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7917699
FARACE* BETTIE FISHER
FACTORS PREDICTING RETIREMENT DECISION-MAKING
FOR MICHIGAN FARM FAMILIES.
MICHIGAN STATE UN1VER5ITY* P H . D . » 1978

UrtversJtv
, MicnSnlrns
tn fe r iV tf k X lA J

x o h z u b o o a d . a * n a h b o h . m m b io g

FACTORS PREDICTING RETIREMENT DECISION-MAKING
FOR MICHIGAN FARM FAMILIES
By
Bettie F. Farace

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Family Ecology

1978

ABSTRACT
FACTORS PREDICTING RETIREMENT DECISION-MAKING
FOR MICHIGAN FARM FAMILIES
By
Bettie F. Farace

The study concentrated on identifying factors used
by Michigan farm families in determining the time to
retire.

Farmers represent a fairly unique work and living

environment where the decision to retire is voluntary and
personal# rather than governed by external rules and regu­
lations.
The sample consisted of 100 Michigan farm families:
half with the male family member and the other half with
the female.

The respondents met three criteria:

were now# or had recently been# farmers;

(1} they

(2) their major

source of income was farming; and (3) the male member was
fifty years old or older.
The research design consisted of telephone interviews,
using a structured questionnaire.

The instrument was

designed after an extensive computer search for studies
on retirement decision-making for farm families.
It was hypothesized that farmers retire gradually
rather than all-at-once.

This hypothesis was supported.

Other hypotheses consisted of factors contributing to
specific retirement decisions (i.e.# early# traditionally#
later, or never).

These hypotheses were not supported.

Bettie F. Farace
However, there were no significant differences between
male and female respondents in attitudes about farming
and retirement.
There were two important findings from the study.
First, the primary factors used in retirement decision­
making deal with:

the degree of work orientation, the

health of the family members, biological changes accom­
panying old age, the accumulation of financial resources,
and the children's interest in the farm.
which play a part in the decision are:

Other factors
availability of

information, suggestions to retire, leisure time activi­
ties, living arrangements, and disposition of the land.
The second important finding is that retirement for
farmers is not perceived as a "crisis" event as in previous
retirement studies.

The present study used a crisis model.

However, the data indicated that the retirement decision is
a "process," with the family or individual evolving through
four stages in making that decision.
A new model, based on the data from the present study,
has been constructed for any further research.

Using a

"process" orientation, the four states in the model are:
first awareness, consideration, decision, and evaluation.
Other research studies, using the model, are suggested,
and implications for education and public policy are out­
lined.

With additional data, one could expect more power­

ful predictors of retirement decision-making for not only
farm families, but independent workers in general.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to acknowledge my appreciation to Dr. Beatrice
Paolucci for her support and guidance as my committee chair­
person.

I also wish to thank Dr. E. Jane Oyer, Dr. Margaret

J. Bulbolz, Dr. L. Edna Rogers-Millar, and Dr. Ralph E.
Hepp for their contributions as members of my guidance and
dissertation committees.
Many friends contributed time and assistance in making
this study successful.

My thanks to Margaret Beaver, Mary

Sindon, Betty Hicks, and Inez York who interviewed the farm
families, and to Janet Sipola for her preparations of
numerous drafts and revisions.

I am thankful to Dayton

Matlick, Vice President-Editorial, Harvest Publishing
Company, and Richard Lehnert, Editor of the Michigan Farmer,
for my initial introduction to research on farmers and
farming.

I also appreciate the financial assistance from

the College of Human Ecology and the Graduate School which
helped make this study possible.
Special appreciation goes to my husband, Dr. Richard V.
Farace, for his intellectual stimulation and support during
the research phase, and to my children, Suzanne and Elana,
for their patience and understanding.

ii

TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF T A B L E S .....................................

V

LIST OP F I G U R E S ...................................
CHAPTER 1

viii

INTRODUCTION .........................

1

Overview .........................
Statement of the Problem ........
Research Questions . . .*.....
Organization of the Dissertation .
CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .............

1
5
6
7
9

Introduction .....................
9
General Retirement Studies . . . .
9
Farm Family Decision-Making
S t u d i e s ....................
13
Farm Family Retirement Studies . .
15
Interviews with Agricultural
S p e c i a l i s t s ...............
21
S u m m a r y ......................
24
CHAPTER 3

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES

.

Introduction.....................
Conceptual Framework ............
The Conceptual Model ............
Hypotheses . . . . . . . ........
CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY

.....................

26
26
26
28
32
35

Research Design ................
35
Developing the Questionnaire . . .
35
Pilot Testing the Questionnaire .
38
Selecting the Respondents . . . .
38
Training the Interviewers . . . .
40
Collection of the D a t a .......
41
Coding and Keypunching ..........
43
Analyses and Statistical Tests . .
44

iii

Page
CHAPTER 5

F I N D I N G S ..............................
Introduction .....................
Demographic Characteristics
...
Types of Retirement Decisions
Made by Farm F a m i l i e s ........
A Description of Factors Involved
in the Retirement Decision . .
Predictors of Retirement
D e c i s i o n s .....................
Summary of the R e s u l t s ..........

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ..............

45
45
45
57
59
70
82

84

Introduction .....................
Limitations of the S t u d y ........
Review of F i n d i n g s ..............
Discussion of Findings ..........
A Proposed Model for Retirement
Decision-Making ..............
Recommendations for Further
S t u d y .........................
Implications for Education and
Public Policy .................

101

RETIREMENT QUESTIONNAIRE .............

105

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................

116

APPENDIX

84
84
87
89
93
96

LIST OP TABLES
Table

Page

1

Breakdown o£ Research Sample .................

2

Demographic Characteristics of Sample
Respondents.................................. 47

3

Responses to Living Arrangements after
R e t i r e m e n t .................................. 51

4

Reasons for Retirement ........................

52

5

Children's Interest in Farming Operation . . .

52

6

Disposition of Farm and Farm Business

54

7

Sources of Expected Income after Retirement

8

Sources of Information about Retirement

9

Reasons for Husbands' Fathers' Retirement
from F a r m i n g ................................ 57

10

Responses to Plans to R e t i r e .................... 58

11

Respondents Choice of a Specific Retirement
D e c i s i o n .................................... 60

12

Respondent Frequencies to Goldstein and
Eichhorn's Work-Orientation Scales . . . .

13

42

. . . .
.

...

Respondent Frequencies to Simpson, McKinney
and Back's Adapted Work-Commitment Scale

55
56

61
.

14

Leisure-Time Activities

15

Attitudes about MedicalServices . . . . . . .

16

Work-Orientation Statement =* "Even if we
were financially able, we couldn't stop
w o r k i n g . " .................................... 71

17

Work-Orientation Statement = "The worst
part about being sick is that the work
doesn't get d o n e . " ......................... 71

v

....................

63
65
68

Page

Table
18

Work-Orientation Statement » "Hard work
still counts for more in a successful
farm operation than all the new ideas
you read a b o u t . " ............................72

19

Work-Orientation Statement * "Even if we
had an entirely different job, we would
still farm in our spare t i m e . " ............. 72

20

Work-Orientation Statement ** "If we would
inherit a million dollars, we would still
want to keep f a r m i n g . " ..................... 72

21

Work-Orientation Statement « "Toward the
end of the day, it often seems as if
........
quitting time would never come."

73

22

Significance of Number of Free Time Activities
M e n t i o n e d .................................... 74

23

The Family's Health I n d e x ...................... 74

24

The Husband's Medical/Dental Check-Ups . . . .

25

Health Care Attitude Statements “ "I'd rather
stay sick than have to go to the
h o s p i t a l . " .................................. 76

26

Health Care Attitude Statement ® "A person
can't afford to see a doctor these days." .

76

Health Care Attitude Statement = "I'm
uneasy everytime I go see a doctor."

76

27
28
■29

Suggestions to Retire from Farming

. . . . .

77

...................

78

30

Type of Farming O p e r a t i o n ...................

78

31

Reasons for Husband's Father Retiring
from F a m i n g ................................79

32

Sex Differences in Response to Work-Orienta­
tion Statement ** "Even if we were finan­
cially able, we couldn't stop working." . .

80

Sex Differences in Response to Work-Orienta­
tion Statement = "The worst part about
being sick is that the work doesn't get
d o n e . " ........................

80

33

Husband's Education Level

...

75

vi

Table

Page

34

Sex Differences in Response to Work-Orienta­
tion Statement =* "Toward the end of the
day, it often seems as if quitting time
would never come." ......................... 81

35

Sex Differences in Leisure Time Activities . .

vii

81

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure

Page

1

The Crisis/Decision-Making Conceptual
M o d e l ...................................... 28

2

Factors Contributing to the Stressor
E v e n t ...................................... 29

3

Factors to be Considered in Reacting to
the Stressor E v e n t ......................... 30

4

Specific Alternatives Available for
Re t i r e m en t .................................. 32

5

A Model Depicting the Process of Retire­
ment Decision-Making ......................

viii

94

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Overview
Retirement from the working world is a potential
decision to be made at some plase in the life cycle.

It

could be a sudden decision as with a traumatic illness of
the older family member/ or a planned and prepared-for
decision as the family member gradually ages.

The deci­

sion could be a "forced” one according to structural "rules"
in the work environment, or one that is entirely the indivi­
dual's choice.

In typically structured work environments,

individuals retire as early as 50 years of age, or as late
as their seventies.

The most common retirement age in the

United States is 65; 70 percent of the men and 90 percent of
the women leave their work environment at this time
(Atchley 1972).
Retirement is often a critical period in the family
life cycle.
income level.

It often can result in a substantial change in
It can produce dramatic changes in life style

and life satisfaction for the individual and for the family.
For the individual, it can represent the end of fulfilling
a functional role in society.

1

For families, it can

represent a change in role functions and increased insecurity
about the future.
The selection of "the time to retire" is a crucial
decision to individuals in planning their goals for the
future, as well as their contentment and comfort in the
years to come.

Thus, the issue of retirement, the ongoing

family relationship, and the decision-making process are
important subjects for study in understanding human develop­
ment and evolution, and in forecasting the future for
older people in terms of the quality of life they will
enjoy.
Retirement .is typically defined as "the institutionalized
separation of an individual from his occupational position"
(Atchley 1972, p. 102).

Cumming (1964) refers to it as

part of the disengagement process in which the individual
moves out of functioning, productive roles to make room for
younger people in the employment world.

Brennan (1967)

perceives retirement as an inability to compete effectively
with younger workers who are often better educated and have
greater energy.

Retirement is defined as "departure from

the world of work," and can represent increasing obsoles­
cence (Maddox 1968, p. 364).
Understanding the concept of retirement assumes under­
standing the importance of work as a means or as an end to
the individual's goals.

In perceiving work as an "end,"

Kutner and Tanshel (1956) describe retirement as creating a
vacuum to be filled, thus avoiding a sense of uselessness,
boredom, and monotony.

The authors prescribe acquiring

a functional and satisfying substitute for gainful employ­
ment to fill one's time.
Mills (1956, p. 215) describes it as a means to an end:
Work may be a mere source of livelihood, or
the most significant part of one's inner life;
it may be experienced as expiation or as exuber­
ant expression of self; as bounden duty, or as
the development of man's universal nature.
Neither love nor hatred of work is inherent
in man, or inherent in any given line of work.
For work has no intrinsic meaning.
Another way to define retirement is to visualize it in
social sense.
it this way:

Friedmann and Havighurst (1954, p. 1) define
"Retirement is socially approved unemployment.

When defined in a social sense, societal norms play a part
in perceiving and developing attitudes about this stage of
the life cycle.

Orbach (1962, p. 53) describes it this way:

Retirement represents the creation in modern
society of an economically nonproductive role
for large numbers of persons whose labor is
not considered essential or necessary for the
functioning of the economic order. . . Retire­
ment is the prescribed transition from the
position of an economically active person to
the position of an economically non-active
person in accordance with the norms through
which society defines and determines the nature
of this change.
It is important to note that the United States estab­
lished a "right" to partial support in old age when the
social security system was founded in 1935.

The institution

of retirement followed the introduction of social security
into the economic and employment systems in America.
Besides being viewed as a social role, retirement can
also be perceived as an event or as a process.

Describing

retirement as an event limits one's thinking to the point

in time at which the separation between the individual and
the job takes place.

However, retirement is generally more

than a point in time.

It has a planning period, a beginning

period, and an adjustment period.

In other words, it can

be visualized as a "process'* beginning with recognition
of the problem (i.e., some day the individual will leave the
working world), preparing for that inevitability, and then
coping with the reality of it (Atchley 1972).
In viewing retirement as "process," one must consider
the factors necessary to, and leading towards, the eventual
decision of "when to retire."

Retirement decision-making

factors include planning, management, and the use of
sources of information.
It was noted above that retirement is most common at
the age of 65.

Often, industrial, business, and professional

organizations have policies regulating the time of expected
retirement.

The individual in these systems may not have

as great a choice of the "time” to retire as do individuals
in situations where there is no policy (e.g., "no boss").
One such situation where the decision is an individual one,
rather than an institutionally mandated one, is farming.
Brennan (1967, p. 16) describes farming as one of the
major occupations in which an older worker has a good
chance of remaining at work if he so desires.

A farmer can

achieve a wide range of variance in determining the amount
of work he does and the conditions under which he does it.
He does not have established retirement policies indicating

that the "time" has arrived.

In addition, he has the

ability to adapt his working environment to his personal
needs and energies as he ages.

For the farmer, the deci­

sion to retire is a personal one, rather than a social norm
one.

Because of the lack of structure in arriving at this

personal decision of "when to retire," the farmer is a good
example for studying decision-making factors in retirement.
The factors affecting that decision and the sources of
information useful to "best" make that decision

are critical

to the farm family.
Statement of the Problem
Although farm populations are decreasing (Boyd and
Paolucci 1972; Ferris and Wright 1976), the "farmer" can
still be studied as representative of unstructured work
environments in which decisions about retirement must be
made.

Farm families are unique in yet another way— the

farm is a working and living environment.

Because of this

fusion of work and non-work, many older farmers

are unable

to consider a life which does not include work.

To them,

working means keeping busy and occupied (Morse and Weiss
1955).
According to Elbing (1961, p. 503), decision-making is
the mode of handling problems.
situation and the process.

One needs to know the

Researchers need to explore

how families make decisions rather than simply who is
involved.

Focusing on decision outcomes (i.e., the actual

time of retirement) has been described by Sprey (1969)
ass

"in no way sufficient," and as "highly unsuitable."
The ongoing nature of family relationships, the rela­

tively unstructured work situation, the home and business
combined, and the financial and time constraints faced by
the older farm family, define a unique decision environ­
ment.

It is the purpose of this study to define and explore

that environment, particularly the factors which farmers
use in order to make specific retirement decisions.

Once

those factors are identified, predictions can be made for
the decreasing farm population and specific help can be
provided in any uncertain situations for farm families.
Research Questions
This dissertation will focus on three general questions
(1)

To what degree do farmers (50 years of age and

older) retire from active farming?

For example, when

farmers in that age category are asked, "Do you plan to
retire?," what percentage will respond:

"I don*t plan to

retire," or "I will retire a little at a time" or "I will
retire completely at one time?"

In this way, the retirement

decision can be placed on a continuum from "no retirement"
to "complete retirement."
(2)

What factors are involved in the retirement

decision for farmers?

For example, what types of infor­

mation do farmers have in order for them a decision to
retire?

These might be situational constraints (i.e., no

7
particular savings accumulated for living expenses),
failing health for either male or the female family member,
children who are eager to take over the farming operation,
and leisure time interests.
(3)

What factors are predictive of specific retire­

ment decisions?

There is an anticipation that particular

factors will be involved in making a particular retirement
decision; for example, failing health of the male family
member may be instrumental in an early retirement decision
(at 62 years of age), or the lack of interest in leisure
time activities may be important for a "no retirement"
decision.
Organization of the Dissertation
Chapter 1 presents a brief overview of retirement,
several definitions of retirement, the statement of the
problem to be studied, and the research questions to be
answered.
Chapter 2 is a review of relevant literature.
consists of previous studies of:

This

retirement, farm family

decision-making, and farm family retirement.

Because

relevant literature in this area is limited, interviews
with agricultural specialists who are familiar with the
area of farmers and retirement will be included.
Chapter 3 presents a conceptual framework for studying
the possible factors utilized in making specific retirement
decisions.

The framework, or model, suggests several

hypotheses to be tested.

Chapter 4 describes the methodology used in testing the
hypotheses.

The research design consists of structured

telephone interviews for 100 Michigan farm family house­
holds, in half of which the male family member is the
respondent; in the other half, the female family member.
This chapter discusses the questionnaire development, the
pilot test, the sample, the interviewer training, the
collection of the data, the coding and keypunching, and
the appropriate analyses.
Chapter 5 presents the findings from the analyses,
and the statistical results of the hypotheses.
Chapter 6 consists of limitations of the study, a
discussion of the findings, a proposed model for retirement
decision-making, recommendations for further research
study, and implications for education and public policy.

CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OP THE LITERATURE

Introduction
This chapter will review the research literature
relevant to the study of factors used in retirement deci­
sion-making for farm families.
includes:

The key literature

general factors in retirement, decision-making

in farm families, and factors in farm family retirement.
Because relevant literature in the area of farm retire­
ment was found to be limited, three interviews with
Michigan agricultural specialists were included.
The chapter is divided into five parts:
Retirement Studies;

(A) General

(B) Farm Family Decision-Making Studies;

(C) Farm Family Retirement Studies;

(D) Interviews with

Agricultural Specialists; and (E) Summary.
General Retirement Studies
The literature suggests that there are several factors
which help determine retirement decision-making for elderly
persons.

These a re:. health, having an adequate income

for retirement, interest in leisure time activities, and
"wanting to have more free time."

9

10
There has been a general assumption that retirement is
detrimental to health.

Thompson and Streib (1958), in

early retirement studies, found a slight improvement in
health among those men who were fully retired as compared
to those who remained gainfully employed.

However, their

studies were unable to demonstrate this statistically.
Martin and Doran (1966), in order to test Thompson
and Streib's hypothesis, studied two samples of men over
the age of 55; one sample consisted of 600 retired men,
and the other, 600 working men.

Their findings show that

men over the age of 55 steadily increase in the incidence
of serious illnesses requiring medical attention (about 50%
of the sample) until at, or about the time of, retirement
age.

Immediately after retirement, illnesses drop to about

30 percent and continue to drop.

Their conclusion is that

compulsory retirement can be associated with a reduction
in the amount of serious illness for men over the age of 55.
Pollman (1971) studied factors for early retirement
among industrial workers.

Poor health or declining physical

capacity were the predominant factors for blue-collar
workers in the early 1960's (Pollman 1971, p. 41).

How­

ever, when a sample of 442 retired union workers responded
to mailed questionnaires, Pollman found that 45 percent
of the respondents chose "having an adequate retirement
income" as the most important reason for retirement.
"Poor health" was chosen 24 percent of the time, and "wanted
more free time" was selected by one-fifth of the respondents.

11
When the respondents were asked to choose the second most
Important factor for deciding when to retire, the majority
(53%) replied that there was no second reason.
were:

Other reasons

"wanted more free time'* (21%) , "having an adequate

retirement income" (13%), and "poor health" (8%).

Pollman

concluded that the existence of an adequate retirement
income was the leading retirement consideration, with poor
health a distinct second in prevalence.

However, Pollman

noted that the respondents in his study may not be typical:
when compared with most other men in that age category,
the respondents had relatively superior retirement benefits
because of seniority and union pension benefits.
Epstein and Murray (1968) studied 7,500 elderly people
to determine why they had retired.

Seventy-two percent

said "poor health" or "compulsory retirement age," while
the remaining 28 percent retired for voluntary reasons such
as a desire for leisure activities, being needed at home,
or dissatisfaction with the work.

It is important to note

that there was no mention of having an adequate retirement
income.
In studying leisure time activities of elderly people,
Havighurst and Feigenbaum (1968) found that older peole in
today's society share a positive work value.

Most people

had to work hard and long during their lifetimes.

Since

leisure time was scarce, it was regarded either as a reward
for the work they did, or to be enjoyed because they had
worked so hard for it (Havighurst and Feigenbaum 1968, p 352).

12
Atchley (1972) studied the extent to which a high
degree of work orientation was carried over into retirement.
The sample consisted of 3,704 retired teachers and telephone
employees of both sexes.

The author found that a very

small minority (9.6%) of respondents continued to be high
work-oriented in retirement, and of those, retired female
teachers were significantly higher in work-orientation than
either male or female telephone employees.
Atchley measured work orientation by combining three
scales.

One of these scales, Simpson, McKinney, and Back's

(1966) work-commitment scale, states attitudes about work
with which respondents were asked to agree or disagree:
(1)

Even if I had an entirely different job, I
would have liked to do the same kind of work
X used to do sometimes, just for fun.

(2)

If I had inherited a million dollars, I would
still have wanted to keep on doing the work
I did.

(3)

I wouldn't have taken a better-paying job if
it had meant I would have had to do work
different from what X did.

(4)

Nobody would have done the kind of work X did
if he didn't have to.

(5)

Toward the end of the day, it often seemed as
if quitting time would never come.

A high degree of work commitment was determined by
agreement to questions 1 through 3, and disagreement with
questions 4 and 5.
In summary, then, the literature about factors which
may determine retirement indicates that poor health may be
one factor in retirement.

However, if an individual will

13
receive substantial retirement benefits, having an adequate
retirement income may be the primary factor.

Leisure-time

interests in retirement may be associated with the amount
of time people spent engaging in leisure during their
working years.

If leisure was perceived as a reward and

not a "way of life," then leisure interests might be
minimally a part of the post-retirement years.

Percep­

tions of work-orientation may also be a factor in retirement
decision-making.
Farm Family Decision-Making Studies
Although specific retirement decision-making studies
for farm families could not be located, several farm family
decision-making studies dealing with financial decision­
making were available.

Since retirement is often a

financial decision, these studies were reviewed.
Using 61 Wisconsin farm families, Wilkening and
Morrison (1963) found that some differences were evident
in types of financial decisions made by husbands and wives.
The farm husbands most frequently made decisions pertaining
to the farm enterprise, and the wife made those pertaining
to food, interior decoration, and social contacts.

How­

ever, out of the 23 decision questions asked, 13 decisions
were shared equally by husband and wife.

These included

major investments or commitments of money, and the child­
ren's activities.
In another Wisconsin farm family study, similar
differences in financial decision-making were noted

14
(Wilkening and Bharadwaj 1966).

The farm husband dominated

in major farm decisions, and the farm wife dominated in
major household decisions and in the children's activities.
An interesting finding from this study showed that the
husbands in higher income groups were more likely to spend
a "windfall" on other family members or on the home, rather
than on farm equipment.

The opposite was true for their

wives.
Schomaker and Thorpe (1963) studied financial decision­
making in 100 Michigan farm families with husbands less
than 54 years of age.

When couples were asked how much

they had talked a financial problem over between themselves,
69 percent responded "much," and 15 percent "some."

Forty-

one percent discussed financial problems with their children.
When asked "Who made the final decision?”, husbands and
wives responded that the husband made the final decision
59 percent of the time, and jointly with the wife, 34 percent
of the time.

The farm husband was more likely to be the

sole decision-maker in the older age group than in the
younger age group.
The study also revealed that the college educated
husband was more likely to be the sole decision-maker,
followed by the grade-school educated husband.

The high

school educated husband was more likely to share financial
decision-making jointly with his wife.

In terms of number

of children and financial decision-making, families with
one or two children, or more than four children had higher

15
percentages of joint decision-making than families with
3 or 4 children.
In the Schomaker and Thorpe study (1963) , 56 percent
of the 100 farm families in Michigan consulted sources
other than people in making their financial decisions.
Information sources were magazines, bulletins,
and radio, in that order.

newspapers,

More than 50 percent of the

sample mentioned magazines, primarily farm magazines.

Other

magazines listed were women's magazines, business, and news
magazines.

Household heads who were younger than 45 years

of age and had more education were more likely to consult
these sources than older household heads.
In summary, financial decisions are primarily made by
the male head of the household in farm families.

Other

factors which may contribute to financial decision-making
are:

age of the husband, the husband's educational level,

the number of children in the family, and the information
sources utilized.
Farm Family Retirement Studies
In order to find published studies dealing with
retirement and farm families, an extensive computer search
was made through the use of a computer terminal connected
to data bases stored all over the United States.
data bases that were searched are:

The

AGRICOLA (National

Agricultural Library), NTIS (National Technological Infor­
mation Service), ERIC (Educational Resources Information
Center), SOCIAL SCISEARCH (a multidisciplinary index to

16
the journal literature of science and technology), SOCIO­
LOGICAL ABSTRACTS, USDA/CRIS {Research Studies in the
Department of Agriculture), CAB ABS (Commonwealth Agricul­
tural Bureaux), and DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS.
The search statement consisted of the following key
words:

farmers, farm families, retirement, pre-retirement,

and decision-making.

References and/or abstracts were

printed or were received by mail.

Those that were avail­

able only in a foreign language (e.g., Serbian, Yugoslavian,
French) were eliminated.

Studies which took place outside

the North American continent were also eliminated as being
too far removed from Michigan farm families.

The remaining

studies, after being identified, were then located.

This

involved interlibrary loan services, agricultural extension
departments around the country, and agricultural libraries.
The nine studies/publications that were located are dis­
cussed below.
Two dissertations (Lee 1970, Kraenzle 1974) dealt
with retirement decision-making factors for farm families.
Lee (1970) found that poor health was the most frequently
mentioned reason that farmers gave for retirement.
minor reasons were:

Other

inadequate farm income, too much hard

work, and the eligibility for social security.

Lee also

found that, after retirement, farmers preferred to continue
living on the farm and fulfill a management function.
Kraenzle (1974), in examining the economic aspects of
disinvesting or retiring from farming, stated that farmers

17
probably continue to work longer than they need.

He

found that the average fanner should have accumulated
enough capital to retire in his early sixties, and still
have enough income for the retirement years for as long as
he and his spouse live.

Kraenzle noted that this assumed

a "normal” retirement life with no high medical or other
costs incurred (Kraenzle 1974, p. 104).

In studies done

in the early fifties by I. M. Baill (as cited in Kraenzle
1974, p. 13), fewer than one-fifth of the farm operators
interviewed had made definite plans for retirement.
Kraenzle concluded that most farmers planned to remain
active in farming until their health gave out.
The computer search also revealed two agricultural
extension bulletins (Hepp, Kelsey, and Matlick 1975; Hepp
and Boehlje 1976) which discussed retirement planning and
farm estate planning.

These primarily consisted of infor­

mation for farmers to consider in planning their retirement,
and included work-sheets for important computations.
Neither bulletin included empirical studies.
Spence and Mapp (1976) constructed a retirement income
simulation model for farm operators.

Their model disclosed

that retirement planning for farm families is complicated
by the relationship of farm living and business.

The

business of farming demands capital reinvestments in the
operation of the farm, leaving little opportunity to
establish savings or investment programs for the retirement
years.

18
In a study of the ways farm families cope with
cardiac disease, Jacobson and Eichhorn (1964) discovered
several important findings.

One finding was that the

major resources for coping with problems of this kind were
found in the family members themselves.

This meant an

adjustment in their lives, their values, and their prior­
ities.

The other major finding was that a larger percen­

tage of the farm women, as compared with the men, reported
worrying about financial problems as a result of the crisis.
Forty-three percent of the wives said that they were
worried, as compared to 16 percent of the husbands.
Goldstein and Eichhorn (1961) studied the importance
of hard work as a value in rural families.

They explored

Max Weber's theory of the "Protestant Ethic" which assumes
strong values of individualism, asceticism, and continuous
systematic labor.

Using a sample of 260 male farmers from

the Purdue Farm Cardiac Project Study in 1956, the group
was divided into three groups according to agreement on the
following statements:
(1)

Even if I were financially able, I couldn't
stop working.

(2)

The worst part about being sick is that the
work doesn't get done.

(3)

I've had to work hard for everything that I've
gotten in life.

(4)

Hard work still counts for more in a successful
farm operation than all the new ideas you read
in the newspapers.

19
Those who agreed with all four statements were called
"high work-oriented."

Those fanners who agreed with any

three were designated "medium work-oriented," and those who
disagreed with any three or with all four of the statements
were "low work-oriented."
Several findings resulted from this classification
schemes
older and
(2)

(1) "High work-oriented" farmers tended to be
less educated than the other two groups;

"high work-oriented" men were more likely to make

financial decisions* without the aid of other people; and
(3) "high work-oriented” farmers felt that health was
largely a matter of a person's choice and strong will
power, and that disease can be overcome if one waits long
enough.
To measure attitudes about health and medical services,
the respondents in the sample were asked whether they had
had a medical or dental check-up in the past year.

They

were also asked to agree or disagree with the following
health statements:
(1)

I'm scared everytime I go to see a doctor.

(2)

I'd rather be sick than have to go to the
hospital.

(3)

A man can't afford to call a doctor these days.

Findings included;

(1) "high work-oriented" men were

less likely to visit their doctors and dentists for a
yearly check-up; and (2) "high work-oriented" men were more
likely to fear a doctor's visit, dislike the expense of
medical care, and "wait out" an illness rather than be

20
hospitalized.

"High work-oriented*1 farmers also indicated

the smallest number of leisure-time activities, as compared
with the other two groups, and the least interest in
spending more time in the future on these free-time pursuits.
On the basis of findings from the Goldstein and Eich­
horn (1961) study, Bice and Eichhorn (1968) tested the
hypothesis that "high work-oriented" farmers would be less
likely than "low work-oriented" farmers to retire volun­
tarily, to have different retirement experiences, and to be
less satisfied with retirement.

Using 30 retired farmers

from the original Purdue study, Bice and Eichhorn found
that the presently retired farmers who had been devoted to
hard work during their productive years, had not planned
to retire, and only did so when compelled by poor health.
Furthermore, "high work-oriented" farmers were more often
advised to retire from active farming, while the "low workoriented" farmers retired without being prompted.
Bice and Eichhorn (1968) also found that "high workoriented" farmers lacked leisure-time pursuits and were
generally dissatisfied with retirement.

Fifty-six percent

of the "high work-oriented" farmers, as compared to none
of the "low work-oriented" farmers, replied that they "would
not retire if they had it to do over again" (p. 482).
In reference to leisure-time activities for farm
families, Lee and Beake (1971) found that the most popular
post-retirement activities were:

radio and television,

gardening, hunting and fishing, reading, and traveling.

21
In summary, work-orientation values might be correlated
with other factors such as attitudes about health care and
services, financial resources, retirement planning, and
leisure-time interests.
wives

There is some indication that

perceive these factors differently than husbands.

There is also some evidence that the degree of workorientation among farmers might determine the degree of
(and reason for) retirement (e.g., "high work-oriented"
farmers are often advised to retire and "low work-oriented"
ones need no prompting).
Interviews with Agricultural Specialists
Because research literature in the area of farm
family retirement factors is limited, and in order to
substantiate several hunches of the researcher in con­
structing a conceptual model, the researcher interviewed
three Michigan agricultural professionals.

These indivi­

duals not only published reports and bulletins for the older
Michigan farmer, but also worked with them on a daily/
weekly basis.

The first interview was conducted with

Dr. Ralph Hepp, Professor and Extension Specialist in the
Department of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State
University.

The second interview was with Dr. John Ferris,

Professor and Agricultural Extension Specialist, also at
Michigan State University; and third with Mr. Richard
Lehnert, Editor of the Michigan Farmer magazine.
three men were askeds
they retire?"

All

"Do farmers retire?" and "Why do

22
Dr. Hepp felt that Michigan fanners do not tend to
retire, but those who do retire, retire gradually.

The

awareness of social security benefits at age 62 or 65
increases the likelihood of retirement.
security presents a paradox for farmers:

However, social
in order to

collect full social security benefits, they are forced to
quit farming.

But social security benefits are minimal

for farmers aged 50+ because the first year of coverage
under the Federal system of Old Age and Survivor's Insur­
ance for farm operators did not begin until 1955.

The

amount of social security benefits depends on the number
of years employees pay into the system.

For farmers aged

65 today, this would total only 23 years of built-up
benefits.

Another factor is that if farmers continue to

manage., their farms, they would lose social security
benefits when they would receive a share of the farm
income.
Financially, farmers tend to invest in savings and
government bonds, a low risk type of investment, rather
than stocks and mutual bonds which offer higher yield but
greater risk-taking.

Farmers in their fifties do not tend

to buy pension plans, such as IRA or Keogh.

These are

more popular with middle-aged farmers.
Since farmers aged 50+ grew up during the depression
years, they tend to hold onto their farm land and are more
likely to rent or sell to their children in order to retain
continuity.

However, if their children are not interested,

23
they will rent or sell to neighbors.

Dr. Hepp felt that

very few farmers would sell their land to strangers and
move away from the area.

He also felt that there was no

correlation between the type of farming business (i.e.,
dairy, cash crops, or livestock) and the decision to
retire.
Dr. Ferris also felt that when farmers retire, they
tend to retire gradually (i.e., cutting back in their
working activities).

A sudden departure from work would

be difficult because of the farmer's work philosophy.
Reasons for retirement might be the advent of social
security and failing health.
Changing to a different type of farming may be one way
to partially retire; e.g.,. a dairy farmer might sell his
dairy herd and become a crop or a livestock farmer.

Another

change could be motivated by health; for example, when
physical labor becomes difficult because of aging, a
management position could be considered.
Dr. Ferris felt that the type of farming may be an
important factor in the retirement decision.

He stated

that dairy farmers are more work-oriented and are less
willing to take risk.

Cash crop farmers are more inclined

to vacation in Florida during the winter and have more time
for leisure-time activities.

Livestock farmers and live­

stock feeders are less tied down, but have greater risks.
On a work-orientation continuum, this latter group would
fall between dairy and crop farmers.

24
.Mr. Lehnert felt that very few fanners retire.

They

are more likely to change to a different type of farming.
When they do retire, the major factors may bet

(1) they

have worked long and hard and are tired of farming; or
(2) their son(s) is(are) ready to take over.
In summary, the agricultural specialists are in
agreement that farmers generally do not retire; but if
they do retire, they choose a partial retirement.

They

also agree that farmers generally have a high work-orien­
tation, but that this may depend on the type of farming
business.

Health, social security benefits, and interested

children may be factors in deciding when to retire.
Summary
The research literature reviewed in this chapter, plus
the interviews with agricultural specialists, dealt with
general retirement factors, financial decision-making in
farm families, and farm family retirement factors.

Several

variables emerged as possible predictors of the retirement
decision for farm families.

These are:

attitudes about

health care and services, the degree of work-orientation,
financial resources, retirement planning, leisure-time
interests and motivations, the children's interest in
taking over the farming business, age and education levels
of the male member of the family, size of the family, and
the information sources utilized in making a decision.
The following chapter, Chapter 3, will attempt to
put these variables into a conceptual framework.

A

25
conceptual model will also be presented, as well as
several hypotheses to test relationships.

CHAPTER 3
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES

Introduction
This chapter presents a conceptual framework in which
retirement decision-making in farm families can be studied.
Using the variables from the review of research literature,
plus several hunches by the researcher, a conceptual model
has been developed.

Several hypotheses were generated

from the conceptual model.
Conceptual Framework
Retirement decision-making for farm families can be
studied using a decision-making framework or a crisis
framework.

Since farming is a self-employed occupation,

the retirement decision is basically voluntary.

The

reasons, or factors, that are given for making that deci­
sion are individually oriented.

Since the farm is an

integrative place of business and living, the decision is
not so much an individual one, as a family decision.
Decision-making is defined by Eisgruber and Nielson
(1963) as recognition or definition of a problem, obtaining
information, and specifying and analyzing alternatives.
It is followed by some reaction and evaluation of the

26

27
outcome.

Decision-making consists of selecting a course

of action out of a set of courses available to the decision­
maker.

Eisgruber and Nielson feel that decision-making

behavior takes into account the limits of human capabilities
of perceiving information, making computations, forming
expectations about the future, and estimating parameters
(Eisgruber and Nielson 1963, p. 69)•
Retirement can potentially be a crisis situation.
Biologically growing old, physical weakness from aging, age
itself, and closeness of the end of the life cycle all can
contribute to a stress event in the later years.

Accord­

ing to Hill (1949, p. 51), the crisis or stressor event is
"any sharp or decisive change from which old patterns are
inadequate."

Burr (1973, p. 201) defines it this way:

"An event that produces a change in the family social
system (positive feedback) or one that produces minimal
disruption in the system's maintenance (homeostasis)."
It is important to note that the crisis or stressor
event may disrupt the system considerably or minimally.
Material resources, individual or family philosophy about
work, the presence or absence of planning, or the aware­
ness and/or utilization of information sources may produce
a critical or minimal reaction to the crisis.

Sometimes

retirement becomes an immediate reality, as with a sudden
illness.

However, when the individual still has 10 to 15

years of active life, planning for retirement can result in
"preliminary awareness."

Monk (1971, p. 349) defines this

28
as "a search for information and tentative exploration."
It may be informal and casual within the family unit, or
it may involve seeking out specialized agents such as
insurance agents, governmental agencies, bankers, agricul­
tural extension agents, etc.
By combining decision-making and crisis theory, a
new type of conceptual model emerges:
Making Conceptual Model.

The Crisis/Decision-

This model meets several criteria:

(1) it depicts the retirement event as a potential crisis
or stress event in the family system;

(2) it regards the

retirement decision as a process and not just as an outcome;
(3) it considers factors at all stages of the process; and
(4) it stresses the reaction to the potential crisis in
terms of available resources and information.
The Conceptual Model
The following figure illustrates the conceptual model
to be used in studying retirement decision-making in farm
families:

STRESSOR EVENT
Preliminary
Awareness
of
Retirement

Figure 1:

REACTION

OUTCOME

Consideration
of the
Stressor
Event

The
Retirement
Decision

The Crisis/Decision-Making Conceptual Model.

29
Figure 2 depicts one segment of the conceptual model:
the stressor event.

The stressor event may be the preli­

minary awareness of retirement as a future event.
contributing to this awareness may be:

Factors

(1) the advent of

social security benefits at 62 or 65; (2) biologically
"growing old"; or (3) psychologically "feeling older."

In

other words, it is a signal that change is approaching and
some reaction to that change must be considered.

STRESSOR EVENT
Advent of
Social
Security
Preliminary
Awareness
of
Retirement

Biologically
"Growing Old

REACTION

Psychologically
"Feeling Old"
Figure 2:

Factors Contributing to the Stressor Event.

Figure 3 indicates the system's reaction to the crisis
or stressor event.

It is at this stage that the system

(i.e., the family) perceives the crisis as a major disrup­
tion, or as one that will produce little if any change.
The research literature suggested several variables that
the family may consider in reaching a decision of "when
to retire."

These include:

(1) personality factors, such

as work orientation and leisure-time interests;

(2) the

family's health status and attitudes toward medical services
(3) the financial resources for a retirement income;
(4) the presence or absence of retirement plans; and
(5) the utilization of information sources.
factors include:

Demographic

the educational level of the husband,

the type of farming operation, and the number of children
and their interest in the farming operation.

REACTION

Past
Experience
STRESSOR
EVENT

Personality
Factors

Consideration of the
Stressor Event

Retirement
Plans

Figure 3:

Demographic
Factors

Health Status
and Attitudes

Financial
Resources

OUTCOME

Utilization
of Informa­
tion Sources

Factors to be Considered in Reacting to the
Stressor Event.

The researcher felt strongly about three more variables
The first is the number of years spent in farming.

It

was felt that this might be a measure of involvement in
farming as a life and a business, to the exclusion of any
other kind of experience.

The second variable concerns the

31
number of acres farmed most recently.

This would provide

one basis for the potential financial base of the farm
families.

At the very least, it would indicate the extent

of the present farming operation or the size of the one
when they most recently farmed.
The last variable to be considered is the husband's
father's involvement in farming.
did he retire?

If he was a farmer, why

It was felt that past experience with

retiring from farming might contribute to the family's
present decision to retire.
erations

These variables may be consid­

in reacting to the stressor event.

They are not

intended to be the final decision.
Figure 4 indicates the actual retirement decision and
its alternatives:

(1) partially retire;

(2) retire early,

before 65; (3) retire traditionally, at 65;
after 65; or (5) not to retire.

(4) retire later,

In this model, the retire­

ment decision is the outcome of the reaction to the stressor
event.

The retirement decision can be designated as the

dependent variable if it is perceived to be the result of
the factors listed in Figure 3.
The purpose of this model is to identify those factors
which are considered most important, or most significant,
in the process of making a retirement decision.

It is

further intended to select those factors which can predict
a specific type of retirement decision:

partial, early,

traditional, late, or "no retirement."

The focus of this

32
Partly Retire
Retire Early
(Before 65)

REACTION

The
Retirement
Decision

Retire
Traditionally
(At 65)
Retire Later
(After 65)
Not Retire

Figure 4i

}

Specific Alternatives Available for Retirement.

dissertation is the "reaction" and the "outcome" stages of
the conceptual model.
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses derived from a review of the
relevant literature, interviews with agricultural special­
ists, and the researcher's hunches, will be tested statis­
tically in order to study relationships between the depen­
dent variable (the retirement decision) and the other
independent variables.
H q 1:

A higher percentage of fanners retire gradually

from farming than retire suddenly or all at once.
H q 2:

A higher percentage of farmers retire late (after

65) or plan not to retire, than plan to retire at age 65
or earlier.

33
Hq 3:

"High work-orientation" is predictive of a "no

retirement" or a "late retirement" decision.

"Low work-

orientation" is predictive of an "early retirement" or a
"traditional retirement" decision.
Ho 4:

A small number of leisure-time interests is

predictive of a "no retirement" or a "late retirement"
decision.

Many leisure-time interests are predictive of

an "early retirement" or a "traditional retirement"
decision.
Hq 5:

The family’s good health is predictive of a "no

retirement" or a "late retirement" decision.

The family's

perception of poor health is predictive of an "early
retirement" or a "traditional retirement" decision.
Hq 6:

The absence of yearly medical and dental check­

ups is predictive of a "no retirement" or a "late retire­
ment" decision.

The presence of yearly medical and dental

check-ups is predictive of an "early retirement" or a
"traditional retirement" decision.
Hq 7:

Negative attitudes about health care and medical

services is predictive of a "no retirement" or a "late
retirement" decision.

Positive attitudes about health

care and medical services is predictive of an "early
retirement" or a "traditional retirement" decision.
Hq 8:

An occurrence of suggestions about retiring from

farming is predictive of a "no retirement" or "late retire­
ment” decision.

A lack of suggestions about retiring from

farming is predictive of an "early retirement" or a "tradi­
tional retirement" decision.

34
Ho9:

The husband's graduation from high school is

predictive of an "early retirement" or a "traditional
retirement" decision.

Less than a high school degree is

predictive of a "no retirement" or a "late retirement"
decision.
H q 10:

The type of farming operation is predictive of

an early, traditional, late, or no retirement decision.
H011:

The reasons for the husband's father retiring

from farming is predictive of an early, traditional, late,
or no retirement decision.
Hq 12:

There are significant differences in male and

female responses about retirement and farming.

CHAPTER 4
METHODOLOGY

Research Design
This study was conducted using survey research methods.
The data were gathered via telephone interviews with farm
family respondents, following a structured questionnaire
that operationalized the variables described in Chapter 3.
The data were then prepared for computer analysis, and the
research hypotheses were tested.

This chapter describes

the procedures used to develop the questionnaire, pilot
testing the questionnaire, selection of the respondent
sample, training of the telephone interviewers, data
collection procedures, coding and keypunching the data, and
the analyses used to test the hypotheses.
Developing the Questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed to be administered to
either farm wives or husbands (see the Appendix).

Although

a few of the items pertained only to the husband (see
Questions 17, 18 and 41 in the Appendix), most of the
questions were asked in a family context, either from the
perspective of the woman, or from the perspective of the
man.

It was assumed that by interviewing the wives in half

35

36
the households and the husbands in the other half, either
perception might reflect the factors and attitudes about
retirement within that particular farm family unit.
According to Fengler (1975, p. 141), literature on
retirement fails to take into consideration the wife's
reaction to the event.

Kerckhoff (1966, p. 160) asserts

that "literature on retirement has been concentrated almost
exclusively on the reactions of the male retiree to the
experience of leaving his work."

By questioning both

husbands and wives, sex differences in retirement decision­
making can be noted.
The questionnaire was designed to obtain four types of
data from the respondents.

First, demographic character­

istics were sought; these were derived from questions about
marital status, number of children, children living at .
home, leisure-time interests, and the age of the respondent
when he/she started farming.
included:

Other demographic items

number of acres, type of farming operation,

whether the wife was active (or had been active) in the
farming operation, education levels of both husband and
wife, whether the husband's father had been a farmer, and
the reasons why he had retired.
The second type of data gathered from respondents
dealt with attitudes about work orientation.

Goldstein

and Eichhorn's (1961) four statements (see Questions 6
through 9 in the Appendix) were slightly reworded to assess
work orientation.

Responses are made on a five-point

37
continuum of strongly agree to strongly disagree.

When a

respondent agreed either strongly or somewhat with a
statement, Goldstein and Eichhorn state that "high workorientation" is present.

The more agreement with the four

statements, the higher the work-orientation.
The second four statements (see Questions 10 through
13 in the Appendix) used Simpson, McKinney and Back's (1966)
work-commitment scale, slightly revised.

Agreement on the

first two items and disagreement on the second two indicated
"high work-orientation."

By combining responses to the

four statements, an index of levels of work-orientation is
obtained.

According to Reidel (1958), the same items were

found to have a Guttman coefficient of reproducibility of
.913 in a sample of 413 farmers.
The third set of data reflected attitudes about medical
services and the health status of the husband and wife.
Attitudes about medical services (see Questions 19 through
21 in the Appendix) were revised statements from Goldstein
and Eichhorn's study (1961).

Questions 17 and 18 probed for

frequencies of medical and dental check-ups for the husband,
also from Goldstein and Eichhorn*s study.
The final set of data included questions directly
relevant to respondents in the process of planning to
retire, or who have already retired from farming (see
Questions 22 through 34 in the Appendix).
included*

These items

specific plans for retirement, living arrange­

ments, reasons for knowing when it is time to retire, the

38
children's interest in taking over, and the disposition of
the farm business and land.

Other items included income

sources, information sources, and the prevalence of other
people's suggestions that it was "time to retire" from
farming.

Those farmers who indicated that they are not

planning to retire from farming were not asked the questions
in this section.
Pilot Testing the Questionnaire
After the design of an initial questionnaire, the
instrument wa3 pre-tested with 10 farm families, using both
male and female respondents.

The ten respondents' names

and phone numbers were obtained from a different sample of
respondents than were used in the main interviews.

As a

result of the pilot test, the instrument was revised in
several draft forms until the final form was developed.
Selecting the Respondents
The population for this study consists of Michigan
farm families, estimated to be 80,000 in 1975 (Ferris,
p. 14).

The names and addresses of a substantial number

of Michigan farm families were available to this researcher,
who had access to the circulation information of a state­
wide magazine devoted to farming.

In 1977, the magazine

had 78,000 Michigan subscribers, most of whom were farmers.
A random sample of those subscribers was provided by the
magazine's circulation services division.

39
In order to collect data from families who have an
investment in farming and for whom the retirement decision
should be important, two delimiting questions were asked
of every respondent.

The first was:

"Do you or your

immediate family operate a farm now... or did you operate
one in the past?"

If the respondent was not a farmer, the

interview was terminated.

If the answer was positive, the

second question followed:

"In the past five or ten years,

have you earned half or more of your income from your
farming?"
interview.

Again, a negative response terminated the
A positive response was interpreted to mean that

farming was the family's major source of income, and thus
satisfied the criterion that the respondent had a signifi­
cant economic linkage to farming.
A third criterion was used to delimit the respondent
group:

the age of the male farmer.

Farmers aged 50 years

or older share the life cycle stage when retirement is a
real possibility in the near future.

It was assumed that

younger people in general would have thought much less
about the retirement decision.

It was also assumed that

the male's age was more important than the female's age
because of the male's larger role in the basic farm
operation.
Those respondents who fell below the age of 50 years
were, therefore,

excluded from the study.

It was assumed

that respondents

who were 50 years of age

and older were a

more homogeneous

group; i.e., they grew up

in a time when

40
education was not as important as today to achieve a
successful farming operation, and their involvement in farm
family living was demonstrated by their many years as
farmers.

Further, they had grown up during the Depression

years, which should give them relatively similar views on
work, family, and retirement.
In summary, then, there were three criteria that had
to be met in order to obtain responses from individuals
about retiring from farming:

(1) the respondents were

farmers or had been farmers in the recent past;

(2) farming

was (or had been) the major source of income; and (3) the
farm husband had to be 50 years of age or older.
The initial sample consisted of names and addresses for
620 subscribers from all over the state.

Since the research

design called for a structured telephone interview, infor­
mation operators were called throughout the state in order
to obtain the phone numbers of the 620 families.

Of

those 620 names, 123 phone numbers could not be located by
the mailing addresses, or were unlisted numbers.

Eleven

names were businesses who subscribed to the magazine and
were eliminated from the sample.

This process yielded a

potential sample of 486 Michigan families.
Training of the Interviewers
Data were gathered by structured telephone interviews.
The interviewers were four women, ranging in age from 31 to
60.

Most of the women had farm backgrounds and all had

previous experience in interviewing farm families.

The

41
interviewers participated individually in a two to threehour training session with the researcher before beginning
the data collection.

The interviews took place from the

interviewers' homes, during the daytime, evening, and
wekkend hours, in order to reach every respondent from the
sample list.

The researcher talked with the interviewers

each day during the data gathering phase, and checked
completed questionnaires every third day.

If the inter­

viewers had any problems, the researcher was immediately
available.
Collection of the Data
Data were gathered by telephone interviews during a
two-week period in early Spring, 1978.

It was planned that

data be collected as quickly as possible before farmers
were involved in spring planting.
All 486 telephone numbers obtained from the original
list of 620 were called.
summarized in Table 1.

The results of this activity is
Each number was tried three times;

74 did not answer (15% of the 486 numbers).
(7%) refused to be interviewed.

Thirty-four

Approximately 57 percent

of the remaining sample (278 households) were eliminated
because they did not meet one of the three criteria for
the study:

(1) they had never farmed, (2) farming was not

their primary source of income, or (3) they were too young
(the male member of the household was less than 50 years of
age).

One hundred interviews were completed, 49 with women

representing the farm family, and 51 with men.

42
Table 1:

Breakdown of Research Sample.

RESPONDENTS
PHONE NUMBERS LOCATED

Number

% of
N-486

Qualified Respondents

100

21

Unqualified Respondents

278

57

Refusals

34

7

No Answers

74

15

486

100

Total Attempted

% of
N«620

(78)

•

NO PHONE NUMBERS
Unlisted/No Listing

123

20

11

_2

Business
Total Not Contacted

134

(22)

Total Sample

620

(100)

Each interview lasted between 15 and 30 minutss in
length.

In many instances, the interviewers were asked to

call back at another time which was more convenient.
Several respondents refused to answer because of hearing
difficulties or illnesses.

Because farm women are more

likely to answer the telephone for the household, many were
annoyed that half the interviews were conducted with their
husbands, rather than themselves.

They felt that they were

equally as eligible to answer questions about farming.

The

respondents were very warm and congenial to the interviewers.

43
They were interested in revealing attitudes they held, as
well as expressing views about the general agricultural
economy.

The interviewers enjoyed their experiences as

well.
The respondents in the sample were treated anonymously.
Names were used only to obtain the phone numbers, and names
were discarded after the telephone identification step was
completed.

The interviewer did not use the respondents'

names in addressing them.

Each completed questionnaire was

assigned an identification number from 00-99.
Coding and Keypunching
The questionnaire was pre-coded to save time and
additional expense.

Each questionnaire was individually

checked by the researcher to make sure that the inter­
viewer had marked the correct space.

All responses written

in (i.e., an answer to an "other1* category) were coded by
the researcher.
The questionnaire's identification number and all
other responses were punched directly from each questionnaire
into a computer terminal and immediately placed on permanent
file.

This decreased chances of error in copying numbers

several times.

The data were cleaned by comparing a

listing of the data stored in the computer file with the
appropriate questionnaire, on a question-by-question basis.
Data entry errors (which were few in number) were corrected,
and a final comparison of the data and the questionnaire
responses was made.

44
Analyses and Statistical Testa
Several types of analyses were used.

First, frequen­

cies were run to determine percentages of responses for
each question.

These were determined for all respondents,

and separately for males and females.
The SPSS program (V.7.0) was used for all the analyses.
The analyses were performed on the Michigan State Univer­
sity computer system.
The second analysis consisted of combining key variables,
recoding these variables into new variables, and producing
indices.

Guttman reliability tests and Cronbach alphas

were run on these indices to determine whether grouping
sets of related items represents a "total response," or
whether each variable can only be treated individually.
The third analysis consisted of Chi-square tests of
significance, using the dependent variable ("plans to
retire") and each of the independent variables.

The

dependent variable was separated into four retirement
decision cells:

respondents who indicated 62 years of age

or earlier became the "early retirement" group (n = 22);
those who indicated they would (or did) retire at 65
became the "traditional retirement" group (n * 20); those
falling into the post-65 group became the "late retirement"
group (n =» 23); and those planning "not to retire" group
(n « 21).
All the rest of the independent variables were combined
into cells equalling 20 or more respondents.

Given the

44a
limitation of 100 respondents in the research design, 20
was determined to be the minimum cell frequency for attain­
ing satisfactory expected values for the Chi-square analysis
(Walker and Lev 1953).

If too few responses were made in

a particular category, that category was eliminated from
further analysis because of its small ttn".
The final analysis consisted of Chi-square tests of
significance using sex as the independent variable and all
other variables as dependent variables.

Differences in

responses of men versus women respondents were determined.
The results and findings of the three different types
of analyses is presented in Chapter 5.

CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS

Introduction
This chapter contains the findings from respondents
representing a sample of 100 Michigan farm families.

It

includes:

(1) demographic characteristics of the farm

families;

(2) the types of retirement decisions made by

those families;

(3) a description of factors involved in

the retirement decision;

(4) predictors of retirement

decisions; and (5) a summary of the results.
Demographic Characteristics of the Farm Families
The sample consisted of 100 respondents, 51 males and
49 females, who are actively involved in operating farms
throughout Michigan.

All the families earned (or had

earned) half or more of their income from farming.
ranged in age from 44 to 86 years.

They

The ages of the hus­

bands in the sample households ranged from 50 to 86, with
a mean of 64.4 years.

The wives' ages ranged from 44 to

81, with a mean of 62.5 years.
Table 2 summarized the following demographic character­
istics of the 100 respondents.

Seventy-nine percent of

the respondents were married, 17 percent were widowed
45

46
(12 women and 5 men), one respondent was divorced (male),
and three men were single, never married.

Of those

respondents who were married or had been married, the
average (mean) number of children in the family was 3.4.
Three families had no children.
Thirty-one percent of the respondents have at least
one child still living at home.

Seventy-eight percent of

the wives were active (or had been active) in the farm
operation.
The size of the farms ranged from four acres to over
1000 acres, with an average of 228 acres.

Thirty-six

percent of the farms were primarily cash crops, 22 percent
dairy, 10 percent fruit, and 7 percent livestock.

The

remainder consisted of a combination, most often termed
"general farming."
The education level of the wives ranged from seven to
twenty years of schooling, with a mean of 11.6 years.

One-

third (33%) graduated from high school, and 26 percent had
at least some college education.

The husbands in the

sampled families ranged from 7 to 16 years of education,
with a mean of 10.3 years.

Thirty-eight percent had high

school degrees, and 8 percent had at least some college.
When the respondents were asked how old they had been
when they started farming, answers such as:

"I was born

into it," or "since I was hatched" were frequent.

The

majority of the male respondents began farming at between
one and eight years of age.

The majority of the female

47
Table 2:

Demographic Characteristics of Sample Respondents.

Characteristics

% Total
Sampled

# of
Males

# of
Females

MARITAL STATUS
Married
Widowed
Divorced
Single
Total

3
100

3
51

0
49

NUMBER OF CHILDREN
No ChTTdren
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven or More
No Response
Total

3
16
16
21
17
6
9
9
3
100

2
7
8
11
9
3
5
3
3
51

1
9
8
10
8
3
4
4
6
49

CHILDREN LIVING AT HOME
No Children
One
Two
Three or More
No Response
Total

65
20
5
6
4
100

29
11
4
4
3
51

36
9
1
2
1
49

WIVES ACTIVE IN FARMING
Yes
No
No Response
Total

78
18
4
100

37
10
4
51

41
8
0
49

36

18

18

22

10

12

10
7
25
100

3
3
17
51

7
4
8
49

FARM TYPE
Cash Crops
Dairy
Fruit
Livestock
General
Total

79
17

1

42
5

1

37
12

0

48
Table 2:

(Cont'd).

Characteristics

% Total
Sampled

WIVES' EDUCATION LEVEL
7-11 Years
High School Degree
13-16 Years
17-20 Years
No Response
Total

35
33
23
3
6
100*

HUSBANDS' EDUCATION LEVEL
7-11 Years
High School Degree
13-16 Years
No Response
Total

53
38
8
1
100**

AGE STARTED FARMING
0- 8 years
9-19 years
20-60 years
No Response
Total

35
30
34
1
100

# of
Males

# of
Females

—

—

—

—

— —

—

—
”

.

—

--

—

—

—

”

22
15
13
1
51

13
15
21
0
49

♦This includes self-report data from the 49 female respond­
ents in the study and perceptions of the 51 males about
their wives' education level.
**This includes self-report data from the 51 male respond­
ents in the study and perceptions of the 49 females about
their husbands' educational level.

49
respondents began fanning between the ages of 20 and 60.
The average age for beginning farming, according to the
respondents' perceptions, was 16 years.
Directly comparable (samples on) populations of farm
families meeting the three respondent selection criteria
could not be located.

However, three studies provide a

reasonable degree of comparability with the present group
of respondents.
Wright (1971) found that the average size of all farms
in Michigan was 145 acres.

Twenty-nine percent were cash

crop farms, 24 percent dairy, 22 percent general farming,
18 percent livestock, and 7 percent fruit.

Prom the 1974

agricultural census data for Michigan farms issued in June,
1977, the average size of all farms was 169 acres.
Thompson and Hepp (1976), in studying characteristics
of older farmers in Michigan, found that 77 percent of males
aged 64+ had less than twelve years of education, 16
percent had high school degrees, and 7 percent had some
technical training beyond high school.

With females aged

64 or older, 81 percent had less than twelve years of
education, 10 percent had high school degrees, 5 percent
had technical training, and 5 percent had some college
education.
These three studies, while not directly comparable to
the present sample, suggest that the respondents described
in this study are not appreciable different in their demo­
graphic characteristics from other farmer samples in Michigan.

50
The following results are based only on those respond­
ents in the present

study who areplanning to retire (or

had already retired)

from farming (n =* 79) .

Two out of three (65%) stated that they had made no
specific plans for retirement.

When respondents were

asked where they expect to live when they retire, 77 per­
cent said they would remain on the farm— 61 percent would
live on the farm and

have someone else operate it; the

remaining 16 percentwould live on the
to manage it.

farm and continue

Of the 23 percent who plan to move off the

farm, 9 percent expect to move to town, 7 percent will go
to a "warmer climate" or out of the state, and 7 percent
will move onto another farm (i.e., to a mobile home on
their son's farm)

(see Table 3).

Thus, farmers are much

more likely to continue living on their farms after retire­
ment-, with others operating the farm business, than to
move off the farm into a new living environment.
When respondents were asked "how would they know when
it is (was) time to retire," half (54%) said their personal
health would be the determining factor.
responded with statements such as:

A fourth (23%)

"when I can't do it

any more;" "when you can no longer do the work;" "when the
work gets too hard;" "when it's time to slow down; " "by the
amount of work that gets done in a day;" or "old age."
Other reasons included:

(1) children ready to take over;

(2) want to do other things (e.g., "I became a minister");
(3) tired of it;

(4) adequate retirement income (e.g., "when

51
Table 3:

Responses to Living Arrangements after Retirement.

Responses

Adjusted Percentage

Number

Live on farm; others operate

61.3

(46)

Live on farm; continue to
operate it

16.0

(12)

Move to town

9.3

( 7)

Move out of state

6.7

( 5)

Other

6.7

( 5)

TOTAL

100.0

(75)*

*4 people did not respond.

things can be worked out financially"); and (5) worked long
and hard (e.g., "time to take it easy")

(see Table 4).

Farmers are, therefore, more likely to say they will retire
on the basis of personal health than for any other reason.
About two in five (45%) of the respondents did not
expect their children to continue with the farm operation
after their retirement.

A similar percent (41%) expected

their children to continue with the farm, or that this was
already happening.

Fourteen percent were uncertain about

their children's interest (see Table 5).

Children in the

farm family are split about evenly over whether they will
continue their parents' farming operation or leave the
farm and seek employment elsewhere.

52
Table 4:

Reasons for Retirement.
Adjusted Percent
Mentioning
This Reason^

Reasons

Number
Mentioning
This Reason^

Health

53.8

(42)

Old Age

23.1

(18)

Children Ready

9.0

( 7)

Want to do Other Things

9.0

( 7)

Tired of It

7.7

( 6)

Don't Know

6.4

( 5)

Adequate Retirement Income

3.8

( 3)

Worked Long and Hard

2.6

( 2)

♦Percentages and numbers do not total 100 because respond­
ents could list more than one reason. One person did not
respond.

Table 5:

Children's Interest in Farming Operation.
Adjusted Percentage

Number

No Interest

45.2

(33)

Yes

26.0

(19)

Yes, already are

15.1

(11)

Don't know

8.2

( 6)

Maybe

5.5

( 4)

TOTAL

100.0

Interest

♦Six people did not respond.

(73) ♦

53
When respondents were asked what they plan to do with
their farm business after they retire, 25 percent stated
that they plan to sell to non-family members, and 23 percent
plan to rent to non-family members.

Sixteen percent intend

to sell to family members, while 14 percent expect to rent
to family members.

Ten percent were undecided, and six

percent listed other options such as:

"goes to the highest

bidder?" "rent for awhile and then sell it?" "son or sonin-law first? if they don't want it, will sell it or rent?"
"put it into corporation?" or "may sell to developers if
son doesn't want it."

Four percent indicated they would

change to a different type of farming (see Table 6).

Farmers

are more likely to sell their land, after they retire, than
to rent it.

They sire also more likely to sell or rent

their land to non-family members than to family members.
Respondents were asked what types of income they
expected to receive (or were receiving) when they retired.
Most reported multiple sources of income.

Almost all the

respondents expected to receive Social Security.

Sixty-

one percent anticipated income from savings accounts
(including use of the principle)? 41 percent expected a
share from the farm's continuing income, 35 percent parti­
cipated in seme type of pension plan, and 32 percent
expected to receive income from real estate or from the
sale of the farm.

Twenty percent had investment income and

seven percent listed other income, such as the wife's
retirement pension or life insurance.

No one mentioned

54
Table 6:

Disposition of Farm and Farm Business.

Categories

Adjusted Percentage

Number

Sell to non-family

24.7

(18)

Rent to non-family

23.3

(17)

Sell to family

16.4

(12)

Rent to family

13.7

(10)

9.6

( 7)

8.2

( 6)

4.1

( 3)

Don't know
Other
•

Change to different type
TOTAL

100.0

(73)*

*Six people did not respond.

receiving income from their children (see Table 7).

Six

respondents indicated they felt the question was too personal
and would not respond.

Consequently, farmers are more

likely to expect retirement income from Social Security and
from savings than from any other source.
The following description of retirement pertains to
all the respondents, regardless of their retirement plans
(n = 100).
Sixty-six percent of the sample indicated that they
had not been exposed to any information about retiring
from farming.

When they were asked where they could find

information about retiring from farming if they wanted to

55
Table 7 s Sources of Expected Income after Retirement.

Sources

Adjusted Percent
Mentioning
This Source*

Number
Mentioning
This Source*

Social security

96.0

(72)

Savings

61.3

(46)

Share of farm income

41.3

(31)

Pensions

34.7

(26)

Real estate

32.0

(24)

Investments

20.0

(15)

Other

6.7

( 5)

Money from children

0.0

( 0)

♦Percentages and numbers do not total 100 because respond­
ents could indicate more than one income source. Six
people did not respond.

learn more, 60 percent said they did not know where they
would go to find it, or were not interested in looking.
Twenty-four percent would expect to find information about
retiring in magazines (primarily farm magazines), and 18
percent would use county extension agents.

Thirteen

percent would obtain information from other people, such
as family members, friends, or business people.

The

remainder indicated senior citizen meetings, newspapers, and
Society Security bulletins (see Table 8).

Farmers are

unlikely to report exposure to information about retiring.

56
or to know where to find it.

Of those few who could

identify information sources, farm magazines and county
extension agents were mentioned most frequently.

Table 8:

Sources of Information about Retirement.

Percentage*

Number*

Don't know/not interested

60

(60)

Magazines

24

(24)

County Extension agents

18

(18)

Other people

13

(13)

Brochures/bulletins

6

( 6)

Senior Citizen meetings

2

( 2)

Newspapers

2

( 2)

Sources

*Percentages and numbers do not total 100 because respond­
ents could indicate more than one information source.

Respondents were asked about the retirement of the
husbands' fathers.
were farmers.

Eighty-nine percent had fathers who

Farmers are more likely to have had fathers

involved in farming them involved in other occupations.
Of those fathers who had been farmers, 39 percent had
died before retiring, 39 percent had retired for health
reasons, 13 percent retired because the son was ready to
take over, and 10 percent left farming for other reasons

57
(see Table 9).

The average age for their retirement or

demise was 68 years of age, with a range of 32 to 94 years.

Table 9:

Reasons for Husbands' Fathers' Retirement from
Farming.

Adjusted Percentage

Number*

Died while farming

39.1

(34)

Health

39.1

(34)

Son ready to take over

12.6

(11)

Tired of it

4.6

( 4)

Other

4.6

( 4)

TOTAL

100.0

Reasons

(87)*

*Thirteen people did not respond.

Types of Retirement Decisions Made by Farm Families
This section is organized around the first research
question stated in Chapter 1.

Following the research

question, the hypotheses are restated and the results given.
1.

TO WHAT DEGREE DO FARMERS (50 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER)
RETIRE FROM ACTIVE FARMING?
Hols

A higher percentage of farmers retire gradually

from farming, rather than retire suddenly or all at once.
This hypothesis was supported.

58
When respondents were asked if they planned to retire
from farming (see Question 22 in the Appendix), 21 percent
stated that they did not intend to retire, and 36 percent
were already retired.

Of the remaining responses, 31

percent planned to retire a little at a time (gradually),
and six percent planned to retire all at once (suddenly).
Six percent had not decided or did not respond (see Table
10).

By comparing the difference in frequencies between

those farmers planning to retire gradually (31%) and those
planning to retire suddenly (6%), the hypothesis of gradual
withdrawal from farming as the dominant mode of retirement
is supported.

This hypothesis' support was not statistically

determined because one of the two variables did not meet
the predetermined minimum cell frequency for attaining
satisfactory expected values for the Chi-square analysis.

Table 10:

Responses to Plans to Retire.

Plan to Retire

Percentage

Number

Already retired

36.0

(36)

A little at a time

31.0

(31)

Not retire

21.0

(21)

All at once

6.0

( 6)

Don't know

4.0

( 4)

No response

2.0

( 2)

100.0

(100)

TOTAL

59
Hq 2:

A higher percentage of fanners retire late

(after 65), or plan not to retire, than plan to retire at
age 65 or earlier.

This hypothesis was not supported.

When respondents were asked how old they plan to be
(or were) when they retire(d)

(see Question 23 in the

Appendix), data were separated into four retirement age
groups:

early retirement (age 62 and earlier), traditional

retirement (age 65), late retirement (after age 65), and
no retirement.

For the entire group, 22 percent planned to

retire early, 20 percent planned to retire traditionally,
23 percent planned a late retirement, and 21 percent did
not plan to retire.

Combining these categories, 44 percent

do not plan to retire or plan to retire late.
percent plan to retire early or traditionally.

Forty-two
There is no

difference between the two combined groups according to the
frequencies, and hence no differences among the four
decision categories (see Table 11).
A Description of Factors Involved
in tne Retirement Decision
This section is organized around the second research
question.

No hpotheses were generated from this research

question.

However, the information gathered about these

factors contributed to the hypotheses generated from the
third research question.

Topic areas include:

work-

orientation attitudes, leisure-time activities, health
status and attitudes, and suggestions about retiring.

60
Respondents Choice of a Specific Retirement
Decision.

Table 11:

Retirement Decision

Percentage

Number

Late Retirement

23

(23)

Early Retirement

22

(22)

No Retirement

21

(21)

Traditional Retirement

20

(20)

No Response

14

(14)

100

(100)

TOTAL

2.

WHAT FACTORS ARE INVOLVED IN THE RETIREMENT DECISION
FOR FARMERS?
Work-Orientation Attitudes;

The first set of four

statements (see Questions 6 through 9 in the Appendix)
asked the respondent to indicate his or her agreement on
a five-point Likert-type scale, to an attitudinal statement
describing farm work.

Agreement, either "agree somewhat"

or "agree strongly," indicated "high work-orientation."
Seventy-eight percent of the respondents agreed to the
first statement, 99 percent agreed to the second, 78 per­
cent agreed to the third, and 74 percent agreed to the
fourth.

In other words, from three-quau:ters to virtually

all of the respondents in the present study could be
designated as "high work-oriented" (see Table 12).

61

Table 12:

Respondent Frequencies to Goldstein and Eichhorn's Work-Orientation Scales.

Statement

Percentage

Number

Even if we were financially able,
we couldn't stop working.
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
TOTAL

78
15
7
100

(78)
(15)
( 7)
(100)

We've had to work hard for every­
thing we've gotten in life.
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
TOTAL

99
1
0
100

(99)
( 1)
( 0)
(100)

The worst part about being sick
is that the work doesn't get done.
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
TOTAL

78
16
6
100

(78)
(16)
( 6)
(100)

Hard work still counts for more in a
successful farm operation than all
the new ideas you read about.
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
TOTAL

74
14
12
100

(74)
(14)
(12)
(100)

62
The second set of four statements (see Questions 10
through 13 in the Appendix) also asked the respondent to
indicate a level of agreement.

Agreement on the first two

questions and disagreement on the second two indicated
"high work-orientation."

Three-fourths of the respondents

agreed with the first two statements (75% and 72%, respec­
tively) , and disagreed with the third statement (91%).
However, the fourth statement, which was also expected to
produce disagreement, 68 percent agreed, indicating an
attitude of "low work-orientation" (see Table 13).
The first four work-orientation items (see Table 12)
were combined into a new index called "work-orientation"
and tested for reliability.

The Cronbach's alpha level

(.23) indicated low reliability among the four questions
when combined into an index.

This could well be due to

the lack of variability in response— all agreed highly.
The Guttman coefficient of reproducibility of the'items was
.39.

Guttman suggests a value of .90 or more is needed

to treat the items as a scale.

The two reliability tests

indicate that a combined index could not be constructed.
Therefore, each item must be analyzed separately.

Further­

more, the reliability analysis for these four statements
did not match Reidel's (1958) reported Guttman coefficient
of reproducibility of .913 for the same items used in a
study of a general farm population (i.e., not one restricted
as in the present case).

63

Table 13:

Respondent Frequencies to Simpson, McKinney
and Back's Adapted Work-Comraitment Scale.

Statement

Percentage

Number

Even if we had an entirely different
job, we would still farm in our
spare time.
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
TOTAL

75
18
7
100

(75)
(18)
( 7)
(100)

If we would inherit a million
dollars, we would still want to
keep farming.
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
TOTAL

72
22
6
100

(72)
(22)
( 6)
(100)

Nobody would farm if he didn't
have to.
Disagree
Agree
Neutral
TOTAL

91
7
2
100

(91)
( 7)
( 2)
(100)

Toward the end of the day, it often
seems as if quitting time would
never come.
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
TOTAL

68
28
4
100

(68)
(28)
( 4)
(100)

Whenthesecond four work-orientation items (see Table
13) were combined into a new index called "work-commitment,
Cronbach's alpha level was .41 and the Guttman coefficient
of reproducibility was .44.

Neither coefficient of relia­

bility was sufficient enough to form an index for those
items as well.

Each of those items must also be treated

separately in order to achieve an indication of "high
work-orientation/work commitment."
In examining the frequencies for each of the eight
questions, there is a much greater percentage of agreement
than disagreement on each item.

This indicates that the

majority of the respondents were "high work-oriented."
Knowing this, further discussion of factors that may affect
retirement can be explored along with the "work-orientation
factor.
Leisure-Time Activities:

When respondents were asked

what they did when they had free time (see Question 14 in
the Appendix), hobbies (mentioned 44% of the time) and
travel (mentioned 42% of the time) were the most popular
choice.

Hobbies consisted of painting, crafts, gardening,

baking, sewing, carpentry, playing the piano or organ,
fixing antique cars, or upholstering.
going on trips and taking vacations.

Travel included
Popular places that

were mentioned included Canada, Florida, and "seeing other
parts of the country."
Other popular leisure-time activities included:
sports (33%), resting and reading (29%), and visiting

65
family and friends (28%).

Sports included hunting, fishing,

tobogganing, square dancing, flying an airplane, and
bowling.

Eighteen percent of the respondents mentioned

watching television or listening to the radio, and nine
percent participated in community or church activities
(see Table 14).

Table 14?

Activity

Leisure-Time Activities.

Number of
Respondents
Mentioning
This Activity*

Number of
Males
Mentioning
This Activity

Number of
Females
Mentioning
This Activity

Hobbies

44

7

37

Travel

42

26

16

Sports

33

27

6

Rest/Relax/
Read

29

10

19

Visit

28

12

16

TV/Radio

18

8

10

Community/
Church

9

3

6

Other

5

3

2

♦Numbers do not total 100 because respondents could indicate
more than one leisure activity.
It is interesting to note that five male respondents
mentioned the desire to do farm-related activities in their
spare-time.

These included:

"puttering around," "catching

66
up on odd jobs," and "climbing on the tractor and cutting
the large lawn."

One male respondent indicated that he

didn't want any free time because he "liked to farm."

Two

other male respondents said that they never had any free
time.

One female respondent stated that she was too busy

with her fruit farm to have any spare time.
Goldstein and Eichhorn (1961) indicated that "high
work-oriented" families were more likely to have a small
number of leisure-time interests.

In order to test this,

an index of the number of leisure-time interests for each
respondent was created.

However, again the Cronbach's

alpha reliability coefficient (-.23) indicated that
"frequency of leisure-time activities" did not combine
into a single overall index.

Therefore, the relationship

between "frequency of leisure-time activities" and "high
work-orientation" could not be tested.
Health Status Attitudes;

Each respondent was asked

to judge his or her own health and that of his or her
spouse (see Questions 15 and 16 in the Appendix).

By

combining the health evaluation of both partners, an
index of "family health status" was derived.

This reflected

the overall perception of general healthiness of the
family unit.

On a continuum of 2 to 10, where 2 indicated

very poor health and 10 indicated very good to excellent
health, the mean score for "family health status" was 7.7.
This indicates that the respondents generally perceived them­
selves

and

their spouse to be in quite good health.

67
The respondents were also asked whether the husband
had had a medical or dental check-up in the past year (see
Questions 17 and 18 in the Appendix).

The data show that

29 percent of the men had received both medical and dental
check-ups in the past year.

Twenty-four percent had only a

medical check-up; 19 percent had only a dental check-up
and sixteen percent had neither.

The total percentage of

men who had at least one check-up was 72 percent.

It is

also interesting to note that 17 percent of the male
respondents (as a self-report) and female respondents
(reporting about their husbands) said that the husbands had
false teeth.

That was given as justificat'on for not having

a dental check-up in the past year.
According to Goldstein and Eichhorn (1961), "high
work-oriented men" were less likely to visit their doctors
and dentists for a yearly check-up.

In the present study

which indicates that the respondents were "high workoriented," the results (72% had a least one check-up)
indicate that three out of four "high work-oriented" men
were having yearly check-ups.

This result is contrary to

that reported by Goldstein and Eichhorn.
The respondents were asked to agree or disagree with
three statements reflecting possible fears about health and
medical services (see Questions 19 through 21 in the
Appendix).

Results show that the majority of respondents

were unafraid of the services; they disagreed with the
statements:

78% disagreed with the first statement,

68
60% disagreed with the second, and 75% disagreed with the
third (see Table 15) .

Table 15:

Attitudes about Medical Services.

Statement

Percentage

Number

78
16
6

(78)
(16)
( 6)

I'd rather stay sick than have to go
to the hospital.
Disagree
Agree
Neutral
TOTAL

IM

(160)

60
35
5

(60)
(35)
( 5)

A person can't afford to see a doctor
these days.
Disagree
Agree
Neutral
TOTAL

WS

(166)

75
24
1

(75)
(24)
( 1)

I'm uneasy everytime I go see a
doctor.
Disagree
Agree
Neutral
TOTAL

io6

(106)

When these items were combined into an index of "health
attitudes," the Cronbach alpha was .48 and the Guttman
coefficient of reproducibility was .41.

Neither coeffi­

cient was significantly high enough to warrant combining the
items into one index.

Therefore, each item was considered

separately and the frequency responses noted (see Table 15).

69
According to Goldstein and Eichhorn*s study (1961),
"high work-oriented" men were more likely to fear a doctor's
visit, dislike the expense of medical care, and "wait out"
an illness rather than be hospitalized.

In other words,

"high work-oriented" men are expected to agree with the
health attitude scale items.

Since the majority of the

respondents in the present study who already indicated
being "high work-oriented," disagreed with the attitudes
stated, they indicated a positive attitude (and not the
expected negative attitude) about health care and medical
services.

Therefore, Goldstein and Eichhorn's results were

not supported by the present study.
Suggestions About Retiring;

Seventy percent of the

respondents indicated that no one had suggested that the
husband retire from farming (see Questions 32 through 34 in
the Appendix).

One husband responded:

suggest it;" and one wife responded:

"No one would dare
"No one would dare

suggest it— he will probably die with manure on his boots."
Twenty-one percent of the men (self-reports) and women
(reporting about their husbands) indicated that someone
had suggested retirement.

However, when they were asked

who had suggested it, the answers were often vague:
"nobody definite," "can't remember who," or "several men."
Suggestions initiated by the wife were mentioned most often,
followed by the doctor's suggestion, and suggestions by the
children.

When respondents were asked how important they

felt the suggestion was to them, the majority, however,

70
said it was "very unimportant" or "having no impor­
tance."
Bice and Eichhorn (1968) found that "high workoriented" men were more often advised to retire from active
farming than to retire without being prompted.

Since

the majority of the respondents in the present study were
"high work-oriented" and the majority of responses indi­
cated that no one had suggested retirement, the Bice
and Eichhorn finding was not supported.
Predictors of Retirement Decisions
This section is organized around the third research
question.

Following the research question, the hypotheses

are restated and the results given.
3.

WHAT FACTORS ARE PREDICTIVE OF SPECIFIC RETIREMENT
DECISIONS?
Hq 3:

"High work-orientation" is predictive of a "no

retirement" or a "late retirement" decision.

"Low work-

orientation" is predictive of an "early retirement" or a
"traditional retirement" decision.

This hypothesis was

not supported.
Each work-orientation question was analyzed separately.
According to the Chi-square analysis, only one item in the
scales was judged to show a significant difference among the
four retirement decision groups.

This wass

"Even if we (I)

were financially able, we (I) couldn't stop working"
(p a .03) .

Data showed that "late retirement" and "no

71
retirement" were more likely to strongly agree with this
statement than the other two groups did (see Table 16).
The other items in the two work-orientation scales were not
significantly related to retirement decisions (see Tables
17 through 21).

Table 16s

Response

Work Orientation Statement » “Even if we were
financially able, we couldn't stop working."

ROW
Trad.
NO
Late
Early
Retire. Retire . Retire. Retire. Totals

Sign.
Level

Strongly
Agree

(13)
20.0

(13)
20.0

(20)
30.8

(19)
29.2

(65)
100.0

Agree
Somewhat

( 9)
42.9

( 7)
33.3

( 2)
14.3

( 2)
9J.5

(21)
100.0

Table 17:

Work Orientation Statement = "The worst part
about being sick is that the work doesn't get
done."

Response

Row
Early
Trad.
No
Late
Retire. Retire . Retire. Retire. Totals

Strongly
Agree

(18)
26.5

(13)
19.1

(20)
29.4

(17)
25.0

(68)
100.0

Agree
Somewhat

( 4)
22.2

( 7)
38.9

( 3)
16.7

( 4)
22.2

(18)
100.0.

p £. .03

Sign.
Level

p < .33

72
Table 18:

Response

Work Orientation Statement « "Hard work still
counts for more in a successful farm operation
than all the new ideas you read about.”

Late
No
Early
Trad.
Retire*. Retire. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

Sign.
Level

Strongly
Agree

(18)
28.6

(14)
22.2

(17)
27.0

(14)
22.2

(63)
100.0

Agree
Somewhat

( 4)
17.4

( 6)
26.1

( 6)
26.1

( 7)
30.4

(23)
100.0

Table 19:

Work Orientation Statement = "Even if we had an
entirely different job, we would still farm in
our spare time."

Response

Trad. Late
No
Early
Retire. Retire. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

pi

.70

Sign.
Level

Strongly
Agree

(17)
28.4

(13)
19.4

(18)
26.9

(19)
28.4

(67)
100.0

Agree
Somewhat

( 5)
26.3

( 7)
36.8

( 5)
26.3

( 2)
10.5

(19)
100.0

Table 20:

Work Orientation Statement ■* "If we would
inherit a million dollars, we would still want
to keep farming."

Response

Early
Trad.
Late
No
Retire. Retire.. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

Strongly
Agree

(16)
24.6

(14)
21.5

(17)
26.2

(18)
27.7

(65)
100.0

Agree
Somewhat

( 6)
28.6

( 6)
28.6

( 6)
28.6

( 3)
14.3

(21)
100.0

p £ .27

Sign.
Level

p i .65

73
Table 21:

Response

Work Orientation Statement * "Toward the end of
the day, it often seems as if quitting time
would never come."

Trad.
Mo
Early
Late
Retire.. Retire. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

Strongly
Disagree

( 7)
33.3

( 4)
19.0

( 5)
23.8

( 5)
23.8

(21)
100.0

Disagree
Somewhat

(15)
23.1

(16)
24.6

(18)
27.7

(16)
24.6

(65)
100,0

Sign.
Level

p £ .81

H 4: A small number of leisure-time interests is preo
dictive of a "no retirement" or a "late retirement" decision.
Many leisure-time interests should predict an "early retire­
ment" or a "traditional retirement" decision.

This hypo­

thesis was tested by taking each type of leisure-time
activity separately.

There were no significant differences

among the four groups for any of the activities, and thus
the hypothesis was not supported (see Table 22).
Hq 5:

The family's good health is predictive of a

"no retirement" or a "late retirement" decision.

The

family's perception of poor health is predictive of an
"early retirement" or a "traditional retirement" decision.
This hypothesis was not supported.

There were no signi­

ficant differences among the four groups (see Table 23).
Hq 6:

The absence of yearly medical and dental check­

ups is predictive of a "no retirement" or a "late retire­
ment" decision.

The presence of yearly medical and

74
Table 22:

Significance of Number of Free Time Activities
Mentioned.

Activity
Mentioned

No
Row
Trad.
Late
Early
Retire. Retire.. Retire.. Retire. Totals

SPORTS
REST
TRAVEL
VISITING
HOBBIES

Table 23:

Sign.
Level

( 9)
32.1

( 6)
21.4

( 7)
25.0

( 6)
21.4

(28)
100.0

p £ .81

( 3)
12.5

( 8)
33.3

( 8)
33.3

( 5)
20.8

(24)
100.0

p £ .22

( 8)
21.6

( 9)
24.3

(12)
32.4

( 8)
21.6

(37)
100.0

P £ .70

(10)
41.7

( 4)
16.7

( 5)
20.8

( 5)
20.8

(24)
100.0

p < .20

( 8)
20.5

( 9)
23.1

(11)
28.2

(11)
28.2

(39)
100.0

P < -75

The Family's Health Index

Row
Early
Trad.
Late
NO
Retire. Retire. Retire. Retire. Totals
Very Good/
Excellent

< 8)
32.0

( 5)
20.0

( 3)
12.0

( 9)
36.0

(25)
100.0

OK/Fairly
Good

( 5)
19.2

( 6)
23.1

( 9)
34.6

( 6)
23.1

(26)
100.0

Not Too
Good

< 6)
33.3

( 4)
22.2

( 5)
27.8

( 3)
16.7

(18)
100.0

Sign.
Level

p £ .48

75
dental check-ups predicts an "early retirement" or a
"traditional retirement" decision.
supported.

This hypothesis was not

There were no significant differences among the

four groups (see Table 24).

Table 24:

The Husband's Medical/Dental Check-Ups

Early
No
Trad.
Late
Row
Retire. Retire. Retire. Retire . Totals
Dental
Only

( 8)
30.8

( 5)
19.2

( 5)
19.2

( 8)
30.8

(26)
100.0

Medical
Only

( 7)
30.4

( 5)
21.7

< 8)
34.8

( 3)
13.0

(23)
100.0

Both Dental
& Medical

( 4)
14.3

( 8)
28.6

( 6)
21.4

(10)
35.7

(28)
100.0

V

Sign.
Level

p i .37

Negative attitudes about health care and medical

services predicts a "no retirement" or a "late retirement"
decision.

Positive attitudes about health care and medical

services is predictive of an "early retirement" or a "tradi­
tional retirement" decision.
supported.

This hypothesis was not

There were no significant differences among

the four groups (see Tables 25 through 27).
Hq 8:

The presence of suggestions about retiring from

farming predicts a "no retirement" or "late retirement"
decision.

A lack of suggestions about retiring from

farming is predictive of an "early retirement" or a

76
Table 25s

Health Care Attitude Statement » "I'd rather
stay sick than have to go to the hospital."

Early
Trad.
Late
No
Retire., Retire. Retire. . Retire.

Row
Totals

Strongly
Disagree

( 4)
20.0

( 5)
25.0

( 6)
30.0

( 5)
25.0

(20)
100.0

Disagree
Somewhat

(18)
27.3

(15)
22.7

(17)
25.8

(16)
24.2

(66)
100.0

Table 26:

P £ .92

Health Care Attitude Statement = "A person can't
afford to see a doctor these days."

Early
No
Trad.
Late
Retire. Retire. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

Strongly
Disagree

( 9)
27.3

( 7)
21.2

( 9)
27.3

( 8)
24.2

(33)
100.0

Disagree
Somewhat

(13)
24.5

(13)
24.5

(14)
26.4

(13)
24.5

(53)
100.0

Table 27:

Sign.
Level

Sign.
Level

p £. .98

Health Care Attitude Statement «* "I'm uneasy
everytime I go see a doctor."

Early
Trad.
Late
No
Retire. Retire. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

Strongly
Disagree

( 5)
23.8

( 4)
19.0

( 7)
33.3

( 5)
23.8

(21)
100.0

Disagree
Somewhat

(17)
26.2

(16)
24.6

(16)
24.6

(16)
24.6

(65)
100.0

Sign.
Level

p £ .87

77
"traditional retirement" decision.
supported.
four

This hypothesis was not

There were no significant differences among the

groups (see Table 28).

Table 28:

Suggestions to Retire from Farming.

Trad.
Late
Early
No
Retire. Retire. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

NO

(17)
27.4

(15)
24.2

(17)
27.4

(13)
21.0

(62)
100.0

YES

( 3)
15.8

( 4)
21.1

( 4)
21.1

( 8)
42.1

(19)
100.0

Hq 9:

Sign.
Level

P £ .30

The husband's graduation from high school is

predictive of an "early retirement" or a "traditional
retirement" decision.

Less than a high school degree is

predictive of a "no retirement" or a "late retirement"
decision.

This hypothesis was not supported.

There are no

significant differences among the four groups (see Table
29) .
Hq 10:

The type of farming operation is predictive of

an early, traditional, late, or no retirement decision.
This hypothesis was not supported.

There are no signifi­

cant differences among the four groups (see Table 30).
H q II:

The reasons for the husband's father retiring

from farming is predictive of an early, traditional, late.

79
Table 31:

Reasons for Husband's Father Retiring from
Farming.

Late
Early
Trad.
No
Retire.. Retire.. Retire.. Retire.

Row
Totals

Died While
Farming

{ 8)
29.6

{ 5)
18.5

( 7)
25.9

( 7)
25.9

(27)
100.0

Health/Old
Age

{ 9)
25.0.

( 7)
19.4

(12)
33.3

( 8)
22.2

(36)
100.0

Hq 12:

Sign.
Level

p £ .92

There are significant differences in male and

female responses about retirement and farming.

This

hypothesis was not generally accepted.
Chi-square tests were run in order to determine
significant differences between the sexes according to
type of responses given for each of the questions on the
questionnaire.
used.

A Chi-square significance level of .10 was

Data indicated that, on the whole, there were few

differences between male and female responses.

Three

variables indicated differences at or below the signifi­
cance level of .10.

The first was the statement:

"Even

if we (X) were financially able, we (I) couldn't stop
working" (p < .00).

Females were more likely than males to

strongly agree with that statement (see Table 32).
The second item which showed a significant difference
between the two sexes was:

"The worst part about being sick

is that the work doesn't get done" (p £ .07).

Males were

more likely to strongly agree with that statement than were

78
Table 29:

Husband's Education Level

No
Trad.
Late
Early
Retire. Retire.. Retire.. Retire..

Row
Totals

No High
School
Degree

(13)
28.9

(13)
28.9

(10)
22.2

( 9)
20.0

(45)
100.0

High
School
Degree

( 6)
17.6

( 7)
20.6

( 9)
26.5

(12)
35.3

(34)
100.0

Table 30:

p £ .33

Type of Farming Operation

Late
Early
Trad.
No
Retire. Retire. Retire. Retire.

Row
Totals

CASH CROPS

( 5)
17.2

( 4)
13.8

(10)
34.5

(10)
34.5

(29)
100.0

DAIRY

( 5)
23.8

( 6)
28.6

( 5)
23.8

( 5)
23.8

(21)
100.0

LIVESTOCK

(12)
33.3

(10)
27.8

( 8)
22.2

( 6)
16.7

(36)
100.0

or no retirement decision.
supported.

Sign.
Level

Sign.
Level

p < .37

This hypothesis was not

There are no significant differences among the

four groups (see Table 31).
Given there are no significant results for the factors
predicting specific retirement decisions, the results of
the final hypothesis test will be presented:
differences in responses according to sex.

there will be

79
Table 31:

Reasons £or Husband's Father Retiring from
Farming.

Trad.
Late
Early
No
Retire.. Retire.. Retire.. Retire.

Row
Totals

Died While
Farming

( 8)
29.6

( 5)
18.5

( 7)
25.9

( 7)
25.9

(27)
100.0

Health/Old
Age

( 9)
25.0. .

( 7)
19.4

(12)
33.3. .

( 8)
22.2

(36)
100.0

Hq 12:

Sign.
Level

p £ .92

There are significant differences in male and

female responses about retirement and farming.

This

hypothesis was not generally accepted.
Chi-square tests were run in order to determine
significant differences between the sexes according to
type of responses given for each of the questions on the
questionnaire.
used.

A Chi-square significance level of .10 was

Data indicated that, on the whole, there were few

differences between male and female responses.

Three

variables indicated differences at or below the signifi­
cance level of .10.

The first was the statement:

"Even

if we (I) were financially able, we (I) couldn't stop
working" (p < .00).

Females were more likely than males to

strongly agree with that statement (see Table 32).
The second item which showed a significant difference
between the two sexes was:

"The worst part about being sick

is that the work doesn't get done" (p £ .07).

Males were

more likely to strongly agree with that statement than were

80
Table 32:

Sex Differences in Response to Work Orientation
Statement * "Even if we were financially able,
we couldn't stop working."

Males

Females

Strongly Agree

(33)
42.3

(45)
57.7

(78)
100.0

Agree Somewhat

(18)
81.8

( 4)
18.2

(22)
100.0

females (see Table 33).

Row Totals

Sig. Level

p £ .00

The third variable indicating sex

difference was:. "Toward the end of the day, it often seems
as if quitting time would never come" (p £ .02).

Males

disagreed more strongly with this statement than did females
(see Table 34).

Table 33:

Sex Differences in Response to Work Orientation
Statement =* "The worst part about being sick is
that the work doesn't get done."

Males

Females

Strongly Agree

(44)
56.4

(34)
43.6

(78)
100.0

Agree Somewhat

( 7)
31.8

( 15)
68.2

(22)
100.0

Row Totals

Sign. Level

p < .07

81
Table 34:

Sex Differences in Responses to Work Orientation
Statement ** "Toward the end of the day, it often
seems as if quitting time would never come."

Males

Females

Row Totals

Strongly
Disagree

(20)
71.4

( 8)
28.6

(28)
100.0

Disagree
Somewhat

(31)
43.1

(41)
. 56.9

(72)
100.0.

Sign. Level

p £ .02

In determining differences in leisure-time activities,
there was a significant difference in male and female
interests (see Table 35).

More males were interested in

sports as a leisure-time activity than females (p & .00),
and interested in travel than females (p £ .09).

Females

were more interested in hobbies than males (p < .00) and in
resting, relaxing and reading (p £ .05).

Table 35:

Sex Differences in Leisure Time Activities

Males

Females

Row
Totals

Significance
.
Level

SPORTS

(27)
81.8

( 6)
18.2

(33)
100.0

:oo

REST/RELAX/
READ

(10)
34.5

(19)
65.5

(29)
100.0

.05

TRAVEL

(26)
61.9

(16)
38.1

(42)
100.0

.09

HOBBIES

( 7)
15.9

(37)
84.1

(44)
100.0

.00

82
*

Summary of the Results
The data show that a typical fanner in the sample is
married with three or four children in the family.

The

husband's age is about 64, and the wife's age is about 62.
The members of the family began farming at about 16 years
of age, although the husband started earlier than the wife.
The family owns approximately 228 acres of land, primarily
consisting of cash crop or dairy fsunning.

The farm wife is

active in the farming operation, and has almost 12 years of
education.

The farm husband has a little more than 10

years of education.
The farm family is high work-oriented, but does indulge
in leisure-time activities.

The farm wife prefers hobbies

and passive activities, and the farm husband enjoys sports
and traveling.

The farm family's health is described as

generally quite good; the husband has had a medical or
dental check-up in the past year.

Health care and medical

services are important to the family.
The farm family is more likely to plan to retire
gradually from the farm operation than retire all at once,
but has made no specific plan for retirement.

They will

continue living on the farm after retirement, while letting
someone else operate it.

They will eventually sell the land

to non-family members because there is only a 50/50 chance
that their children will become involved in the farm.

When

their health fails, or they become too old, they will retire

83
from farming.

Social security payments and some savings

will provide them income during their retirement years.
The family does not know where to go for information
about retiring from farming, nor have they seen any infor­
mation about retiring.

No one has suggested that the

husband retire, but if someone did, it would be considered
an unimportant suggestion.

The husband's father was a

farmer, and he retired because of health reasons or death
while still farming.
There were no single factors that significantly
predicted the retirement decision for farm families? e.g.,
to retire early, to retire traditionally, to retire late,
or not to retire.

There were minimal differences in

responses between male and female respondents.

The most

striking difference was in leisure-time interests.
The following chapter will explore reasons why no
single predictor factor for retirement decision-making
resulted from this study.

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

Introduction
This chapter is divided into six sections.

First,

the limitations o£ the study o£ 100 retirement-age Michigan
families are noted.

The main findings of the study are

summarized and the importance or significance of the
findings is discussed.

A new model is presented, and needs

for further research are outlined.

Finally, educational

and public policy implications are introduced.
Limitations of the Study
There were several limitations or constraints in the
research design that should be acknowledged before describ­
ing and discussing the overall results of the study.

The

first limitation was the homogeneity of the sample of
farmers.

The farmers in the present study were all 50

years of age or older.

They represent a segment of society

that had grown up or been young adults during the Depres­
sion years.

They had experienced World War II (perhaps

even serving in the military), and had participated in the
post-World War II period of robust economic expansion in

84

85
the country*

Given these common experiences, their

attitudes should be fairly similar.
A homogeneous sample limits the variance in responses,
thus reducing chances of detecting significant differences
among respondents.

In order to retain this homogeneity,

yet increase the chances of uncovering significant differ­
ences, a much larger sample size would be necessary.
Instead of the 100 respondents in the present study, 500
to 1,000 respondents might be necessary to provide enough
statistical power to detect important differences.

Due

to restrictions in money and time, a larger sample was not
possible in the present study.
The second limitation stems from the ordinal scales
used to measure work-orientation, work-commitment, and
attitudes toward medical services and health.

The work-

orientation and work-commitment scale items failed to
discriminate between respondents (i.e., respondents agreed
75 percent to 99 percent of the time).

Unbounded interval

or ratio-level scales that would effectively reveal
differences among respondents would enhance the usefulness
of these scales as retirement predictors.

The content of

the scales also needs to be modified to reflect the current
attitudes and beliefs of retirement-age farmers.
A third limitation of the study that might have made
it more productive would have been to include both the
husbands' and wives' perceptions of the same family in
the research design.

Measures of congruence and accuracy

1

■ .

.

I

06
might have made the "family's responses” more useful as

I data.

However, interviewing both persons would have

| reduced the sample size by half; also, there is no clear
i

! evidence that telephone interviewing would be effective in

j

such a situation.

..... ^

Another limitation to the study is that there was no
direct measure of the "stress event" in the conceptual
model, leading into the reaction phase and particular outcomes of retirement decisions.
i
•.

"

•

In other words, there was

■

t

no measure of how significant "getting old” was to the
respondent,-or how important the advent of Social Security
* was to feelings of reaching the end of the life cycle
.(see Figure .2' on page 29).

Although the study was designed

to focus only on the reaction and outcome stages of the
model, no information was obtained about the respondents'
psychological feelings about retirement.
The assumption was made that "retirement” was a
stressor event for. farmers, in the way it is typically

i 'operative for retirees from other occupations.
i

1

■

This

<

assumption was apparently not appropriate in this case.
In other work-related areas, retirement most often means
the actual break with the work environment.

With farmers,

retirement may mean.simply being old enough to receive
Social Security, with no change in actual workload.
V

As

■; , •

with other abstract concepts, the word may have meant
different things to different people.

Ho effort was made

to gather information about these perceptions•

87
Review of the Findings
The study concentrated on the factors used by farm
families to determine "when to retire" from their work
environments.

Farmers were chosen for study because they

represent a fairly unique work and living environment where
the decision to retire is voluntary and personal, rather
than governed by external rules and regulations.

The

study examined the factors used to reach a decision to
retire, and assessed which factors led to specific retire­
ment decisions.
The sample consisted of 100 Michigan farm families;
half the structured telephone interviews were held with the
male representative of the family, and the other half, with
the female.

The literature review, interviews with agricul­

tural specialists, and the researcher's own ideas elicited
the following factors:

demographic characteristics,

attitudes about work-orientation, present health status of
the husband and wife in the same family, attitudes about
medical services, leisure-time activities, and specific
decisions made about retirement and environmental factors
during the retirement years.
The primary factors which farmers consider in evaluat­
ing a retirement decision are:

health, adequate retirement

income, the likelihood of the children taking over the
farming operation, and the degree of work orientation.
The decision to retire is most often a gradual one,
rather than a sudden decision.

The actual retirement

88
decision was further divided into four separate decisions
about the desirable "time to retire."
respondents* replies to:

These were based on

"At what age will you be (or

were you) when you retire(d)?"

Responses of 62 years of

age or younger became the "early retirement" category.
Responses of 65 or 66 followed "traditional retirement}”
those planning to retire after 66 years of age became "late
retirement;” and those planning not to retire composed the
"no retirement" category.
Chi-square tests were used to determine significant
differences among the four groups in terms of factors
predicting the specific retirement decisions.

The analyses

revealed that the specific decision to retire does not
appear to be affected by the following hypothesized
factors:

work-orientation, leisure-time interests, the

family's health status, the presence of yearly medical and.
dental check-ups, attitudes about health and medical
services, the presence of suggestions to retire, the
husband's educational level, the type of farming operation,
or the reasons why the husband's father retired from
farming.
Chi-square analysis was also used to test for differ­
ences between male and female responses to questions about
retirement and farming.

It is important to note there

generally were no significant differences according to sex
of the respondent.

This finding provides some support for

89
the use of either husband or wife as an informant about
retirement issues.
A discussion about these findings will follow in the
next section.
Discussion of Findings
The findings appear to indicate that none of the
measured factors predict "when to retire" for Michigan
farmers.

Eleven out of twelve of the stated hypotheses

were not supported.

The one hypothesis that was supported

suggested that farmers are more likely to retire gradually
from farming, than to retire suddenly or all at once,
which is in keeping with the absence of formal organiza­
tional

rules governing farm retirement.

Overall, the sample of respondents indicated a "high
work-orientation" philosophy, substantiating the belief that
farming is a "way of life," rather than "just a job."

It

may be that for farmers, the concepts of "my life" and "my
work" are not at all different concepts.
Joseph Conrad stated:

As the novelist

"A man is a worker.

If he is not

that, he is nothing" (as cited in Business Week 1978, p. 75).
There is strong indication that farmers share this value.
Because almost all the respondents were "high workoriented,” separating out the respondents into four
decision categories according to "planned age to retire,"
would produce an equal amount of "high work-oriented"
respondents in each of the four groups.

Each group,

90
therefore# might be too much alike and too small in number
for analysis to detect any significant differences among
groups.

There were not enough "low work-oriented" respond­

ents to make any comparisons.
The data revealed that wives' education level was
higher than the husbands'.

There was also evidence that

one type of income source for retirement was the wife's
retirement pension.

It appeared very possible that one

aspect of the wife's contribution to the family was over­
looked:

that of off-the-farm work.

It would be important

to include this in further study.
There are two important findings from this study.
The first is that primary factors emerge as being important
in deciding when to retire.

These are:

(1) failing

health or sudden incapacitation leading to a slowdown in
work activity;

(2) the process of aging itself where

arthritis or loss of energy leads to a gradual slowdown;
(3) the accumulation or accountability of resources to
finance the retirement years;

(4) the probability of

their children taking over the farming enterprise; and
(5) the degree of work-orientation.
The second important finding is that retirement for
farmers may not be perceived as a "crisis" situation.
Perhaps for workers in unstructured work environments,
retirement that is individually determined is not the
potential stress event that has been found in previous
retirement studies and in theories of aging.

If this is

91
true, then a crisis framework and a crisis model would be
inappropriate for studying farmer's retirement, as well as
retirement for any other independent entrepreneur.
Examples of other potentially independent entrepreneurs
may be doctors, dentists, ministers, and perhaps, lawyers.
If retirement is not perceived as a stressor event,
or a crisis, then research cannot focus on a specific or
single event, but instead, it needs to focus on the process
of planning to retire.

There may be a series of events

that trigger the awareness of retirement in the future.
These events may be intangible and undefined, but never­
theless, their presence indicates some kind of change in
the making.

This change can only be studied by looking at

the entire process.
In reviewing the research questions posed in Chapter 1,
specific results can now be supplied:
(1)

To what degree do farmers (50 years of age and

older) retire from active farming?

The data suggested

that farmers are more likely to retire gradually, than to
retire suddenly or all at once.
(2)

What factors are involved in the retirement

decision for farmers?

These factors include:

work-orien­

tation attitudes, general health, attitudes about medical
services, the children's interest in taking over the
farming operation, and having an adequate retirement income.
Other factors which play a part in the retirement decision
are:

the availability of information about retirement,

92
suggestions to retire by some credible source, leisuretime activities, living arrangements after retirement, and
the disposition of the land.

Factors which appear to be

less important in the decision process are:

number of

children, children living at home, number of acres, type
of farming operation, the educational level of the primary
family members, and the reasons why the husband's father
retired from farming.
(3)

What factors are predictive of specific retire­

ment decisions?

The data show that there were no single

factors which predicted specific times to retire.
Overall, the study produced updated information about
general characteristics of the older Michigan farmer.
Most importantly, the respondents indicated attitudes and
considerations about retirement, particularly in the
planning stages of decision-making.

The factors originated

from the literature review, interviews with agricultural
specialists, and the researcher's suppositions; the study
itself made it possible to probe for empirical evidence
that these factors were part of the decision-making process.
Furthermore, there were no significant differences between
male and female respondents in expression of attitudes
about work-orientation or medical services.

This is useful

information for future studies of such families.

93
A Proposed Model for Retirement Decision-Making
The original model in Chapter 3 was based on the
assumption that retirement was a "crisis" situation for
farm families.

However, the data revealed that retirement

for farm families is not a crisis, but a gradual process in
deciding "when to retire."
A new model has been constructed which describes
retirement decision-making as a gradual process, with the
individual or family evolving through four stages in making
that decision.

The model is based on the data from the

present study and would be useful for any further research
study, as well as for educational/teaching purposes.

The

model is depicted in Figure 5 and further explanation of
the stages follows.
The model is depicted as understanding retirement
decision-making along a process dimension.
stages through which an individual moves.

There are four
Each stage will

be explained separately:
(1)

First Awareness Stage:

During this time, some

event, or some piece of information, triggers the conscious­
ness of the individual in thinking about the probability
of retirement for him or her.
of expressions:

It may take different types

(a) an internal definition of what retire­

ment is for that particular individual;

(b) the possibility

of collecting Social Security at age 62 or 65; (c) psycho­
logically feeling older;

(d) a physiological change that

indicates that the body cannot do what it used to do;

94

Factors Related to DecisionMaking at Specific Stages

Stages in the Retirement
Decision-Making Process

Definition of Retirement
Advent of Social Security
Psychological Effect of
Becoming Older
Biological Change with Age
Suggestions to Retire
Retirement of Friends
Retirement of Other Family
Members from Off-Farm Jobs

First Awareness Stage

Work Orientation
Health Attitudes
Health Status of Family
Available Information about
Retirement
Financial Resources
Leisure-Time Interests
Children Ready to Take Over
What to do with Farm
Where to Live

Consideration Stage

Retire Now
Retire Later
Never Retire

Decision Stage

Life Satisfaction
Reconsideration of Event

Evaluation of Choice
Stage

Figure 5:

A Model Depicting the Process of Retirement
Decision-Making.

95
(e) someone (maybe the children) suggesting that it may be
time to retire;

(£) the retirement of peers; or (g) the

retirement of other family members from off-the-farm jobs.
Any single piece of information or event, or several of
these events together, leads the individual into the
consideration stage.
(2)

Consideration Stage;

stock" period develops.

During this time, a "taking

The individual may take a closer

look at several aspects of his/her life and evaluate them
in terms of retirement.
sophy about working;
and the wife;

(a) the philo­

(b) the health status of the husband

(c) available and useful information about

retirement for farmers;
family;

These could be:

(d) the financial resources of the

(e) leisure-time interests developed earlier in

life, or an interest in attempting new activities;

(f) wheth­

er the children show an interest in taking over the farming
operation;

(g) the disposition of the farm and/or the land;

and (h) where to live when the individual leaves farming.
After looking at these material and personal resources, a
decision is imminent.
(3)

Decision Stage:

Depending how those resources

are considered and assessed, a decision follows.
could be:

(a) retire now;

It

(b) retire later after time has

gone by and the individual can reassess his/her resources
at a later time; or (c) never retire because of work philo­
sophy, lack of leisure-time interests, or good health.

96
(4)

Evaluation of Choice Stage;

No matter what

decision had been made about retirement, an evaluation
period will follow.

This period may follow within a year

from the initial decision', or ten years from the decision,
and could entail:

(a) a personal inventory of life satis­

faction at the particular stage of life; or (b) a reconsider­
ation of the decision ("Was it the 'right1 one at the time?",
or "Was there enough information available for me at the
time to make that decision?").

In any case, the evaluation

period makes it possible to measure the outcome of the
decision process.
Using this model, questions could be formulated that
would probe into those aspects of decision-making that are
important in the decision-making process.

With slight

adjustment and rewording of questions, the model is also
applicable to other kinds of workers.

It is a model that

has potential for further research study.

It is also a

model for studying retirement from a "process" dimension,
and not as a crisis.
Recommendations for Further Research Study
It is suggested that further work be done to discover
and describe factors related to retirement decision-making
in farm families.

A similar research design, but using the

new process model, would produce significant insights into
retirement decision-making.

97
Measures for assessing attitudes relating to retire­
ment need updating and sharpening.

For example, the

Goldstein-Eichhorn (1961) work-orientation statements, as
well as the work-commitment statements by Simpson, McKinney,
and Back (1966), are useful to some extent.

As they stand

now, they can be perceived to be value-laden statements,
and most are presented in the positive expression.

New

work-orientation/commitment statements need to be con­
structed to increase the probability of establishing a
reliable index of a concept called "work orientation" for
analysis purposes.

New statements must also be presented

in both the negative and the positive orientation to deter
any likelihood of responding in one direction only.
The statements about attitudes toward medical services
need to be expanded.

It is also important to ask whether

the wife had a medical or dental examination in the past
year.

These were the only two items on the present ques­

tionnaire that did not assume a "family" perspective.

It

would be discriminatory and biased not to include those as
well.
It is also important to know the perceptions people
hold about "retirement from farming."

Not only may their

perceptions be different from that of the researcher, but
it would be useful to know whether the respondents' percep­
tions were consensual.

It would also be important to know

if farm women interpret "retirement" differently than
farm men.

98
It is necessary to restate questions that deal with
significant concepts in various parts of the interview or
questionnaire.

This would increase the construct validity

of the questions asked.
By changing some of the questions and adding specific
ones, more sophisticated statistical techniques (such as
discriminant analysis, multiple regression, and multi­
dimensional scaling) could be used to analyze the data.
The type of analysis chosen would determine how the ques­
tionnaire and its items would be constructed.

The use of*

higher order analyses is more likely to uncover important
variables for assessing retirement for farm populations.
If homogeneity of the sample is retained, the sample
size would need to be increased.

The sample could also be

broadened to encompass farmers of all age groups in order
to discover significant differences among generations in
terms of attitudes about work and the farm as a working/
living environment.

It would be interesting to know how

younger farming generations perceive farming as a business
and/or way of life, and what their plans are for the future
in regard to retirement options.

Sources of income, dis­

position of the land, and sources of information may be
different as well.

With such data, one would be better

able to predict future involvement with farming.
However, using broader age groups for further study
is not intended to deprecate the importance of studying
farmers aged 50 years or older.

Previous studies indicate

99
that the older farmers are the predominant age group in
farming populations.

The present study should not be

interpreted as dealing with a small portion of the farming
population.
It would also be important to compare farmers with
other classes of workers if findings are to have implica­
tions for public policy.

For example, farmers, factory

workers, doctors, school teachers, and salespeople would
be diverse categories of workers to study in terms of work
orientation, values, hours spent working, and the social/
psychological aspects of living and working environments.
There are likely to be significant differences among these
groups, particularly if they fall into the same age category
(i.e., 50 years of age or older).
It has been assumed that decisions about retirement
are family decisions, rather than primarily individual
decisions.

The assumption needs to be tested.

It would

be important to know both the wife's and husband's atti­
tudes and aspirations about work, and, particularly for
the wife, her past work experience.

It would be important

to know if she had had off-the-farm work experience, why
and when she decided to leave her off-the-farm job, or to
know her degree of involvement in the farm operation.
In order to study the farm family as a unit, one would
have to interview both members of the family, using a
coorientation model of analysis.

With this type of data,

agreement or disagreement about aspirations for the future.

100
assumptions about available resources, and decision-making
within the family unit could be better understood.

It.

would also result in a clearer definition and measure of
consensus of the primary family members.
The fact that retirement may not be a stressor event
(i.e., a crisis) may change research direction in theories
of aging.

In terms of the elderly, society may find a

healthier population with less health care costs.

Medical

studies already suggest that people who are healthy in old
age will stay healthy longer if they work.

The data from

the present study suggested that farmers are generally very
healthy in their later years.
In summary, then, using this new model, further
research in farm family retirement could be explored along
different dimensions using:
of farm families?

(1) a larger homogeneous sample

(2) a large cross-generational sample

of farm families (however, the researcher who chooses this
route must be aware that the research questions themselves
will be a variable in triggering off the first awareness
period for younger farmers, particularly);

(3) a larger

sample of different types of workers which includes
farmers; or (4) a small sample for indepth interviewing
within a family unit to measure congruence in decision­
making and/or factors to be considered for retirement.
Any one of these pathways (or choices) for further
research would increase the information base about retire­
ment decision-making and factors contributing to that

101
particular decision outcome.

With additional data, one

could expect more powerful predictors of retirement deci­
sion-making for not only farm families, but independent
workers in general.
Implications for Education and Public Policy
The data from this study suggest two possible impli­
cations for the future:

One specifically for education of

Michigan farmers, and the other, for society in general.
The data suggest that there is a deficit in information
available or utilized about the subject of retirement for
the farmers in the state.

This gap could be filled in

several ways:
(1)

Pre-retirement workshops could be established

by extension personnel throughout the state.

These work­

shops could focus on possible options and/or alternatives
to retirement.

For example, the alternative of changing

to a different type of farming operation might be one kind
of presentation.

Another type of workshop could focus on

medical aspects of aging and their relationship to retire­
ment choices.

For example, good nutrition and health

habits early in life may offset the advances of biological
aging.

Regular medical and dental examinations throughout

life can serve as "preventives."
Another type of workshop could present possible leisure­
time activities.

For example, a discussion of using latent

talents in nonfarra-related activities or leisure-time

102
interests that enhance life satisfaction and fulfillment
in the later years could be included.

Farmers who have

already retired could be invited to informally share their
experiences in reaching a retirement decision.

They could

offer suggestions or share problems they experienced for
the benefit of those considering retirement for themselves.
These types of workshops must be readily available
and supported/advertised by credible sources in order to
reach the appropriate audiences.

For example, the support

of the local farm organization would be necessary in some
areas.

State and county fairs, or special farm events

throughout the state, would also make it possible to reach
larger numbers of people of all ages.

The younger genera­

tion of farmers may hold vested interests not only in the
farming operation that they would possibly inherit, but
also in the older generation (i.e., their parents) as that
generation contemplates the time to gradually slowdown in
work activity and "hand down" the farm operation.

The

issues and problems relative to these factors are important
to examine.
(2)

County extension personnel should have appro­

priate information available about financial planning.
It should be material that is written in a way that appeals
to all ages and to both sexes.

The material should also

be written to affect a positive psychological impact.
example, there have already been extensive and helpful
brochures on estate planning and incorporation of the

For

103
farm.

However, too o£ten older farmers see these in the

same context as "writing a will," and not as present on­
going contributions to continued stability and good
management of the present farming enterprise.
Perhaps, the role of educators should be to explain
retirement pension plans, such as Keogh and IHA, as a way
to defer taxes and establish a comfortable income resource
for the later years.

Extension personnel and economic

specialists should also be willing to hand out and/or
explain Social Security information/brochures, and general
investment information, such as treasury certificates,
utility bonds, or money market certificates.

This would

present various options for financial security in the
coming years, as well as turning profits into delayed taxes.
(3)

Farm magazines, which reach a very large audience

should provide information about retirement options and
alternatives.

It is important that these articles be

written with personal appeal.

Case studies of "already

retired" farm men and women can be presented, dealing with
such topics as:

satisfaction with the decision to retire,

what they do with their free time, what kinds of problems
or adjustments had to be made, and any advice they could
give for those contemplating the retirement step.
A public policy implication of this study has to do
with the timing of retirement.

The United States appears

to be in the early stages of a social and economic change
of enormous importance.

The nation is moving towards an

104
increased working life for its residents.

As the institu­

tionalized "time to retire” becomes more negotiable, and
as the Mandatory Retirement Act fades away, learning more
about how farmers gradually restrict and contract their
working environment will become highly important information
for people in other occupations.

In industries with

employees primarily deciding the time to retire, personnel
departments need to know the factors important to the
retirement decision so that they can better predict when
newer employees can be trained and developed to fill the
slots vacated by the older employees.

Managers will need

to predict when that time is coming, and prepare for it,
as they presently do now for those approaching 62 or 65
years of age.

APPENDIX

RE T I R E M E N T Q U E S T I O N N A I R E

HELLO! MY NAME IS
AND I'M CALLING
FROM M IC H I G A N STATE UNIVERSITY IN EAST LANSING. WE
ARE INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MO R E A B O U T FARM LIVING
AND FAMILY LIFE.
CODE:
MAY I SPEAK TO THE MAN OF THE HOUSE?
0 IF MAN
MAY I S P EAK TO THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE?
1 IF WOMAN
WHEN NEW PERSON COMES TO THE PHONE, REPEAT INTRODUCTION.
Do y o u or y o u r Immediate family operate a farm now
... did you operate one 1n the past?
operate a farm now
used to operate a farm 1n the oast
never operated a farm |TERMINATE INTERVIEW)
2

yes_ 1
yes_ 2

In the past couple o f years, have you e arned h al f or
more of y o u r Income from y o ur farming?
yes __ 1_- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - no
[TERMINATE INTERVIEW

3.

Are you presently:
married
widowed
d i v orced
single, never mar r ie d
no response

4a.

1
2
3
A
9

What 1s y o u r age?
IF SINGLE, GO TO QUESTION 6.

4b.

What 1s y o u r w i f e ' s / hu s b a n d 's age?

h usband's age
wife's age

IF HUSBAND IS YOUNGER THAN 50 YEARS, T E RMINATE
INTERVIEW.
105

106

5a.

Do y o u have any c hildren?

no
one
IF NO GO TO QU E S T I O N 6
two
three
|fF YES:[ How many children
four
do you have?
five
six
seven or more
no response

5c.

How m a ny children are living at home?

__ 0
__ 1
2
__ 3
__ 4
__ 5
__ 6
__ 7
__ 9

n u mb e r of children
REMEMBER WHE T H E R R ES P O N D E N T IS M A R R I E D AND WHETHER
THERE ARE CHILDREN.
I AM GOING TO READ YOU SOME S T A T E M E N T S A B O U T HOW SOME
PEOPLE FEEL ABO U T THEIR WORK. PLEASE TELL ME WHET H E R
YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE.
6.

Even If we (I) were f i nancially able, we (I)
c ou l d n ' t stop working.
Do y o u . a g r e e or disagree?
A f t e r respondent agrees or disagrees, ask: Would
you say you a g r e e / d i s a g r e e s o m e w h a t . . .or agree/
disagree s t r o n q 1 y 7
Repeat for eacn statement.
strongly agree
agree somewhat
nei t h e r agree nor disagree
disagree somewhat
strongly disagree
no response

7.

5
‘4
'2

'1

'9

We've (I've) had to work hard for e v e r y t h i n g we've
{ I 've) gotten in 11 fe.
strongly agree
agree somewhat
nei t h e r agree nor disagree
disagree somewhat
strongly disagree
no response

5
■4

'3
'2

1

9

107

8.

The w o r s t part a b o u t being sick 1s that the work
doe s n ' t get done.
s t r on g l y agree
agree somew h at
n e i t h e r agree nor d is agree
d is agree s om e w h a t
strongly d i s a g r e e
no response

9.

5
’4
'3
'2

1

'9

Hard w o rk still counts for more In a successful
farm o p e r a t i o n than all the new Ideas you read
about.
st r ongly agree
agree somewhat
nei t h e r agree nor disagree
d i s ag r e e s o m e wh a t
s t r on g l y disagr e e
no response

10.

'3
'2

1
’9

Even 1f we (I) had an e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t job, we (I)
would still farm In our (my) spare time.
s t r on g l y a g ree
agree so m e w h a t
n e i t h e r agree nor d i sa g r e e
di s a g re e s o m ew h a t
s t r ongly d i s a g r e e
no response

11.

5

'4

__
__
___
__
__
__

9

If we (I) would Inhe r i t a m i l l i o n dollars, we (I)
wou l d w a n t to keep farming.
s t r on g l y agree
__
agree s o m e w ha t
__
n e i t h e r agree nor disag r e e _ _ _
disag r e e s o m ewhat
__
stron g l y d i s a gr e e
__
no response_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

12.

5
4
3
2
1

5
4
3
2
1
9

No b o d y would farm 1f he d idn't have to.
stron g l y agree
__
agree s o m ewhat
__
neither agree nor di s agree ___
disagree s o m ew h a t
__
strongly d i s agree_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
no response_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

1
2
3
4
5
9

108

13.

T oward the end of the day, it often seems as if
qu i tting time w o u l d never come.
stron g l y agree
agree s o m e w h a t
n e i t h er agree nor disagree
d is agree somew h a t
stron g l y disagree
no response
OK. GOOD.
YOU.

14.

1
2
__ 3
4
5
9

NOW I HAVE SOME D I F F E R E N T Q U E S T I O N S FOR

When you do have some free t i m e . ..what do you like
to do?
f W R I T E IN A N S W E R
sports (i.e., fishing, hunting, games, etc.)
rest/relax/read
t ra v e l/ g o on trips/va c a t i o ns
visit f a m i l y / f r i e n d s / n e 1 g h b o r s
c o m m u n i t y v o l u n t ee r w o r k / c h u r c h events
hobbles (I.e., painting, crafts, sewing, etc.)
wat c h TV/ l 1 s t en to radio/go to movies
o t h e r LIST _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
CODE THE ABOVE:

1 IF M E N T I O N E D
0 IF NOT MENT I O NE D
9 IF NO RESPONSE

IF WIDO W E D WOMAN, GO TO QUESTION 16.
15.

11F MAN I

How good would you say y o u r health 1s?

11F WOMAN! How good would you say y o u r h u s b a n d 's
health 1s?
e x c e l l e n t / v e r y good
fairly good
OK/as to be e x p ec t e d
not too good
not very g o o d / p o or l y
no response

5
4
3
2
1
9

IF WIDOWED, DIVORCED, OR SINGLE MAN, GO TO Q U E STION 17.

109

16.

tlF MAN I

How good w o u l d y o u say y o u r wi fe's health Is?

(IF WOMAN] H o w good w ould y o u say y o u r health Is?
e x c e l l e n t / v e r y good
fairly good
OK/as to be e x pe c t e d
not too good
not very g o o d / p o o r l y
no r e s ponse
MAN)
IF WOMAN

5
4
__ 3
2
__ 1
9

Have y ou had a medical c h e ck - u p 1n the
past year?
Has y o u r husband had a medical check-up
1n the p a s t year?

no
0
yes
1
NR __ 9
|IF MAN

Have y o u had a dental c h e c k - u p 1n the
past year?

IF WOMAN
no
yes
NR

Has y o u r husband had a dental check - u p 1n
the past year?
0
1
9

NOW I'M GOIN G TO READ YOU A FEW STATEM E NT S A B OU T HOW SOME
PEOPLE FEEL A B O U T THEIR HEALTH. PLEASE TELL ME W H E T H E R YOU
WOULD AGREE OR DI S A G R E E WITH THESE.
19.

I'd r ather stay sick than have to go the hospital.
When r e s po n d e n t agrees or disagrees, ask: Would you
say y ou a g r e e / d i s a g r e e s o m e w h a t . . .or ag r e e / d i s a g r e e
strongly?
k epeat for each statement.
s t r ongly agree
agree s o mewhat
nei t h e r agr e e nor disagree
disagree s o m e wh a t
s tr ongly disagree
no response

5
4
__ 3
2
1
9

110

20.

A person can't afford to see a d o c t or these days.
st r ongly agree
agree s o m e wh a t
neith e r agr ee nor di s agree
disagree s o m e w h a t
strongly d is a g r e e
no response

21.

5
4
__ 3
2
1
9

I'm uneasy e v e r y t l m e I go see a doctor.
s t r ongly agree
.agree s o m e wh a t
n either agree nor d i s ag r e e
disagree s o m e w h at
strongly d i s a gr e e
no response

5
4
__ 3
2
1
9

OK. NOW LET'S LOOK A H E A D A LITTLE BIT INTO THE NEXT
FEW YEARS.
22a.

Do you plan to retire from farming?
No
A l r e a dy retired

22b.

IF YES

0
1

<?<? TO O UE S T I O N 30
GO TO Q U E S T I O N 23b

Do you plan to retire from farming a little
at a time or all at once?

a 1 1 ttle at a time
all at once
don't know
no response
23a.

How old will you be when you retire?

2

'3
"4
"9
y e ars old

23b.

11F RET IR E D| How old were y o u / y o u r husband
when y o u retired?
years old

24.

Have you made any specific plans for retirement?
no __ 0
yes __ 1
NR
9

Ill

Where do you e x p e c t to live when you retire...
will y o u lfrEAD CATEflTTCTESI
keep living on the farm and have someone else
operate It?
keep living on the farm and continue to
m anage It?
move to town?
move to w a r m e r climate or out of state?
move to o t h e r farm?
no response

26.

How will you (or did you) know when 1t 1s (was)
time to retire?
W R I T E HERE:

CODE L A T E R

tired o f It
old age
adequate retire m e n t Income
health reasons
children ready to take over
w o r k e d long and hard
w a n t to do other things
don't know time
CODE THE ABOVE:

1 IF M E N T I O N E D
0 IF N O T M E N T I O N E D
9 IF NO R E S P O N S E

IF NO C H I L D R E N , 60 T O Q U E S T I O N 28.
27.

Are any o f y o u r children Interested 1n taking over
y o u r farming o peration?
no
don't know
maybe
yes
yes, alr e a d y have
no response

0
1
2
3
4
9

1
lOU)4kUM

25.

112

28.

When you ret1re(d) from farming, w h a t will (did)
you do. with y o ur farm and y o u r farm business?
WRITE HERE:

CODE LATER_ |_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

change to d i f f e r e n t type of farming
rent to c h il d r e n
rent to relatives
rent to neighbors
sell farm to family m e m b e r
sell farm to n o n - f a mi l y m e m b e r
hav e n ' t d e c i d e d / d o n ' t know
o t her LIST: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
no response
29.

W h a t types of I n c o m e . . . m o n e y . . .will you be getting
r egularly (when you ret1r e / n o w that y o u ' v e retired?)
Will vou get...

[r T A d CATEGORIES |

social security?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _
pension (Keogh, IRA, etc.)?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
savings or I nt erest from savings?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
share from farm income?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
real estate rentals or sales?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Investments (like s t o c k s / b o n d s / e t c . ) ?
__
m o n e y from c hildren?
__
(other LIST: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ )___ __
CODE THE ABOVE:

30.

1 IF M E N T I O N E D
0 IF NOT ME N T I O N E D
9 IF NO R E S P ON S E

Have you come across any information about retiring
from farming?
no

no
yes
response

o

i
g

113

31.

If you w a n t e d to learn about r e tiring from farming,
where coul d you get some i n f ormation?
WRITE HERE:

CODE LATER

don't know
magazines
s e n io r citizens
newspa pe r s
b r o c h u r e s / b u l 1et1ns
other farmers/relat1ves/fr1ends/bus1ness
haven ' t thought
c o u nt y e x t e n s i o n a ge n t s / M SU
not Intere s t e d
CODE THE ABOVE:

32.

1 IF M E N T I O N E D
0 IF NOT ME N T I O N E D
9 IF NO R E S PO N S E

Has anyone ever su ggested that y o u / y o u r husband
retlre from farming?
F RETIRED| Did anyone ever s u g g e s t that y o u / y o u r
husband retire from farming?

E

no
0
yes __ 1
no response __ 9
33.

GO TO Q U E STION 35

Who s u g g es t e d retiring?
WRITE HERE:

CODE LATER

wl fe
c h 1 1 dren
doctor
1awyer
n e1ghbors
o t h e r relatives
business people (I.e., banker)
oth e r LIST _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
no response

1
‘2

'3
4
'5
'6

'7
'8
’9

114

34.

H ow Important did y o u feel this suggestion was?
very Imp o r t a nt
so m ewhat I m portant
neither Important/unimportant
s o m ewhat u n i m p o r t a n t
very u n i m p o r t a n t
no response
J U S T A FEW QU E S T I O N S LEFT

35.

5
4
__ 3
2
1
9

BEFORE WE'RE FINISHED.

W ha t age w e r e y ou when you started farming?
_ _ _ _ _ age started

36.

How m an y acres did you farm In the past year, or
when you most r e cently farmed?
_ _ _ _ _ acres

37.

Is the acreage farmed p r i m a r i ly for cash crops,
dairy, or livestock?
cash crops
dal ry
1 1 vestock
cash crops and livestock
cash crops and dairy
fruit
poultry
oth e r LIST _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
no response

IF SINGLE, GO TO QU E STION 40.
IF MAN
WOMAN

o p e ra t i o n ?
Are (were) you active 1n the farm operation?
no __ 0
yes __ 1
no response __ 9

115

3 9 * 1 IF MAN I
IF WOMAN

How m a n y years of school has y o u r wife
c ompleted?
How many years o f school have y o u
comple te d ?
years

40.

IF MAN

How m a n y yea r s of school have you
completed?

IF WOMAN

How many yea rs of school has y o u r husband
c ompleted?
years

41.

IF MAN |

Was y o u r father a farmer?

IF WOMAN

Was y o u r h u s b a n d 1s f a t h e r a farmer?
no __ 0
yes __ 1
no response __ 9

42.

T E R M I N A TE INTERVIEW

Why did he. retire from farming?
has not retired, still farming
health reasons
ready for son to take over
tired of 1t
did not retire; died
ot her LIST _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
no response

43.

1
"2

TERMINATE
INTERVIEW

*3
'4
"5
‘6
'9

How old was he when this happened?
years

T H A N K YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME.
VERY IMPORTANT TO US.

YOUR OPINIONS WILL BE

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