The conscientious retiree
The relationship between conscientiousness,
retirement, and volunteering
The current study examined the relationship between conscientiousness, work status, and volunteering
utilizing two large samples, the St. Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN) and the Health and
Retirement Study (HRS). It was hypothesized that conscientious adults who were retired would be more
likely to volunteer because, after retirement, they gain a substantial amount of free time, while losing an
outlet for their industrious and achievement-striving tendencies. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses
revealed that conscientious, retired individuals were more likely to volunteer than conscientious,
working individuals. Further analyses revealed that facets of conscientiousness provide differential information
from the general trait. These findings indicate that volunteering during retirement fills an important
niche for high-striving, conscientious individuals
While the move from school to work is a natural transition
where conscientious individuals can fruitfully redirect their industrious
and high-achieving drives, their transition out of work and
into retirement has been less explored (Löckenhoff, Terracciano,
& Costa, 2009). What happens to highly conscientiousness individuals
when they no longer have an achievement domain in which to
invest? The current study proposes that volunteering serves as an
outlet for conscientiousness individuals’ preferences during the
transition into retirement.