditionally more connected with the external social structure. The findings of this research do not support Rosow's view. Despite the fact that two-thirds of the sample is retired and a fifth is widowed, the prevalence of loneliness, anomie, anxiety, low self esteem, or depression is not very high, in this sample. In addition, where sex differences exist, it is more often older women rather than older men who show the high incidence of these psychological problems. One problem with this interpretation is that the research reported here is cross-sectional. We can only say that in later life these are the incidences of various symptoms and sex differences. Whether the magnitude of the sex differences has increased or decreased with age is still an unanswered question. Thus, it is possible that the prevalence of negative psychological characteristics has increased among men as they have grown older, but the generally low incidence of these characteristics among men reduces the plausibility of this argument. It could also be argued that these sex differences result from a tendency for women to be more willing and to find it more appropriate to admit to problems (Cooperstock, 1971; Phillips & Segal, 1969). However, Clancy and Gove (1974) examined the effect of various forms of response bias on sex differences in scores on the Langner (1962) scale of psychi-
210
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such as staying in the labor force or increasing social participation. They less often see ambiguity in norms and they more often deny that they are old. Yet older women are more likely to be lonely, anxious, and depressed. They also are more likely to have low self-esteem and to be highly sensitive to criticism. Thus, men tend to perceive aging in structural terms and to respond to it by accepting a new position in the social structure happily and/or by realigning their energies and commitments toward the social structure through either disengagement or reengagement. Men are not very likely to respond to aging by becoming "psychologically stressed." On the other hand, women neither sample feel that their levels of contacts with accept social aging nor try to fend it off by confriends and participation in organizations have tinued engagement. Instead, women respond to changed since earlier in their lives. Among aging with high levels of psychological stress. Obviously this theoretical portrait extends those who perceive change, those who see an increase in participation outnumber those who far beyond the data of this study. It is intended see a decrease. Earlier studies reported no sex as a brief speculative picture of what longitudifferences in friendship behavior (Hunter & dinal research of the future may find, if it will Maurice, 1953; Powers, Keith, & Goudy, 1975; only look. Of course, the sex differentials in psycholShanas, 1962). However, the question in this research was sex differences in perceived ogical symptoms may also be hold-overs from change in friendship behavior. Here there are earlier periods in the life cycle. It is also possisex differences, with men seeing more change ble that the differences observed here will not be the same for the upcoming cohorts of "new than women do. Based on the findings of this research, it is old people" (Cain, 1967). All of these are alterpossible to sketch a broad theoretical picture of native hypotheses which deserve serious consome of the ways that older men differ from sideration. The picture of sex differences older women, apart from differences due to painted in this paper offers researchers and factors such as average age, marital status, practitioners a different set of theoretical education, or income adequacy. Men often re- assumptions than those that often have been spond to aging in terms of how it affects their used in the past. relation to the social system. Among workingclass men (the former telephone employees) aging seems to bring desirable disengagement. REFERENCES R. C. Retired women: A study of self and role. Compared to middle-class men, they less often Atchley, PhD dissertation, American Univ., 1967. remain in the labor force, they more often see Atchley, R. C. A qualification of test factor standthemselves as less involved with friends and ardization. Social Forces, 1968, 47, 84-85. organizations compared with the past; yet they Atchley, R. C , & George, L. K. Symptomatic measurement of age. Gerontologist, 1973,13, 332-336. are more likely to like retirement. It is imporCain, L. D. Age status and generational phenomena: tant to note, however, that this sample of older The new old people in contemporary America. working-class men has reasonably good health Gerontologist, 1967, 7, 83-92. and adequate incomes. In a less advantaged Clancy, K., & Gove, W. Sex differences in mental illness: An analysis of response bias in self-reports. working-class sample, disengagement may not American Journal of Sociology, 1974, 80, 205-216. be so well-received (Rosenberg, 1970). Clark, M., & Anderson, B. Culture and aging. Charles The older men who were teachers are more C Thomas, Springfield, 1967. often men of action. They are more often still Cooperstock, R. Sex differences in the use of mood modifying drugs: An explanatory model. Journal of in the labor force and they more often see Health & Social Behavior, 1971,12, 238-244. themselves as more involved with friends and Cumming, M., & Henry, W. E. Growing old: The proorganizations compared to older women. cess of disengagement. Basic Books, New York, 1961. Compared to older men, older women are Donahue, W., Orbach, H., & Pollak, O. Retirement: The emerging social pattern. In C. Tibbits (Ed.), less likely to respond to aging in active terms atric symptoms and found that controlling for response bias increased the magnitude of sex differences rather than reducing them. Thus, it would seem plausible to hypothesize that the impact of aging on symptoms such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, sensitivity to criticism, or uncertainty of self-concept is greater among women than among men. On the other hand, men seem to be more susceptible than women to anomie and to identification of self as old. More will be said about the significance of this later. The findings on health and income adequacy were unsurprising. The findings on social participation show that more than half of the total
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES Handbook of social gerontology. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1960. Hunter, W., & Maurice, H. Older people tell their story. Institute of Human Adjustment, Ann Arbor, 1953. Langner, T. A twenty-two item screening score on psychiatric symptoms indicating impairment. Journal of Health & Human Behavior, 1962,3, 269-276. McCloskey, H., & Schaar, J. H. The psychological dimensions of anomie. American Sociological Review, 1965,50, 14-40. Phillips, D., & Segal, B. Sexual status and psychiatric symptoms. American Sociological Review, 1969, 34, 58-72. Powers, E. A., Keith, P., & Goudy, W. J. Family relations and friendships. In R. C. Atchley (Ed.), Environments and the rural aged. Gerontological Society, Washington, 1975. Riley, M. W., & Foner, A. Aging and Society. Vol. one.
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An inventory of research findings. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1968. Rosenberg, G. The worker grows old. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1970. Rosenberg, M. Test factor standardization as a method of interpretation. Social Forces, 1962, 41, 53-61. Rosenberg, M. Society and the adolescent self image. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 1964. Rosow, I. Socialization to old age. Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 1974. Seltzer, J., & Atchley, R. C. Prediction of age identification. In R. C. Atchley (Ed.), Research studies in social gerontology. Scripps Foundation, Oxford, 1975. Shanas, E. The health of older people. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1962. Streib, G. F., & Schneider, C. J. Retirement in American society. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1971.
Selected Social and Psychological Differences Between Men and Women in Later Life1 Robert C. Atchley, PhD :
Older men and women (3630) were examined for sex differences in selected social and psychological characteristics. Compared to older men, older women were found to be as work-oriented and more likely to take a long time adjusting to retirement. Older women were more likely to report "negative" psychological symptoms, while older men were more likely to see changes in social participation. Implications of the findings for current theories are discussed.
recent years there has been a great deal IandNofwomen speculation concerning how older men differ with respect to social and psychological characteristics. It is widely known that, compared to older men, older women are older, more likely to be widowed, more likely to be less well-educated, and more likely to have inadequate incomes. However, sex differences are usually confounded with the effects of these other variables. Riley and Foner (1968) reviewed sex comparisons on more than 80 topics, and because these comparisons failed to control alternative causes of sex differences, they are of limited value. Studies which have included sex comparisons usually lump all respondents into a single age category, usually age 65 and older. Even those studies that do include more detailed age breakdowns almost never control for the large sex differences in marital status, education, or income. This lack of controlled description of sex differences in later life has not stopped theorists from developing hypotheses about them. Unfortunately, the controlled research necessary to discipline these hypotheses has lagged behind. This paper reports male-female comparisons that have been controlled for age, marital status, education, and income adequacy. The 'This research was supported by Grant No. 93-P-57498/5-01 from the Administration on Aging. 'Director, Scripps Foundation Gerontology Center, Oxford, Ohio 45056.
204
comparisons cover attitudes toward work and retirement, self-concept, psychological wellbeing, self-reported health, perceived income adequacy, and perceived social participation. The implications of these findings for previous hypotheses about sex differences are also discussed, and some new theoretical statements are developed about sex differences in later life. METHOD
Subjects. — Data were gathered via questionnaires mailed to a random sample of retired teachers in a large midwestern state and to the entire population of people retired from a midwestern telephone company. A total of 3630 questionnaires were returned; 922 respondents were still in the labor force. The response rate varied from 50% for retired males to 70% for female former phone company employees and 81% for female retired teachers. These response rates compare favorably with those from interview studies of older people. Measures. — The selection of measures was constrained by the fact that the data were gathered initially to examine the impact of retirement. However, the measures used represent a wide variety of commonly used concepts in social gerontology. The importance of work to the individual was measured by a checklist of 12 areas of life, including the item, "Being considered good at
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES my work," with the instruction, "In which of the following areas of life would it have bothered you if you had failed? (Place a check mark by all those that apply.)" The respondents were then asked to indicate the three most important. Work was considered important only if two checks appeared by "being considered good at my work." Respondents were classified as in the labor force if they were employed either full-time or part-time or were looking for work. Attitude toward retirement was assessed by asking, "How do you feel about being retired?" (like it, dislike it, don't know). The time required to become accustomed to retirement was measured as follows: "It takes some people a little while to get used to not working full-time. About how long would you say it took you to become used to not working?" (3 mo. or less, more than 3 mo., never got used to it, always worked, don't know). Loneliness was determined by asking, "Would you say you feel lonely?" (a lot of the time, some of the time, hardly ever, never). Anomie was measured by a 9-item agreedisagree Guttman scale developed by McCloskey and Schaar (1965), with items such as, "With everything in such a state of disorder it's hard for a person to know where he stands from one day to the next," and "Everything changes so quickly these days that I have trouble deciding which are the right rules to follow." A score of 6 to 9 was categorized as high anomie. Anxiety was measured by an 8-item Guttman scale developed by Rosenberg (1964) and validated for use with older respondents in an earlier study (Atchley, 1967), containing items such as, "Do you ever have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep?" and "Are you bothered by nervousness?" The scale score was the number of items responded to as happening "often" or "sometimes." A score of 6 to 8 was categorized as high anxiety. Age identification was determined by asking, "In your view, which of the following best describes you?" (very old, old, just past middle age, middle aged). This response pattern avoids more ambiguous terms such as "aged" or "elderly" (Seltzer & Atchley, 1975). In the analysis, "very old" and "old" were combined into a category who accepted a view of themselves as old. Self-esteem, stability of self-concept, and sensitivity to criticism were also measured by
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Guttman scales developed by Rosenberg (1964), again validated for use with older respondents in an earlier study (Atchley, 1967). The scale of self esteem consisted of 10 items, dichotomized into agree-disagree, such as "I feel that I'm a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others" and "All in all, I am inclined to think that I am a failure." A score of 4 to 6 was categorized as low self-esteem. The stability of self-concept scale employed 5 items such as, "Does your opinion of yourself change a good deal or does it always remain the same?" (changes a great deal, changes somewhat, changes very little, does not change at all). A score of 4 or 5 was categorized as low stability of self-concept. The sensitivity to criticism scale included 3 items such as, "How sensitive are you to criticism?" (extremely sensitive, quite sensitive, somewhat sensitive, not sensitive). A scale score of 2 or 3 was classed as high sensitivity to criticism. Rosenberg (1964) also developed a 6-item scale of depression that employed some of the same items that, when scored differently, have been used to measure "life satisfaction" (Streib & Schneider, 1971). Some sample items are, "On the whole, how happy would you say you are?" (very happy, fairly happy, not very happy, very unhappy), and "In general how would you feel most of the time — in good spirits or in low spirits?" (very good, fairly good, neither good nor low, fairly low, very low). A score of 4 to 6 was rated as high depression. Self-reported health was assessed on a 10point rating scale ranging from very good health now to very poor health now. The 4 lowest ratings were considered "poor health." Income adequacy was measured by asking, "Do you consider your present income enough to meet your living expenses?" (yes, no). Perceived contact with friends was measured by asking, "Over most of your adult life have you had, on the average, more, less or about the same amount of contact with your friends as you do now?" (more, less, same). Participation in organizations was measured by asking, "Over most of your adult life have you taken part in clubs, hobby groups or other organizations, on the average, more than you do now, less than you do now, or about the same as you do now?" (more, less, same). Procedure. — In reviewing the literature on sex differences among older people, it became obvious that there are severe methodological
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limitations in our current knowledge. As pointed out earlier, older males and females differ considerably with respect to marital status, age, education, and income adequacy; therefore, the effects of sex are usually confounded with the effects of these other variables. In this study, test factor standardization (Atchley, 1968; Rosenberg, 1962) was used to control the effects of age, marital status, education, and perceived income adequacy in order to get a better measure of sex differences. Test factor standardization is a technique which weights the distribution of cases in a twovariable, cross-break table using as weights the percentage of distribution for the same sample on a third variable called a test factor. This technique allows the logic of partial correlation to be applied to data that are at a categorical level of measurement rather than ordinal or interval. More than one test factor can be used if there are enough cases in the sample to yield no more than one zero per column in the n- dimensional cross-break table. In this study, the number of cases was sufficient to allow the use of four test factors. Table 1 illustrates the importance of test factor standardization. The uncontrolled, zeroorder findings indicate that females are significantly more likely to perceive themselves as having retired voluntarily, but only among retired phone company workers. However, age and marital status have a particularly strong effect on perceived voluntary retirement. Nevermarried women in older cohorts are much less likely to see themselves as having retired voluntarily, and the sample contained a large number
of women in this category. The standardized findings reveal that there is indeed a significant sex difference among retired teachers in the prevalence of perceived voluntary retirement. In fact, the controlled difference is greater among retired teachers than among retired telephone employees. Thus, test factor standardization unmasked an effect of sex on voluntary retirement that was substantially different from the uncontrolled relationships. The results are broken down not only by sex but by industry as well because there were significant differences between the industry groups. The women teachers were overwhelmingly classroom teachers when they retired (96%), while the men contained a sizeable proportion (31%) who had been administrators at the time of their retirement. Among telephone company retirees, 92% of the women were operators, operator supervisors, or clerks at the time of retirement, while 87% of the men were linemen, installers, or maintenance personnel. Thus, the sample has within it two distinct occupational categories for both sexes; therefore, for analytical purposes, it is often invalid to lump the categories together as the data in Table 6 show. RESULTS
Tables 2 through 5 show the basic descriptive statistics for the control variables of age, marital status, education, and perceived income adequacy. Interestingly, these data show that the women tend to be slightly younger as a group than the men, particularly among the former phone company employees. As expec-
Table 1. Zero-Order and Standardized Percentage Distribution of Voluntary Retirement, by Sex and Industry. % Voluntary Retirement Male Total
Female
Phone
Teacher
Total
Zero-Order
37.4
34.3
42.8
Standardized"
35.3
35.4
35.3
N = 363O
1364
862
502
Phone
Teacher
46.9
50.2
45.3
54.1
47.6
57.1
2266
710
1556
'Standardized on Age, Marital Status, Education, and Income Adequacy.
Table 2. Age of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Male Age
Over-all
Total
Phone
Female Teacher
Total
Phone
Teacher
55-59
5.9
2.0
2.6
1.0
8.3
20.6
2.7
60-69
48.2
49.9
56.1
39.2
47.1
56.9
42.6
45.9
48.1
41.3
59.8
44.6
22.5
54.7
3,630
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
70 & over Total
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
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Table 3. Marital Status of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Male
Marital Status Married Widowedseparated divorced Never married Total
Over-all
Total
Phone
Teacher
Total
Female Phone
Teacher
56.5 23.0
86.4 11.8
87.4 10.9
84.6 13.3
38.5 29.8
48.5 32.9
34.0 28.3
20.5
1.8
1.7
2.0
31.7
18.6
37.7
3,630
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
•Only a few respondents were separated or divorced; therefore, they were included with widows in the test factor standardization to minimize problems with cell sizes.
Table 4. Educational Attainment of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Educational Attainment (in Years)
Male Over-all N
0-8 9-12 Over 12 Total
Female
Total
Phone
Teacher
Total
Phone
Teacher
22.9 30.0 47.1
29.8 23.4
1.6 8.6 89.8
18.8 33.9 47.3
56.9 39.2
46.8
46.3 32.0 21.7
3.9
1.4 31.5 67.1
3,630
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
Table 5. Perceived Income Adequacy of Respondents by Sex and Industry Group. Female
Male
Perceived Income Adequacy Adequate Inadequate Total
Over-all
Total
Phone
Teacher
Total
Phone
76.7 23.3
84.3 15.7
83.3 16.7
86.1 13.9
72.1 27.9
64.4 35.6
75.6 24.4
3,630
,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
Table 6. Sex Differences Among Retired People by Industry for Selected Variables Standardized by Age, Marital Status, Education, and Income Adequacy. Percentages Female
Male
Phone
Teacher
65.5
57.1
71.1
24.2
25.2
23.7
79.4
81.8
84.1
80.7
58.2*
46.7*
44.2
53.5
38.6
21.1*
20.9'
21.4*
28.9
26.5
31.5
22.1*
22.1*
22.2*
High anxiety
31.3*
31.6*
31.0*
17.3 43.8
17.3 48.4
41.8
Identifies as old
85.6'
70.9
59.6
76.2
16.5 8.4*
84.3* 15.2
87.9*
Low self-esteem
19.0*
25.4
18.9
9.6*
6.7*
23.6
17.9
28.5 26.4
40.5 25.4
31.7
Phone
Teacher
Total
60.9
53.0
73.2
27.4
36.4*
85.7
22.3 89.1*
Quickly used to retirement
54.9*
Often lonely High anomie
Variable
Total
Work important In labor force Like retirement
Low stability of self-concept High sensitivity to criticism
27.1*
24.6*
31.5*
50.7
High depression
20.1*
17.0*
25.9*
29.6
17.3
55.4
Poor health
11.7
10.6
13.9
12.6
9.4
Inadequate income*
17.1*
13.9*
23.0*
28.1
26.8
Less contact with friends
26.7
31.5*
18.3
19.7
23.1
18.1
More contact with friends
35.6
31.4
42.7*
34.5
36.8
Less participation in organizations
21.6
23.0*
19.5*
25.0
29.5 27.4
More participation in organizations
29.6
30.1
28.7
30.0
27.0
31.4
1,364
862
502
2,266
710
1,556
N(3630)
14.6 28.7
23.9
*Sex differences significant at the .05 level or below. Unless both phone and teacher categories show significant sex differences, the total is not shown as significant, even though the percentage difference may be technically significant.
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ted, older women are much less likely to be married. The women in the sample are also less well educated than the men, and the women are much more likely to report inadequate incomes, particularly the former phone company women. Table 6 summarizes the findings, subdivided by sex and industry group. Keep in mind that the results are controlled for age, marital status, education, and income adequacy. Work and retirement. — Being considered good at their work was important for the majority of respondents; more so for former teachers than for former telephone employees. However, there were no significant sex differences in the importance of work. Former men teachers are significantly more likely to still be in the labor force than are former women teachers. There is no sex difference among former phone employees. Former men teachers are more likely to have had administrative experience which is more transferrable to other jobs than are the skills of classroom teachers or telephone employees. Thus, the larger percentage of former men teachers in the labor force is probably at least partly due to differences in employment opportunities. The findings in Table 1 concerning voluntary retirement show that older women are more likely to report their retirement as voluntary. However, there is a serious problem concerning definitions of voluntary that makes this finding less than clear-cut. Both sexes tended to see the issue in relation to the mandatory retirement date. Those who retired before the mandatory date defined their retirement as "voluntary," while those who waited until the mandatory date to retire defined their retirement as "involuntary." However, many of the women in this study were married at the time they retired, and their husbands tended to be older than they were. In order for the couple to retire at the same time, the man often worked until the mandatory age and the woman retired early. Many of these men eagerly awaited the mandatory retirement age. Streib and Schneider (1971) found a similar pattern. Accordingly, it does not seem prudent to make a great deal of the sex difference in responses to the voluntary retirement question. More than four-fifths of the respondents like retirement. But among retired phone company workers, men were significantly more apt to like retirement than the women were. Older men in general are more likely than older
women to become accustomed to retirement in 3 mo. or less. These findings show in sum that both sexes seriously embrace job success as a life goal and that women are less likely than men to make a quick adjustment to giving up their jobs. Psychological characteristics. — Loneliness is significantly more prevalent among older women than among older men, and the gap is greater among former telephone workers. High anomie is not very prevalent among the respondents, but older men were significantly more likely to have high anomie compared to older women. Older women displayed high anxiety compared to older men, and again the gap was greatest among former phone company workers. When actual age is controlled, a higher proportion of older men see themselves as old (rather than middle aged or just past middle age) compared to older women, and the gap is greater among former telephone workers. Low self-esteem is more likely among former women teachers than among former men teachers, but there is no significant sex difference among former phone company employees. However, both industry groups of older women have a significantly higher prevalence of uncertain self-concepts. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of respondents of both sexes report high self-esteem and stable selfconcepts. Older women are much more likely than older men to be highly sensitive to criticism, and the gap is greater among former teachers. More than half of the former women teachers are highly sensitive to criticism. Older women are also more likely than older men to be highly depressed. Thus, older women show a greater prevalence of "negative" psychological characteristics compared to older men. Older women are more often lonely, anxious, unstable in self-concept, highly sensitive to criticism, and highly depressed. There are also some important variations among older women. Former women phone workers have a significantly larger proportion who are highly anxious, while former teachers show significantly larger proportions with low self-esteem and stability of self-concept, high sensitivity to criticism, and high depression. Health. — Very few of the respondents reported themselves to be in poor health, and
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES there were no significant sex differences in this respect. Income. — Older women are significantly more likely than older men to report their incomes as inadequate, particularly among former telephone company workers. Note that over a quarter of the older women, even in this relatively advantaged sample, reported inadequate incomes. Social interaction. — Among former telephone employees, compared to women, older men more often see themselves as having less contact with friends and less participation in voluntary associations now than in the past. Among former teachers, the pattern is practically the opposite. Contrasted with earlier in their lives, the men more often see themselves as having more contact with friends and less often see themselves as having less participation in voluntary associations as compared to women. DISCUSSION
The findings concerning sex differences in attitudes toward work and retirement raise some interesting questions. The absence of sex differences in the importance of work matches results obtained by Streib and Schneider (1971) and Clark and Anderson (1967) who used different measures of the importance of work. These empirical results do not match the oftvoiced assumption in the literature to the effect that work is not a primary role for women who work. Cumming and Henry (1961) state that: "Retirement is not an important problem for women because . . . working seems to make little difference to them." Based on a review of then-current literature, Donahue, Orbach, and Pollak (1960) state that: The working role for women still does not have a social value equivalent to homemaker or user of leisure. It is, therefore, not unlikely that to leave a second- or third-class role presents an individual with less of a dilemma than to leave one which is recognized as a prime function of the individual.
The fact of the matter is, however, that women do indeed think that work is important. In addition, the women in this sample more often reported difficulty in getting used to retirement than did the men. And among the former phone employees, women were less likely to like retirement than were the men. The implication is obvious. Past assumptions about malefemale differences in attitudes toward work and retirement have not borne the empirical
209
test. In their place should go theoretical assumptions that women can be highly committed toward work, and that retirement can present problems for women, perhaps even more so than for men. Future research should also take into account the idea that the overwhelming majority of both women and men like retirement; and nearly half get used to retirement in a very short time. The findings concerning psychological characteristics are also relevant to theory in gerontology. Rosow (1974) develops a theoretical statement which holds that the ambiguity associated with the role of older person affects the older person's psychological stability and leads to depression, anxiety, anomie, and refusal to view the self as old. Rosow's argument is primarily social-structural in that the problems cited above are said to be due to role loss and lack of clear-cut norms. Using Rosow's argument, we might expect widespread incidence of psychological problems among older people. And we would expect this to show up particularly among men since they are often held to be traditionally more connected with the external social structure. The findings of this research do not support Rosow's view. Despite the fact that two-thirds of the sample is retired and a fifth is widowed, the prevalence of loneliness, anomie, anxiety, low self esteem, or depression is not very high, in this sample. In addition, where sex differences exist, it is more often older women rather than older men who show the high incidence of these psychological problems. One problem with this interpretation is that the research reported here is cross-sectional. We can only say that in later life these are the incidences of various symptoms and sex differences. Whether the magnitude of the sex differences has increased or decreased with age is still an unanswered question. Thus, it is possible that the prevalence of negative psychological characteristics has increased among men as they have grown older, but the generally low incidence of these characteristics among men reduces the plausibility of this argument. It could also be argued that these sex differences result from a tendency for women to be more willing and to find it more appropriate to admit to problems (Cooperstock, 1971; Phillips & Segal, 1969). However, Clancy and Gove (1974) examined the effect of various forms of response bias on sex differences in scores on the Langner (1962) scale of psychi-
210
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such as staying in the labor force or increasing social participation. They less often see ambiguity in norms and they more often deny that they are old. Yet older women are more likely to be lonely, anxious, and depressed. They also are more likely to have low self-esteem and to be highly sensitive to criticism. Thus, men tend to perceive aging in structural terms and to respond to it by accepting a new position in the social structure happily and/or by realigning their energies and commitments toward the social structure through either disengagement or reengagement. Men are not very likely to respond to aging by becoming "psychologically stressed." On the other hand, women neither sample feel that their levels of contacts with accept social aging nor try to fend it off by confriends and participation in organizations have tinued engagement. Instead, women respond to changed since earlier in their lives. Among aging with high levels of psychological stress. Obviously this theoretical portrait extends those who perceive change, those who see an increase in participation outnumber those who far beyond the data of this study. It is intended see a decrease. Earlier studies reported no sex as a brief speculative picture of what longitudifferences in friendship behavior (Hunter & dinal research of the future may find, if it will Maurice, 1953; Powers, Keith, & Goudy, 1975; only look. Of course, the sex differentials in psycholShanas, 1962). However, the question in this research was sex differences in perceived ogical symptoms may also be hold-overs from change in friendship behavior. Here there are earlier periods in the life cycle. It is also possisex differences, with men seeing more change ble that the differences observed here will not be the same for the upcoming cohorts of "new than women do. Based on the findings of this research, it is old people" (Cain, 1967). All of these are alterpossible to sketch a broad theoretical picture of native hypotheses which deserve serious consome of the ways that older men differ from sideration. The picture of sex differences older women, apart from differences due to painted in this paper offers researchers and factors such as average age, marital status, practitioners a different set of theoretical education, or income adequacy. Men often re- assumptions than those that often have been spond to aging in terms of how it affects their used in the past. relation to the social system. Among workingclass men (the former telephone employees) aging seems to bring desirable disengagement. REFERENCES R. C. Retired women: A study of self and role. Compared to middle-class men, they less often Atchley, PhD dissertation, American Univ., 1967. remain in the labor force, they more often see Atchley, R. C. A qualification of test factor standthemselves as less involved with friends and ardization. Social Forces, 1968, 47, 84-85. organizations compared with the past; yet they Atchley, R. C , & George, L. K. Symptomatic measurement of age. Gerontologist, 1973,13, 332-336. are more likely to like retirement. It is imporCain, L. D. Age status and generational phenomena: tant to note, however, that this sample of older The new old people in contemporary America. working-class men has reasonably good health Gerontologist, 1967, 7, 83-92. and adequate incomes. In a less advantaged Clancy, K., & Gove, W. Sex differences in mental illness: An analysis of response bias in self-reports. working-class sample, disengagement may not American Journal of Sociology, 1974, 80, 205-216. be so well-received (Rosenberg, 1970). Clark, M., & Anderson, B. Culture and aging. Charles The older men who were teachers are more C Thomas, Springfield, 1967. often men of action. They are more often still Cooperstock, R. Sex differences in the use of mood modifying drugs: An explanatory model. Journal of in the labor force and they more often see Health & Social Behavior, 1971,12, 238-244. themselves as more involved with friends and Cumming, M., & Henry, W. E. Growing old: The proorganizations compared to older women. cess of disengagement. Basic Books, New York, 1961. Compared to older men, older women are Donahue, W., Orbach, H., & Pollak, O. Retirement: The emerging social pattern. In C. Tibbits (Ed.), less likely to respond to aging in active terms atric symptoms and found that controlling for response bias increased the magnitude of sex differences rather than reducing them. Thus, it would seem plausible to hypothesize that the impact of aging on symptoms such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, sensitivity to criticism, or uncertainty of self-concept is greater among women than among men. On the other hand, men seem to be more susceptible than women to anomie and to identification of self as old. More will be said about the significance of this later. The findings on health and income adequacy were unsurprising. The findings on social participation show that more than half of the total
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES Handbook of social gerontology. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1960. Hunter, W., & Maurice, H. Older people tell their story. Institute of Human Adjustment, Ann Arbor, 1953. Langner, T. A twenty-two item screening score on psychiatric symptoms indicating impairment. Journal of Health & Human Behavior, 1962,3, 269-276. McCloskey, H., & Schaar, J. H. The psychological dimensions of anomie. American Sociological Review, 1965,50, 14-40. Phillips, D., & Segal, B. Sexual status and psychiatric symptoms. American Sociological Review, 1969, 34, 58-72. Powers, E. A., Keith, P., & Goudy, W. J. Family relations and friendships. In R. C. Atchley (Ed.), Environments and the rural aged. Gerontological Society, Washington, 1975. Riley, M. W., & Foner, A. Aging and Society. Vol. one.
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An inventory of research findings. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1968. Rosenberg, G. The worker grows old. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1970. Rosenberg, M. Test factor standardization as a method of interpretation. Social Forces, 1962, 41, 53-61. Rosenberg, M. Society and the adolescent self image. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 1964. Rosow, I. Socialization to old age. Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 1974. Seltzer, J., & Atchley, R. C. Prediction of age identification. In R. C. Atchley (Ed.), Research studies in social gerontology. Scripps Foundation, Oxford, 1975. Shanas, E. The health of older people. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1962. Streib, G. F., & Schneider, C. J. Retirement in American society. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1971.
