Civic Engagement after Retirement

By Richard Shank

Civic engagement of retired Americans has become an important focus area of public policy within the past five years. Older adults represent an important, growing, and potentially untapped resource for civic projects. In turn, civic engagement offers older adults opportunities to increase their social capital by expanding their network of personal contacts and enhancing their mental and physical health with meaningful work during post-retirement years.

Civic engagement is an active attempt to involve oneself within community and political affairs. These activities range from actions as simple as aiding a frail neighbor to more complex roles of citizenship (e.g., political campaigning, activism, voter registration drives, etc.). As recent research shows, there is a potential advantage of defining civic engagement as a post-retirement role for older adults because it leads to a positive impact on self-identity and overall health.

A recent survey of nearly 700 retirees assessed the number of respondents meeting the criteria for civic engagement and drew comparisons to those that were not engaged.

The findings showed that 18% of respondents volunteered for more than five hours per week (engaged volunteers) and that 6.3% held paid positions that were classified as civically engaged (engaged workers). Forty percent of the sample neither volunteered nor worked in an engaged workplace. Fifteen percent had gone back to work for an employer who did not meet the criteria for civic engagement. Finally, roughly 20% of older adults volunteered for fewer than 5 hours per week.

Generally, it was reported that non-engaged older adults tended to be less educated, less financially secure, and less healthy (they were more likely to watch television and exercise less frequently) than engaged older adults. These findings were similar to previous research.

Despite these findings, there was considerable motivation to become more active community members among the non-engaged segment of the survey sample. The main problem was that many non-engaged older adults also reported not being aware of civic engagement opportunities or how to go about pursuing them, which suggests that their wealthier and better educated peers have better access to this type of information. For policy makers wishing to increase civic engagement, it is important to consider targeted media campaigns designed to promote local opportunities for demographic groups that are traditionally less likely to already be involved.

Despite only 25% of respondents being actively engaged in civic projects and activities, the study showed the need to define civic engagement as a formal post-retirement role. Currently, civically engaged older adults demonstrate important characteristics that set them apart from their non-engaged peers. Furthermore, it was noted that those taking on a formal volunteer role should be distinguished from the occasional volunteer so that the benefits of civic engagement can be more effectively outlined and promoted.

Source: Brian Kaskie, Sara Imhof, Joseph Cavanaugh, and Kennith Culp. 2008. Civic engagement as a retirement role for aging Americans. The Gerontologist 48(3): 368-377.

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