Parenthood, Partnership, and Post-Secondary Education: Intersecting Effects on Women's Health and Social Security Retirement Pathways

Background: In 1940, at age 65, Ida May Fuller, a woman who worked as a teacher and secretary, and who never married nor had children, became the first recipient of monthly U.S. Social Security retirement checks. Since Fuller received her first payment from the Social Security Administration (SSA), billions of Americans have received retirement checks. SSA is the most universal U.S. public program; approximately 90% of employees qualify for benefits. However, with increased life expectancy and the Baby Boomers, one of the largest generations, approaching retirement age, the SSA retirement system faces a significant strain, leading to an increase in Social Security eligibility retirement age in 2025. The increase in Social Security eligibility retirement age particularly impacts women, who live longer than men on average. Furthermore, the SSA retirement eligibility age does not account for the nuances in disparities that cause many retirement-aged women to have low educational attainment, workforce participation, and earnings. A prolonged time in the workforce subjects many lower-educated women to working in low-pay physical labor jobs in old age; particularly harmful for those with poor health.

Methods: Data for this study were drawn from the Health and Retirement Survey (2020), which provides a unique opportunity to understand health's connection to social demographics characteristics over multiple generations. The analytic sample consisted of women retirees receiving social security benefits (n =1542). Among them, 53% were married (n = 818), and smaller portions were never married (n = 103), had a divorced/absent/separated spouse (n = 313), or were widowed (n = 308). Descriptive statistics were ran for study variables: early retirement, health, education level, marital status, custodial parenting history, and race.

Results: Among the sample, binary logistic regression analysis revealed a significant yet negative relationship between early Social Security retirement and undergraduate degrees (β = -.82, p<.001), graduate degrees (β = -1.19, p<.001), and divorce (β = -1.28, p = .051). While those with higher education may prolong their time in the workforce due to higher job satisfaction, divorcees may prolong their employment due to a need to earn income, as studies have shown that women's household income falls significantly after divorce.

A moderating effect revealed that the combined factors of being divorced, having children, and having poor health had a significant yet negative relationship with early Social Security retirement (β = -.40, p = .017). The reduction in income following divorce, combined with the expense of childcare for women, who make up 80% of custodial parents, may be exasperating for women who took breaks in their careers to care for children. Poor health may further increase gaps in these women's work history, reducing their retirement savings and prolonging their time in the workforce in old age.

Conclusions and Implications: The increase in educational attainment, marital separation, and never-marrying rates among younger cohorts highlights the importance for social workers, financial planners, and policymakers to understand the nuanced factors that impact women's retirement timing.