Retirement boosts social connection and reduces loneliness in the long term

European study reveals that retirees feel less lonely over time, with new social activities and personal connections helping reduce isolation—especially for women and highly educated retirees.

Study: The impact of retirement on loneliness in Europe. Image Credit: oneinchpunch / Shutterstock

A study published in the journal Scientific Reports explores the causal effects of retirement on both short-term and long-term changes in loneliness in Europe. 

Background   

Loneliness and social isolation significantly contribute to a person’s well-being. Chronic loneliness is associated with an increased risk of physical and mental illnesses and all-cause mortality.

Elderly people worldwide are at the highest risk of loneliness. The situation is more salient in Europe because of the large population of elderly citizens. The number of elderly people is expected to increase in upcoming years due to rising life expectancy and declining birth rates.

Policymakers typically respond to these situations by postponing the entry into retirement so that the required funding for public pension schemes can be secured. This study investigates retirement’s effects on loneliness to better inform these policies.

Retirement is an important life event for older people that comes with a range of mental and physical health consequences. Since retirement is associated with an abrupt end of social contact at the workplace, it is likely to increase loneliness among retired persons.

Existing evidence indicates that retirement significantly reduces the share of colleagues within older adults’ social networks. In contrast, retirement has also been found to increase socialization with friends and family members, which in turn can reduce loneliness.

In this study,  scientists utilized an instrumental variable framework to analyze differences in pension eligibility rules across and within European countries to decipher the causal relationship between retirement and loneliness.

Important observations

The study analyzed data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to explore the differences in pension eligibility rules in an instrumental variable framework. The study used data from SHARE, a longitudinal survey that covers health, economic, and social conditions for individuals aged 50+ across 13 European countries and Israel.

The effects of retirement on loneliness were analyzed in the short-term (immediately after retirement) and long-term (four to six years after retirement) periods. Retirement eligibility rules provided exogenous variation, allowing researchers to identify causation rather than correlation.

The analysis revealed that retirement significantly reduces loneliness in the long run. However, in the short term, retirement did not have any statistically significant effect on loneliness.

After four to six years of retirement, a significant reduction in the probability of feeling isolated and lacking companionship was observed. This finding indicates that both the quantity and quality of social interactions gradually improve over time after retirement.

Education is a well-known determinant of the loneliness that a person may experience after retirement. In this study, individuals with higher educational backgrounds are significantly more likely to experience improved feelings of loneliness and social isolation after adapting to retirement.

Regarding gender-wise impacts, the study found that women are significantly more likely than men to experience loneliness immediately after retirement. However, in the long run, a significant improvement in loneliness was observed among women. Interestingly, retirement also increased women’s feelings of lacking companionship in the short term, but this effect was reduced over time.

Retirement also increased women’s feelings of lacking companionship in the short term, which eventually decreased in the long run.

A causal association between retirement and loneliness

Regarding potential mechanisms driving the effect of retirement on loneliness, the study found that individuals adapt to retirement by increasing their activities at both personal and group levels, which in turn can increase the quantity and quality of social interactions and the size of their social networks. The dimension-specific analysis revealed that loneliness among retirees is composed of aspects like feeling isolated and lacking companionship. The long-term reduction in these feelings was particularly evident for women and highly educated individuals.

The gender-wise analysis revealed no significant short-term or long-term effects of retirement on loneliness among men whose partners are still working. This effect was driven solely by their decrease in social isolation over time.

In contrast, women whose partners are still working experienced loneliness immediately after retirement (short-term effect). This short-term increase in loneliness was due to a greater feeling of lacking companionship. Women whose partners are not yet retired face greater companionship gaps shortly after retirement. This dynamic often changes if their partner eventually joins them in retirement, alleviating these feelings over time.

Study significance

The study finds that retirement significantly reduces loneliness in the long run. This might be due to the gradual improvement in the feelings of social isolation and lack of companionship for retired persons who engage in new activities to increase the size of their social network.

In other words, the study reveals that individuals adapt to retirement by increasing their engagement in new activities and group activities. Thus, they feel more socially connected and less lonely after several years of retirement. The study’s findings highlight the importance of policies that support post-retirement social engagement, especially among women and those with lower levels of education.

The scientists believe that their findings contribute to a better understanding of how retirement policies affect the well-being of older adults.

Despite policymakers’ strong argument for delaying retirement to maintain the financial stability of the social security systems, these findings highlight the beneficial impact of retirement on mental health for people who remain socially active.

Public policies supporting retirement could benefit from including initiatives encouraging part-time work or volunteer opportunities for retirees and investments in age-friendly public infrastructure.