[Elderly women with reference to professional careers: life expectations and coping patterns].

Abstract

Recent studies of retirement-patterns often concentrated on men's lives. Especially in this field of research, we have to be aware of a "gender-bias". The intention of this study is to correct this omission. The interaction between cognitive and motivational variables within the person and biographical factors were investigated. 106 women born between 1923 and 1933 participated at the follow-up study with three different measurement points. The investigation was realized by using the biographical method developed by H. Thomae. From the biographical background of the women, we could point to close associations between attitudes, motivations, and plans developed during the occupational career and coping-patterns in the process of retirement. Very strong intragroup differences were found. The process of dealing with retirement varies among women, depending on different life-perspectives. The life-perspectives depend upon biographically developed self-definitions and life-interpretations during life-course. In general, the results show that lifelong employment does not necessarily lead to a turning away from traditional gender-biased stereotypes and to a change in the identity of elderly former employed women.