title: Is working later in life good or bad for health? An investigation of multiple health outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the mutual influences between changes in work status and multiple dimensions of health outcomes (immediate memory, physical disability, and depressive symptoms) over later years.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a subsample of 8,524 older adults who participated in the Health and Retirement Study from 1998 to 2008 and were 62 years or older in 1998 to examine work status and health outcomes after controlling for age and background characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We present results of cross-lagged auto-regressive models. Work status (level of work) predicted subsequent residual changes in immediate memory over time, whereas immediate memory predicted subsequent residual changes in work status over time, even after controlling for physical disability and depressive symptoms. Similar results were indicated for the associations between work status and physical disability and depressive symptoms over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consistent with social causation and social selection traditions, the findings support bi-directional associations among changes in work status (the level of work), immediate memory, physical disability, and depressive symptoms in later years. Practical implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Kandauda K A S
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Wickrama
authors.forename: Catherine W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: O'Neal
authors.forename: Kyung H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kwag
authors.forename: Tae K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Depressive symptoms; Memory; Physical disability; Retirement; Work.