Working Paper 10/255 - abstract

Social connectedness and retirement (PDF, 217kB)

Sarah Smith

It has been suggested that social connectedness is potentially important for a healthy and happy retirement. This paper presents evidence that levels of social connectedness (defined as being active in social organisations) increase at retirement, by 25 per cent compared to pre-retirement levels. However, there is not a consistently strong and positive association between social connectedness and health and well-being in retirement for everyone. Rather, the evidence suggests that social connectedness may matter most in bad times.