@article {12494, title = {Productive Aging Lifestyles: A Latent Class Analysis of Work and Volunteer Patterns over the Retirement Transition.}, journal = {Research on Aging}, year = {2023}, abstract = {

Frank Caro and colleagues{\textquoteright} foundational work set the stage for a broad and multifaceted productive aging (PA) literature. Recent PA research has focused on health benefits associated with work and volunteering, respectively. However, these activities are often assumed to have independent associations with health and wellbeing. Less clear is whether and in what ways older adults participate in productive engagement lifestyles including multiple activities over a long period of time. This paper uses latent class analyses and the Health and Retirement Study to examine combined engagement in work and volunteer activities over 12~years between ages 56-68 to (1) identify patterns of work and volunteer activities across the retirement transition, (2) evaluate characteristics of individuals within these patterns, and (3) explore whether particular patterns are associated with markers of health and wellbeing. We describe how our findings inform successful aging by incentivizing socially and individually beneficial PA lifestyles.

}, keywords = {Latent Class Analysis, Older workers, productive aging, Retirement, Volunteerism}, issn = {1552-7573}, doi = {10.1177/01640275221103793}, author = {Carr, Dawn C and Kail, Ben L and Taylor, Miles} } @article {11754, title = {A Brief Report on Older Working Caregivers: Developing a Typology of Work Environments.}, journal = {The Journal of Gerontology, Series B}, volume = {77}, year = {2022}, pages = {1263-1268}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: A growing proportion of the US labor force juggles paid work with family caregiving of older adults. However, no research has examined caregivers{\textquoteright} work environments. The purpose of this brief report is to develop typologies of the work environments of family caregivers.

METHODS: This study used data drawn from the 2008-2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Our sample includes employed individuals who also provided regular help with daily activities to a parent or spouse (n=976). We used latent class analysis to develop caregiver work environment typologies.

RESULTS: Our analyses revealed four typologies among caregivers: a) high quality work environments (n=340; 35\%); b) average work environments with high job lock (n=293; 30\%); c) low-quality work environments (n=203; 21\%), and d) high personal interference in supportive work environments (n=140; 14\%). Although only 21\% of working caregivers were in a low-quality work environment (Type C), descriptive results suggest that these workers were most likely to be minorities who needed to work for financial reasons, reporting the highest number of health problems, and the most work hours.

DISCUSSION: Our findings provide insights into the types of environments that caregivers work in, and the characteristics of individuals in those environments. We discuss implications of our findings for future research and work-based policy development.

}, keywords = {latent class, Older workers, productive engagement}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbab131}, author = {Dawn C Carr and Kendra Jason and Taylor, Miles and Tiffany R Washington} }