Paid and Unpaid Activities and Retirement Satisfaction Among Rural Seniors

This study investigated-(I) paid and volunteer work among retired rural elderly and (2) the relationship of these activities to satisfaction in retirement. Interviews were conducted with 252 men and 199 women who participated in the retirement substudy of an ongoing epidemiological investigation of persons aged 65+ in two rural Iowa counties. Satisfaction was assessed by the Retirement Descriptive Index (RDI) (Smith et al., 1969). About onefifth of respondents (22% of males and 15% of females) were currently working at a paying job. Si&~cantly more females (53%) than males (43%) had done unpaid volunteer work since retiring. Controlling for personal background variables. multiple regression showed that both paid and volunteer work were significant predictors of the RDI for males, whereas volunteer work was a significant predictor of the RDI for females. Health appears to affect the relationship between work/volunteer activity and retirement satisfaction. Implications for physical and occupational therapists are discussed.