Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Aging Studies

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaging

“It’s not that I don’t have things to do. It just all revolves around me” –
men’s reflections on meaning in life in the transition to retirement
in Denmark
Mette Marie Kristensen a, *, Peter Simonsen b, Karen Katrine Sieg Mørch c,
Marie-Elisabeth Lei Pihl b, Morten Hulvej Rod a, d, Anna Paldam Folker a
a
National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
b
Department of the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
c
Roskilde University, Denmark
d
Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Denmark

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Retirement may bring about significant changes for those who retire. Studies have shown that men find it harder
Men’s health than women to adapt to retirement, putting them at greater risk of identity and meaning loss, which may reduce
Men’s retirement subjective well-being and increase the risk of depression. While men may experience retirement as a challenging
Life transitions
life event that triggers processes of meaning-making motivated by an appropriation of meaning to a new life
Mental health
Meaning in life
situation, their experiences of meaning in retirement are yet to be investigated. The aim of this study was to
Meaning-making explore Danish men’s reflections on meaning in life in the transition to retirement. Forty in-depth interviews
were carried out with newly retired men between fall 2019 and fall 2020. Interviews were recorded, transcribed,
coded, and analyzed using an abductive approach informed by an ongoing interaction between empirical insights
and psychological and philosophical perspectives on meaning in life. Six themes central to men’s meaning-
making in the transition to retirement were identified: family ties, social connectedness, structure of everyday
life, contribution, engagement, and time. On this basis, it is suggested that reestablishing a sense of belonging
and engagement are central to meaningfulness in the transition to retirement. Having a web of relations, a sense
of being part of a social entity, and engaging oneself in something that provides intersubjective value may
replace senses of meaning found previously in work life. A better understanding of meaning in men’s transitions
to retirement may provide a valuable knowledge base for efforts seeking to strengthen men’s transition to
retirement.

Introduction characterized by leisure, resourcefulness, and good health or by illness

For many people, retirement is a significant life transition. Retire­
ment marks the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another,
bringing with it significant structural change in everyday life. New social
roles may have to be negotiated and adopted, and resources may be lost
and gained (Henning, Lindwall, & Johansson, 2016). In the transition,
retirees are likely confronted with a life situation unlike anything they
have experienced previously. At the same time, however, retirement is a
life situation that most of us have anticipated and imagined through the
many rich and widely accessible narratives on life in retirement, which,
in the Western world, is often dichotomized as either a phase of life
and decline (Grenier, 2012; Liveng, 2019). In this light, retirement may
be perceived as a gateway to new opportunities, i.e., a sense of libera­
tion, peace of mind, and a relief from tasks (Dolberg & Ayalon, 2018),
but it may also prompt a sense of loss and uncertainty as well as an
awareness of one’s mortality (Barnes & Parry, 2004; Malette & Oliver,
2006).
Numerous studies have investigated the effects of retirement tran­
sitions in the Western world on mental health, including gender differ­
ences, and findings are equivocal. However, several studies point to a
tendency that men find it more difficult than women to adapt to changes
in their environment, including life transitions that involve new social

* Corresponding author at: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestraede 6, 1455 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
E-mail address: memk@sdu.dk (M.M. Kristensen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2023.101112
Received 31 January 2022; Received in revised form 25 January 2023; Accepted 27 January 2023
Available online 6 February 2023
0890-4065/© 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc.
M.M. Kristensen et al.
and health-related contexts and practices (Hajdu, Mckee, & Bojan, 1995;
Vo et al., 2015; White et al., 2011). For older men especially, work life
also plays an important role in shaping their identity (Barnes & Parry,
2004; Wilson, Cordier, & Wilson Whatley, 2013), implying a potential
risk of identity loss when going into retirement. Hence, while the im­
mediate effects of retirement may be characterized positively through
the possibility of withdrawing from a stressful work environment to a
more relaxed and leisure-oriented lifestyle, the transition may also lead
to diminished subjective well-being and ultimately a risk of depression
due to the loss of occupational attachment and thereby an important
source of identification and meaning in life (Christiansen, 1999; Dave,
Rashad, & Spasojevic, 2008; Kim & Moen, 2002; Ward & King, 2017).
Studies on experiences of retirement have found that multiple tempo­
ralities may co-exist in the transition to retirement, making it complex
and ambiguous (Nadobnik, Durczak, & Ławrynowicz, 2021; Wanka,
2020). In her study on life-stages among Beti women in southern
Cameroon, Johnson-Hanks argues that life events and transitions be­
tween life stages are rarely characterized by coherence but are instead
marked by uncertainty and ambivalence, and the meanings attached to
them are often negotiated (Johnson-Hanks, 2002). We find that her
concepts are interesting to apply in the context of retirement in the
Western world. As such, retirement, being a major life transition, may
lead to an adjustment of meaning and even a search for new meaning in
life (Halama, Záhorcová, & Škrobáková, 2021; Park, 2010).
While an integrated part of ordinary language, meaning in life is not
a uniform, scientific concept. Rather, it varies according to different
research traditions and disciplines. Meaning in life may be conceived in
psychological terms referring to a coherent comprehension of ourselves
and our lives, including our actions and commitments, as well as the
possession of a general sense of purpose (Martela, 2016). It may also be
seen as a relational concept arising in the interaction and connectedness
with others (Folker et al., 2021; Nakamura & Csikzentmihalyi, 2003),
and, as some scholars argue, may be found in the subjective engagement
with something that carries a kind of intersubjective value that tran­
scends subjective engagement (Haidt, 2010; Wolf, 2012). Some research
on meaning in life has focused on meaning-making (i.e., processes of
making sense of our lives, often prompted by challenging life events or
circumstantial life changes). Within cognitive psychology, different
theoretical models have been developed to describe processes of
meaning-making, based on the idea that when we experience something
incomprehensible or unexpected, we seek understanding by enforcing or
reconstructing meaning (Park, 2010; Proulx & Inzlicht, 2012).
Although research interests in meaning vary across traditions, it is
widely recognized that meaning in life is central to subjective well-being
(Steger, 2012) and that there are significant bi-directional links between
the presence of meaning in life, a sense of social belonging, and the
experience of happiness and life satisfaction (Emmons, 2003; Reker &
Wong, 1988). Hence, meaning in life is increasingly seen as an indicator
of aging well and a relevant target of interventions to prevent age-
related loss of subjective well-being, and to replace lost sources of
meaning in life with new ones (Du et al., 2017; Duppen et al., 2019;
Landau, 2017; Steger et al., 2015). However, the specific dimensions of
meaning in retirement remain underexplored qualitatively, and very
little is known about what negotiations take place around meaning in
men’s transitions to retirement.
Hence, it is the aim of the present study to explore men’s reflections
on meaning in life in the transition to retirement. The study intends to
address the lack of empirical investigations and conceptualizations of
meaning in life. It does not apply a predefined theoretical definition of
meaning in life. Rather, it seeks to explore men’s reflections in relation
to meaning in life, the contexts in which questions of meaning arise, and
the dominant themes involved in men’s meaning-making in their tran­
sition to retirement.
2
Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112
Methods
The study was designed as an explorative, qualitative study applying
semi-structured interviews as the primary method (Brinkmann &
Tanggaard, 2015), inspired by a phenomenological approach (Teherani
et al., 2015). The study was the first explorative part of an intervention
study, carried out in a partnership with the Danish Reading Society and
the DaneAge Association, that investigated the potential of Shared
Reading to promote mental health among newly retired men (Kristensen
et al., 2020) (see reference for further description of the intervention
study).
Data collection
In-depth interviews were conducted with 40 participants. The in­
terviews were semi-structured and had a duration of 45 min to 2 h. In­
terviews were predominantly face-to-face, however, due to COVID-19, 5
interviews were conducted through Skype. Most face-to-face interviews
took place in participants’ homes. This provided valuable insight into
the lives and social contexts of the participants (Borbasi et al., 2002) and
a safe atmosphere for reflection on the topic of meaning in life, which,
for most participants, involved sharing personal, intimate, and vulner­
able experiences and reflections.
The interview guide was structured in five themes (Table 1) devel­
oped on the basis of the study’s aim and inspired by various theoretical
perspectives on meaning in life from both philosophy and psychology
(Park, 2010; Steger, 2012; Wolf, 2012). Interviews were conducted in 3
time periods (fall 2019, spring 2020, and fall 2020), allowing for
ongoing reiterations of the interview guide. Minor adjustments were
made, however, none that significantly altered the structure or themes
that can be seen in Table 1. All interviews were audiotaped and tran­
scribed verbatim.
Informants and recruitment
Danish men (aged 65+) who were transitioning to or already in
retirement were recruited between fall 2019 and fall 2020. Although
participants represented a wide range of geographical, social, educa­
tional, and vocational backgrounds (see Table 2), there was a slight
misrepresentation in the educational levels of participants compared to
the general population of older males in Denmark (the participants in
this study had a higher average educational level). The DaneAge Asso­
ciation and the Danish Reading Society were responsible for recruit­
ment. Participants were recruited for a shared reading intervention
through online channels (e.g., Facebook, digital newsletters, website
Table 1
Themes for interview guide.
Themes Content
Background • Educational and occupational background and
experience
• Current marital status and living situation
The experience of everyday • Routine, structure and activities of everyday life
life • Reflections on matters of particular value or
significance attached to everyday life
Transitioning to and being • Descriptions of the transition to retirement (or
in retirement imagined/desired transition if it had not yet taken
place)
• Fulfilled/unfulfilled expectations of retirement
• Reflections on different aspects of transitioning to
and being in retirement
Meaning in life • Reflections on sources of meaning in life
• Relevance of meaning in life
• Significance of transitioning to retirement on
meaning in life
Health • Experience of overall health
• Experience of mental health
• The role of health in everyday life
M.M. Kristensen et al. Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112

Table 2 primary interviewer and a secondary interviewer, the latter of which

Informant background information. was responsible for conducting field notes and supplementing the pri­
Housing situation Distribution (%) mary interviewer if necessary. This enabled the primary interviewer to
focus on the interviewee and his responses and was an important factor
Living alone 28%
Living with partner 72% to ensure the possibility of expanding on or following up on responses of
particular relevance to the study.

Level of education Distribution (%) Ethics

One or more shorter courses 2%

Higher education (≤ 3 years) 7%
Higher education (≤ 4 years) 53%
Higher education (≥ 4 years) 14%
Vocational training 21%
Other 2%
Retirement Distribution (%)
status
Retired 93%
Not retired 7% (Although these informants (n = 3) did not
report to be retired, we have included them in
the study as transitioning to retirement because
they had concluded their main employments
and were either working in a transitional
parttime employment (n = 2) or on sick leave
awaiting formal retirement (n = 1))
announcements) and offline channels (local departments of the DaneAge
Association, notices in local newspapers, cultural and community cen­
ters, and libraries). A collaboration was made with a local Danish TV
station (TVSyd) in order to try alternative recruitment channels.
Attention was paid to the inclusion of participants of different social and
economic backgrounds.
Data analysis
In the analysis of the empirical material, an abductive approach was
applied. This approach encourages an ongoing dialogue between
empirical observations and theoretical generalization in an analytical
process that is neither inductive nor deductive, allowing for dynamic
inferential processes (Tavory & Timmermans, 2014). In the present
study, this gave rise to a constant iteration between empirical insights
and psychological and philosophical perspectives on meaning in life,
drawing on relevant analytical concepts in the process. Data sources and
methods were triangulated to ensure rigor.
An initial reading of the dataset was conducted by the first author.
Two interviews were selected at random and subjected to a thorough
reading and descriptive coding by the first and third author. The two
authors discussed the descriptive codes and arranged them into themes,
establishing a final coding structure. The two interviews were then
coded by the two authors applying the coding structure, and codes were
compared and adjusted to ensure coherence. Codes were then assessed
by the last author, and when consensus on the codes and coding struc­
ture was achieved, all interviews were coded in NVivo. After coding was
completed, a series of workshops were held between the first and last
author. Overarching themes were subject to a workshop in which sub­
themes and patterns identified in the material were discussed consid­
ering theoretical concepts of meaning in life and negotiations of
meaning central to the analysis of this study (Park, 2010; Steger, 2012;
Wolf, 2012).
Reflexivity
Interviews were conducted by the first, third, and last author. All
researchers involved in the study had extensive experience with con­
ducting interviews and with qualitative research. During most of the
interviews, two researchers were present. In each interview, there was a
Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to the
initiation of data collection. All participants were informed of the pur­
pose and procedures of the study as well as the implications of partici­
pation. All participants were pseudonymized, and personal traits,
characteristics, or opinions that could reveal their identity were
excluded. Data was handled and stored responsibly. Procedures per­
formed in the study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the
1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments. The study was
registered and approved by the first author’s institution in accordance
with the Data Protection Regulation and complies with the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679.
Results
In the following, the study’s findings will be presented, structured
around themes identified as central to meaning-making in the transition
to retirement. Firstly, however, we will briefly address the context for
informants’ transitions to retirement.
In Denmark, as part of the Danish welfare model, a universal income
system may be accessed at the age of 65. Thus, retirement is available to
all citizens regardless of employment history and income levels. For the
majority of participants, the transition to retirement was voluntary and
coordinated with their workplace. Most participants had planned or
coordinated their retirement according to individual circumstances
(professional or personal) and had different degrees of influence on the
arrangement of it, depending on the nature or context of their work.
Some had planned for a gradual transition as part of a strategy to ease
out of working life and into retirement. Others had planned for a more
abrupt transition, motivated by a wish to make a new start all at once.
Regardless of the character of the transition, motivations for going into
retirement varied greatly. Some felt that they had fulfilled their societal
duty through their work, others felt that their level of engagement or
motivation made it appropriate to retire and yet others felt an urge to
retire while they still had the energy and health to pursue other
activities.
For other participants, retirement was not a welcome change. Some
retired due to pressure by their workplace; others found their tasks
increasingly or exceedingly demanding or felt that their level of per­
formance was no longer up to standard and therefore felt personally
obligated to retire. For a small portion of the informants, retirement was
a result of illness or decreasing overall health. No clear pattern in the
relationship between participants’ motivations for retirement and their
reflections on meaning could be identified. As an example, informants
that had been motivated for retirement generally had a positive
conception of retirement, but at the same time experienced certain as­
pects of retirement negatively. Thus, experiences of retirement did not
always reflect conceptions or expectations of it.
We identified six major themes that were dominant in men’s re­
flections on meaning in life in their transition to retirement: family ties,
social connectedness, structure of everyday life, contribution, engage­
ment, and time. We found that each theme represented a continuum of
empirical perspectives and positions, reflecting both experiences of
continuity of meaning before and through the transition to retirement
but also processes of negotiation or reconfiguration of meaning
prompted by the onset of retirement.

3
M.M. Kristensen et al.
Family ties
Family was described as a primary social anchor and central to
meaning in everyday life for most participants and seemed for many to
have gained a considerably larger social and structural significance after
the onset of retirement. Participants emphasized the prospect of a
growing family, the coming of new generations, and being able to take
care of one’s family and see them thrive as meaningful.
What is meaningful in my life is to see my children doing good and to
see them in their everyday lives. To see the new generations come and
take care of them too. That’s what we can do when we have turned 70,
then we have to make sure to care for them a little, you know, helicopter
grandparents. (Participant 1, age 70).
Family was also described as one of the few constants in an everyday
life that was otherwise changing. In addition to this, family seemed for
some to replace work-related activities and relationships as primary
focal points in everyday lives. Grandchildren were of special signifi­
cance in this regard, both as something that added a sense of substance
in terms of relationships and stimulation but also as a source of a sense of
being useful and a way of contributing.
Some participants expressed that the exit from the labor market had
left them with feelings of insignificance and of no longer being of use.
Family and social networks seemed to be an important factor in pre­
venting or alleviating this. One participant expressed this in the
following terms: “Sometimes, I think about the fact, and maybe I’m ok
with that, that nobody actually needs me. But my family rectify that a
lot. They say, ‘We do!’ And that’s important” (Participant 33, age 70).
More generally, family and social relations also acted as a form of pro­
tection against the feelings of insignificance stemming from exiting the
labor market.
Partners, interestingly, were only in a few cases emphasized explic­
itly in the context of meaning. Rather, they were included in descriptions
of family and in that way, appeared to be sources of both social and
structural meaning. Only one of the participants who did not have a
partner explicitly mentioned the lack of a partner as something that
significantly influenced his sense of meaning in everyday life. An
explanation for this absence of references to partners may in part be due
to the interview situation (see Strengths and limitations).
Social connectedness
Another dominant theme in the material was social connectedness
outside of family relations. The social lives and needs of participants
were very different, as was their sense of whether their social needs were
fulfilled. Some expressed that they had rich social lives and did not feel a
need for developing new social relations. For some participants, social
relations included larger networks of both close and peripheral re­
lations. For others, meaningful social connectedness was constituted by
few but close relationships, often formed in earlier stages of their lives.
Although none of the informants described themselves as lonely,
some expressed that retirement and the conclusion of their work life had
made an impact on their social lives and that their needs for social re­
lations and engagement with other people were not entirely fulfilled.
Many participants who previously had a rich social life in connection
with their work life now struggled to maintain or find alternatives to
relationships that were no longer built into the structure of everyday life.
For the most part, this struggle centered on the sudden lack of daily
interactions that had previously taken place within and around the
workplace.
You know, this interaction with your colleagues. The unity. That
interplay you have, you know, that social group that you are always a
part of in a work context. It disappears quickly, and if you don’t make an
effort to maintain it, it just disappears. Whether you like it or not. It’s a
larger commitment to keep it up. (Participant 6, age 70).
Several participants expressed a wish to seek out or get involved in
new social networks or communities when retiring. In some cases, this
4
Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112
was prompted by a fear of becoming lonely, with the objective of ful­
filling needs for social connectedness and stimulation.
I think it would be best to be in a context where there are… where
I’m with other people and am part of a community with other people. I
think I would find it lonely fairly quickly otherwise. You know, I want to
be part of a context. (Participant 2, age 67).
Thus, social relations and belonging to a social entity or social
context were described as a source of stimulation and meaning in life in
retirement but also as a protective factor to prevent feelings of loneliness
and social isolation.
Structure of everyday life
Having a structured everyday life was a central source of meaning
among participants. With the transition to retirement, many of the men
had to restructure their lives. From having had a rhythm and routine
that centered around their work life, they now faced having to recreate
structures themselves without the external framework previously pro­
vided by an employer or a work environment.
Some found it liberating to tear down structures set in place by their
work life and found it meaningful to be able to set up new structures on
their own; they saw it as an opportunity to shift, expand, and create new
boundaries for everyday life, as well as a way to disrupt routines and
ways of doing things that had previously been determined by external
factors.
I was not for a minute in doubt about whether I wanted my retire­
ment. I wanted to try to be outside of that set frame that [my job] had
provided. I wanted to try to take up the challenges of what it’s like to be
some kind of independent. Not to be dependent on, you know, the
[places, red] I’ve worked in. Some of them were really big, and you just
felt that you were a small piece in a big puzzle, you know. Now you are
only yourself, and you are the one who decides what’s going to happen.
And that’s much needed. (Participant 6, age 70).
Retirement, in this conception, brought a sense of emancipation from
obligations and was viewed as a life event that granted informants the
right of self-determination, expressed, for instance, as the possibility to
“be the master in one’s own house.”
Other informants had found the structures set in place by their work
life to be meaningful and now struggled to establish new ones. Partici­
pants that took this position in many cases experienced the disappear­
ance of structure as daunting, in the sense that it placed the
responsibility of providing structures and routines for everyday life in
their own hands.
I have to come up with something else to do on my own. Understood
in the way that you don’t go to work and know that when you are at
work, you do a certain thing. ‘Today we meet at 10’ and blah blah, you
know. I have to figure it out today. There are no employers coming. No
one else is coming. You have to figure out what to do. I often write notes:
‘What can you do today?’ and ‘What do you have to do today?’ and
things like that. I spend a lot of energy on getting some structure in my
life because I don’t want to lie on the couch. (Participant 4, age 69).
Structures put in place before retirement had provided a sense of
security that had gradually or abruptly (depending on the character of
the transition to retirement) disappeared, leaving these men with a
feeling of having to take on the full responsibility of a functional
everyday life. This seemed to be pervasive and a source of considerable
pressure. The prospect of having to take on the responsibility of setting
up new structures and engaging in new meaningful activities and con­
texts, rather than prompting a sense of emancipation, was experienced
as frightening and, in many cases, potent with a risk of failure. In spite of
this, most did not hesitate to take on this responsibility, emphasizing
that if they did not do it, then no one else would.
For some, structures already present in everyday life seemed to
replace structures previously provided by work life. In descriptions of
participants’ everyday lives, it was evident that for some, family life had
become a main source of structure in retirement. Taking care of
M.M. Kristensen et al.
grandchildren and planning or facilitating family events for both social
and practical purposes were described in terms that resonated consid­
erably with characterizations of work life, such as commitment, routine,
and responsibility.
Engagement
The importance of engaging with life in retirement was a recurrent
theme in the material. Engagement was expressed as creating or seizing
opportunities, taking advantage of the potentials and possibilities that
one’s circumstances offered, and immersion in one’s surroundings.
Some emphasized cultural and intellectual stimulation as the most
important forms of engagement in life. Reading and discussing litera­
ture, attending concerts, talks or other types of cultural events, as well as
keeping up with current political or societal events were described as
means to expand one’s horizon and stay curious and open to change.
When asked about important characteristics of everyday life activities,
one participant said:
That it doesn’t just kill time, but that there’s also a yield that gives
me something, personally, that doesn’t just give me a salary or income
but something else that makes me discover new things and get new
perspectives and maybe new substance in some way (Participant 2, age
67).
Occupying oneself with sensuous or aesthetic rather than functional
or utilitarian aspects of everyday life was another aspect of engagement
that was emphasized as meaningful (e.g., being immersed in nature or
engaging with one’s surroundings).
There are many things that are meaningful, you know. Just the fact
that you can go out into the garden and pick your own tomatoes and
things in the greenhouse. Weed between the flowers and plant new ones.
Things like that. See how they grow from day to day. You know. Small
things. (Participant 3, age 65).
For many, however, retirement came with an underlying fear of
idleness, of “getting stuck” and not seizing opportunities that presented
themselves in everyday life. This was voiced as a fear of giving in to the
temptations of a passive lifestyle, prompted by the exit from the labor
market and characterized as spending too much time in a state of
inactivity.
It’s so easy to fall onto a couch. I’ve heard of several people of the
same age as me that… Yes, when they come home, the couch is drawing
them in. And that’s where I say: “No!” [Bangs table]. […] I have to get
out! I have to get out and experience things. It’s like a mantra for me.
(Participant 21, age 65).
There was a clear tendency among these men to relate to, but dis­
tance themselves from the stereotype of the old man in his armchair, an
ambivalence that, for some, seemed to be the cause of an inner conflict
between giving in to or resisting temptation. However, the fear of
becoming the old man in his armchair also seemed to power a drive
toward a lifestyle that was at the other end of the spectrum in terms of
activity and stimulation, often described in terms of “getting out,”
“experiencing,” and “staying active.” Many informants balanced be­
tween these two perspectives of potential and uncertainty, often
conditioned by their general conceptions of retirement. Many seemed to
be navigating between scenarios of passive and active lifestyles driven
either by the abundant opportunities that retirement had provided or by
a fear of becoming idle.
Contribution
Having a sense of contributing to something outside of oneself was
another recurrent theme. For many, work life was associated with a
sense of making a difference, of being productive, and of contributing to
society. Finding something that could provide them with that same
sense in retirement became imperative, as the exit from employment
was highly associated with a loss of a sense of significance. In this way,
retirement prompted fears of not being useful, of no longer being seen,
5
Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112
and of not making a difference to anyone but oneself. For others, work
itself was seen as their main contribution to society. In this view,
retirement became a reward for services rendered and a legitimization of
a life in leisure.
Some informants had maintained ties to their former workplaces and
contributed either professionally or as volunteers, often with shorter
hours and in different capacities than previously. Some expressed that
this was not a sustainable long-term solution but described how it had
helped them ease into retirement. For others, engaging in volunteer
work (e.g., welcoming refugees to the country, helping out at the local
library, or repairing broken electrical devices) was described as a
meaningful way to attain a sense of contribution. In many cases, vol­
unteering was described as a way to “be of use” to someone or some­
thing. As another example, when asked about their motivation for
participating in the present study, a large portion of the men said that
they wanted to contribute to science or that they were happy to be of
use.
Yet, many participants also struggled to find something to replace
the sense of contribution that their work life had provided.
It’s not that I don’t have things to do. It just all revolves around me.
It’s not something that has meaning for other people, and that was the
big change from my working life […] where many people needed my
knowledge several times a day […] and, most importantly, it meant
something for others besides myself. When I retired, it was as if every­
thing became centered around me and it was a bit boring, actually.
Nothing happens if I just sit here reading the newspaper until 2 PM, you
know. No one will say “Where is he?” (Participant 7, age 72).
The sense of a loss of significance brought on by retirement was often
explicitly tied to or contrasted with work life, but for some, retirement
had prompted a general sense of becoming less significant to their sur­
roundings—of going “under the radar,” as one man put it. Several par­
ticipants expressed fears of becoming superfluous in terms of family
relations, social networks, and on a broader societal scale.
I didn’t expect that this transition, you know, I was sorry to stop
[working, red]. I was looking forward to the third age and to my
retirement, retired life, but I thought it was a bit hard. No one needs me
anymore, I don’t have to get up and carry out a task. (Participant 30, age
67).
Some also aired fears that their children would find them importu­
nate and justified this with the fact that they had busy lives and jobs of
their own. In line with this, others expressed that they did not think that
the life of a retiree could be of interest to other people. In this way, the
sense of a loss of significance to the labor market that came with
retirement seemed to spill over into other areas of life and, in this way,
seemed to be central to self-perception for a considerable part of the
participants.
Time
Participants’ conceptions of retirement and their reflections on
meaning in life in retirement were very much influenced by time. Time
had a marked presence as a lens through which retirement, both imag­
ined and experienced, was viewed. For some, time in relation to
retirement was viewed as something that had been gained or granted,
and with it, they had been given access to time as a resource and in an
abundance that occasioned an approach to everyday life and the prior­
itizations that came with it as an opportunity to be grasped. This, for
many, contrasted with a work life spent adapting to external agendas
and following a schedule. The sensation, then, of being in control of your
own time was a welcome change.
The abundance of time also gave way to catching up on things that
had been neglected or deprioritized earlier: “I think I have—how should
I phrase it… neglected some of all the other things that preoccupy me in
life. So, it’s really wonderful that I have more time now” (Participant 32,
age 69). In this light, the conception of retirement as a positive life event
that gave way to a sense of emancipation was expressly emphasized in
M.M. Kristensen et al.
terms of time.
For some, retirement became an indicator (as well as a reminder) of
the scarcity of time as conditioned by progressing age, declining health,
and ultimately, death. In this perspective, time was expressed as being of
the essence and something that should not be wasted. Retirement had
for many brought on a reckoning or assessment of their life achieve­
ments, which in many cases was balanced with a perception of time as a
kind of currency, resulting in an ever-present awareness of maximizing
the potential yield from the time that was now available to them but also
introducing a perception of time as something constantly at risk of being
wasted. One participant mentioned a need to find out”what is important,
what is essential” in order to”seize” each new day (Participant 13, age
70). Thus, notions of time became embedded in conceptions of retire­
ment, prompting thoughts about an imminent demise but also prompt­
ing them to make the most of their time.
Discussion
This is one of the first in-depth studies to systematically explore
men’s reflections on meaning in life in their transition to retirement. We
identified six dominant themes: family ties, social connectedness,
structure of everyday life, contribution, engagement, and time. In the
following, we will first discuss the findings of the study in relation to two
main aspects of the concept of meaning in life prevalent in the literature:
meaning as a sense of belonging and meaning as a sense of engagement.
Then, we will discuss participants’ underlying negotiations of meaning
in the transition to retirement.
Meaning as a sense of belonging
A central dimension of meaning that we see in the findings is the
sense of belonging to a community or being part of a social web of re­
lations that are embedded in everyday life. Different aspects of themes
concerning family, social connectedness, and to a certain extent, struc­
tures of everyday life reflected this. Sociality thus appeared to be a core
source of meaning in life in the transition to retirement. Looking beyond
retirement, this resonates with much existing research on loneliness
(Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2012; Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2010) as well as
research on the associations between meaning in life and social re­
lations, suggesting that social relations are a significant source of
meaning in life (King & Geise, 2011; Krause, 2007; Lambert et al., 2013;
Stillman et al., 2009). A recent paper by Folker et al. has explored the
association between meaning in life and social relations as a bidirec­
tional relation where a lack of meaning in life may not only be caused by
problems of social connectedness but may also negatively affect social
relations and increase the risk of loneliness (Folker et al., 2021).
Conversely, the presence of meaning in life positively affects the in­
dividual’s orientation toward others and may be a protective factor
against loneliness. Results of the present study, we find, also reflect this
relation between meaning and sociality.
In their paper, Folker et al. identified three basic dimensions of
loneliness based on a review of previous research: emotional loneliness
(a lack of intimate attachments), social loneliness (a lack of social re­
lations), and a lack of attachment to a social entity or a social context
(Folker et al., 2021). The presence of what we may call dimensions of
sociality are all reflected in the findings here. The latter, attachment to a
social entity or social context, was particularly emphasized in the mens’
reflections in that it seemed to be not only sociality that carries meaning
but a certain kind of sociality, namely, being part of a meaningful
community, that goes beyond mere social interaction and provides a
space for being a part of a social entity. Work life played a significant
role in this regard, both as a source of social relations and the experience
of social connectedness but also as an established structure that enabled
the development and cultivation of social relations. Thus, the workplace
provided a framework and space for engagement with a social entity as
well as a sense of community that was very concrete in terms of both
6
Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112
place and purpose. With retirement, a need to replace or redefine this
sense of belonging arose for many participants. For some, this resulted in
a greater orientation toward the family. Reflections on the new role of
family in retirement suggested that family in some ways replaced the
workplace as a social, but also as a structural entity. Participants’ de­
scriptions of the role of family thus in some ways resonated with char­
acterizations of work life, involving terms like commitment, routine,
and responsibility, but also as a source of meaningful relationships,
stimulation, and a sense of significance. Thus, the (re-)establishment of a
sense of belonging that goes beyond connectedness and intimacy ap­
pears to be central to meaning-making in the transition to retirement.
Meaning as a sense of engagement
Another recurring aspect in the data was meaning as a sense of
engagement with one’s surroundings, which in the findings is repre­
sented by themes of engagement in life and contributing to something
outside oneself. Engagement has long been a cornerstone in meaning
research and is widely accepted as central to meaning in life. Nakamura
and Csikszentmihaluy (2003) have suggested that individuals’ deep
involvement in activities that “afford them scope” is essential to
achieving meaning in life. They term this vital engagement and further
describe it as a way to relate to the world, characterized both as an
enjoyable interaction with and the experience of subjective significance
to one’s surroundings (Nakamura & Csikzentmihalyi, 2003). Haidt adds
to vital engagement that it may spring from the individual’s construc­
tion of “an ever more encompassing web of knowledge, action, identity
and relationships” around something that awakens a so-called “deep
interest” in them (Haidt, 2010p 94). Meaning, in this sense, lies in that
which has some form of subjective value to the individual (i.e., a sense of
fulfilment, enjoyment, or stimulation stemming from engaging with
one’s surroundings). In our study, participants expressed this as being
involved in meaningful activities and relationships, relating oneself to
current affairs, and being stimulated by or immersing oneself in
aesthetic or sensuous aspects of life.
In analyzing the findings, we found that meaning as a sense of
engagement encompassed more than just a subjective dimension.
Interestingly, reflections on meaning derived from being part of some­
thing larger than themselves note a recurrent emphasis on engaging
with a valuable other as a prerequisite for the presence of meaning in life.
In her theoretical exploration of the value of meaning in life, Wolf has
argued that meaning in life apart from subjective engagement also has
an intersubjective dimension (Wolf, 2012). Wolf suggests that meaning
in life may arise from engagement in activities or contexts whose value is
not solely dependent on the individual’s own attitude toward it and that,
therefore, the value to some extent lies outside the individual herself. In
other words, engagement with things that carry a subjective value to the
individual may not be sufficient in providing a sense of meaning in
life—intersubjective value is needed too (i.e., value that can be recog­
nized as important by many individuals) (Wolf, 2012). In our findings,
making a difference to others, contributing positively to another, and
being of use to someone or something other than oneself are examples of
this, as is the assertion of one participant that: “It’s not that I don’t have
anything to do, it just all revolves around me” (see Results). This quote
poignantly reflects the idea of intersubjective value as a prerequisite for
meaning in life, as well as the need for the presence of both a subjective
and intersubjective dimension of meaning to experience a sense of
meaningfulness.
On this basis, we suggest that engagement is critical to negotiations
of meaning in the transition to retirement and that the presence of
meaning in life in retirement may not only imply engagement with
things that are personally valuable but also engagement with things or
activities that can be intersubjectively recognized as valuable. For many
participants, work life had provided a sense of contributing positively to
something which carried some form of intersubjective value. Adding to
this, many seemed to involve themselves in activities or projects that
M.M. Kristensen et al.
explicitly carried value to others (e.g., volunteer work – a fairly common
pastime among retirees in Denmark). Further, participants’ reflections
were clearly marked by a fear of not engaging themselves enough or
decidedly disengaging with their surroundings. Meaning-making
seemed predominantly to be motivated by a wish to maintain or find
alternatives to the kind of engagement that had been experienced in
their working lives or, in other cases, as being able to engage in things or
activities that had not been possible or accessible to participants in their
lives before retirement.
Negotiating the transition
Overall, the changes that retirement brought about, whether
welcome or not, were something that many participants had planned or
prepared themselves for. Although retirement did not come as a shock
for most, it impacted, both positively and negatively, many aspects of
everyday life—for some participants, in ways they had not antici­
pated—triggering a readjustment or reappraisal of meaning. Some facets
of retirement, experienced or imagined, seemed to correspond with
participants’ existing meaning, while others seemed to conflict with
what was previously meaningful to them. The change brought about by
retirement, either symbolic or circumstantial—or both—and the sense
of conflict that it gave rise to for some, thus prompted negotiations of
meaning to make sense of a new life situation (Park, 2010; Proulx &
Inzlicht, 2012).
This potential conflict in the transition from one life phase to another
has been described by Johnson-Hanks (2002), who has argued that life
transitions are often conflicting and marked by uncertainty and
ambivalence and that this, among other things, may give rise to nego­
tiation and contestation of meaning (Johnson-Hanks, 2002). Based on
the findings of this study, we suggest that this observation is also rele­
vant in the context of the transition to retirement. To many participants,
the transition was fraught with a sense of ambivalence, characterized by
a co-existence of positive and negative connotations. At one end of the
spectrum, retirement was experienced as an emancipation from earlier
life circumstances and the beginning of a new era, guided by personal
desires and intrinsic motivations—a life change ripe with potential. This
resonates somewhat with Swedish sociologist Lars Tornstam’s work on
gerotrancendence in which he found that aging and the transition into old
age prompted a mental shift away from a material and rational life
perspective and toward a spiritual and holistic one defined by maturity
and wisdom (Tornstam, 1997). At the other end of the spectrum, rather
than the beginning of something new, retirement was characterized as
the beginning of the final phase of life. In this perspective, retirement
was imagined as a life event that brought with it a variety of limitations
and was associated with a considerable degree of uncertainty and was
often connected to a sense of loss.
These two perspectives are perhaps best exemplified in the findings
concerning time. As the findings show, retirement gave rise to new
understandings or experiences of time. With the onset of retirement,
participants, on the one hand, experienced time as an abundant resource
made available to them through their retirement status, and on the other
hand, retirement prompted an awareness of the scarcity of time and the
foreboding of what was to come when time ran out. This resonates with
previous research on temporality in the transition to retirement (Jons­
son, Borell, & Sadlo, 2000; Nadobnik et al., 2021; Wanka, 2020). In a
recent study on temporality and self-conception in Polish retirees,
Nadobnik et al. (2021) have argued that there is a paradox in percep­
tions of time in retirement as something at the same time gained and
lost. The authors found that time does not appear to follow a linear
structure in the transition to retirement. Rather, they describe it as a
blending of temporalities and attribute it to processes of reflexivity in
relation to self-conceptions among retirees, suggesting that several
perceptions of time may co-exist in retirement as it is both imagined and
experienced (Nadobnik et al., 2021). Viewed in light of the findings of
the present study, temporality may thus be seen as an underlying
7
Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112
structuring principle in the reconstruction of meaning in the transition
to retirement.
Based on these observations, we suggest that the transition to
retirement is not experienced as a linear movement from one life phase
to another but rather a bricolage of interwoven life processes, recipro­
cally influenced by and influencing conceptions of retirement, and
involving a variety of negotiations of meaning of social, structural, and
existential character. The changing significance of family as a source of
structure, the sense of emancipation stemming from a sudden lack of a
dominant structure of everyday life, and the recurrent sense of fear and
uncertainty associated with not being able to replace structures set in
place by work life are all examples of shifts in meaning, tied to a sense of
either potentiality or uncertainty (or anything in between). Participants’
experiences of and reflections on meaning-making in retirement thus
reflect both a transition from one circumstance to another but also shed
light on negotiations of meaning in which meaning is both lost, made,
and maintained.
Strengths and limitations
A strength of this study was the method of data collection. We found
that in-depth interviews helped create a space for participants to express
and openly reflect on their experiences and feelings of conflict and
ambiguity that we later found to be key to understanding the transition
and adjustment to retirement among newly retired men. The fact that
interviews were conducted face-to-face may also have provided an at­
mosphere of confidentiality and rapport between participants and in­
terviewers that made the men feel safe in opening up, which would not
have been possible if interviews had been conducted online or through
telephone (Gillham, 2005).
Some interviews were carried out after the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic. The pandemic itself as well as national lockdowns and long
periods of isolation very likely had a considerable impact on the
everyday lives of these participants as well as their perceptions of
meaning in life. However, as a small number of the participants were
interviewed after the onset of the pandemic (n = 5), we did not find that
this influenced the findings of this study significantly.
Although participants represented a wide range of geographical,
social, educational, and vocational backgrounds, there was a slight
misrepresentation in the educational levels of participants compared to
the general population of older males in Denmark (the participants in
this study had a higher average educational level). The recruitment
strategy applied in the study may further have created a selection bias in
that participants were included in recruitment to a shared reading
intervention. This may have caused a bias in that the focus of the
intervention may have attracted a certain subgroup among newly retired
men with specific interests in literature and who are culturally active.
However, it is also the experience of the authors that the social aspect of
the intervention played an equally important role in recruiting
participants.
All interviews were carried out by younger women (aged 24, 33 and
47), and this may have played a significant role. Many participants were
very particular in mediating their experiences as males and as older
adults. Thus, participants seemed to actively relate to the ways in which
their situations and experiences were different from those of the in­
terviewers in the interview situation. This may be likened to what
Spradley has described as “cultural ignorance” on the part of the inter­
viewer (Spradley, 2016), which can be an advantage in getting rich and
detailed descriptions of interviewees’ experiences. However, it may also
have influenced what participants — consciously or subconsciously —
disclosed in the interviews. Sexuality and intimate partner dynamics, for
example, both themes that one would expect to be of some importance
for participants, were not dominant themes in the material.
M.M. Kristensen et al.
Conclusion
This study provides novel insight into meaning in life among Danish
men transitioning to retirement. Across social and educational back­
grounds, work life appears as an important source of meaning in men’s
lives, providing an arena for social interactions and connectedness,
engagement, and contribution, as well as a structure for everyday life.
We have found that men’s exit from the labor market is associated with
both potentiality and uncertainty, leading to a sense of ambivalence and
disruption of meaning. Hence, replacing, recreating, or maintaining
forms and sources of meaning derived from work life is an important
focus in strengthening men’s transition to retirement and ensuring a
good beginning to life in retirement. We suggest that reestablishing a
sense of belonging and a sense of engagement are central to meaning­
fulness. Having a web of relations and a sense of being part of a social
entity—which earlier may have been derived from work life—is at the
core of meaning making in the transition to retirement. Further,
engaging oneself in something that provides intersubjective value (i.e.,
value that can be acknowledged from various perspectives) may replace
a sense of meaning earlier found in work life. These dimensions should
therefore be at the core of efforts seeking to strengthen men’s transition
to retirement.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data availability
The data that has been used is confidential.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all interviewees for their participation in the
study. Further, we would like to thank our partners in The Danish
Reading Society and DaneAge for a fruitful collaboration and for helping
to make this study a reality. Lastly, we would like to thank the University
Board at the University of Southern Denmark for providing funding for
this study.
References
Barnes, H., & Parry, J. (2004). Renegotiating identity and relationships: Men and
women’s adjustments to retirement. Ageing and Society, 24(2), 213–233. https://doi.
org/10.1017/S0144686X0300148X
Borbasi, S., et al. (2002). Perceptions of the researcher: In-depth interviewing in the
home. Contemporary Nurse, 14(1), 24–37. https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.14.1.24
Brinkmann, S., & Tanggaard, L. (2015). Kvalitative metoder: En grundbog (2 ed.) (2 ed.,
Vol. 633). Copenhagen: Hans Reitzel.
Cacioppo, J. T., & Cacioppo, S. (2012). The phenotype of loneliness. European Journal of
Developmental Psychology, 9(4), 446–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/
17405629.2012.690510
Christiansen, C. H. (1999). Defining lives: Occupation as identity: An essay on
competence, coherence, and the creation of meaning. American Journal of
Occupational Therapy, 53(6), 547–558. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.53.6.547
Dave, D., Rashad, I., & Spasojevic, J. (2008). The effects of retirement on physical and
mental health outcomes. Southern Economic Journal, 75(2), 497–523. https://doi.
org/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00916.x
Dolberg, P., & Ayalon, L. (2018). Subjective meanings and identification with middle
age. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 87(1), 52–76. https://
doi.org/10.1177/0091415017721932
Du, H., et al. (2017). Meaning in life, resilience, and psychological well-being among
children affected by parental HIV. AIDS Care, 29(11), 1410–1416. https://doi.org/
10.1080/09540121.2017.1307923
Duppen, D., et al. (2019). The social Environment’s relationship with frailty: Evidence
from existing studies. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 38(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/
10.1177/0733464816688310
Emmons, R. A. (2003). Personal goals, life meaning, and virtue: Wellsprings of a positive
life. In Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived (pp. 105–128).
Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
8
Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112
Folker, A. P., et al. (2021). Does meaning protect against loneliness? Exploring empirical
studies and theory. Health Promotion International, 36(2), 471–480. https://doi.org/
10.1093/heapro/daaa081
Gillham, B. (2005). Research interviewing: The range of techniques: A practical guide. New
York: Open University Press.
Grenier, A. (2012). Transitions and the Lifecourse: Challenging the Constructions of ’growing
Old’. Policy Press.
Haidt, J. (2010). Finding meaning in vital engagement and good hives. In C. R. Beitz
(Ed.), Meaning in life and why it matters (pp. 92–101). New Jersey: Princeton
University Press.
Hajdu, P., Mckee, M., & Bojan, F. (1995). Changes in premature mortality differentials by
marital status in Hungary and in England and Wales. European Journal of Public
Health, 5(4), 259–264. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/5.4.259
Halama, P., Záhorcová, L., & Škrobáková, Ž. (2021). Meaning making in retirement
transition: A qualitative inquiry into Slovak retirees. International Journal of
Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 16(1), 1985414. https://doi.org/
10.1080/17482631.2021.1985414
Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2010). Loneliness matters: A theoretical and empirical
review of consequences and mechanisms. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 40(2),
218–227. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8
Henning, G., Lindwall, M., & Johansson, B. (2016). Continuity in well-being in the
transition to retirement. GeroPsych, 29(4), 225–237. https://doi.org/10.1024/1662-
9647/a000155
Johnson-Hanks, J. (2002). On the limits of life stages in ethnography: Toward a theory of
vital conjunctures. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 865–880. https://doi.org/
10.1525/aa.2002.104.3.865
Jonsson, H., Borell, L., & Sadlo, G. (2000). Retirement: An occupational transition with
consequences for temporality, balance and meaning of occupations. Journal of
Occupational Science, 7(1), 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/
14427591.2000.9686462
Kim, J. E., & Moen, P. (2002). Retirement transitions, gender, and psychological well-
being: A life-course, ecological model. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 57(3),
212–222. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/57.3.P212
King, L. A., & Geise, A. C. (2011). Being forgotten: Implications for the experience of
meaning in life. The Journal of Social Psychology, 151(6), 696–709.
Krause, N. (2007). Longitudinal study of social support and meaning in life. Psychology
and Aging, 22(3), 456–469. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.22.3.456
Kristensen, M. M., et al. (2020). Shared Reading as mental health promotion among
newly retired men: Design of a feasibility study. Nordic Journal of Arts, Culture and
Health, 2(2), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.2535-7913-2020-02-03
Lambert, N. M., et al. (2013). To belong is to matter: Sense of belonging enhances
meaning in life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(11), 1418–1427.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213499186
Landau, I. (2017). Finding meaning in an imperfect world. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Liveng, A. (2019). Angst og håb i kvinders forestillinger om transitionen fra arbejdsliv til
pensionistliv. Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom og Samfund, 16(30), 151–173.
Malette, J., & Oliver, L. (2006). Retirement and existential meaning in the older adult: A
qualitative study using life review. Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Health, 2(1),
30–49.
Martela, F. (2016). The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence,
purpose, and significance. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 531–545.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2015.1137623
Nadobnik, H., Durczak, K., & Ławrynowicz, M. (2021). Temporality and the aging self.
How subjective time is folding over its linear progression. Journal of Aging Studies,
57, Article 100933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2021.100933
Nakamura, J., & Csikzentmihalyi, M. (2003). The construction of meaning through vital
engagement. In Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived (pp. 83–104).
Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
Park, C. L. (2010). Making sense of the meaning literature: An integrative review of
meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events. Psychological
Bulletin, 136(2), 257–301. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018301
Proulx, T., & Inzlicht, M. (2012). The five “a” s of meaning maintenance: Finding
meaning in the theories of sense-making. Psychological Inquiry, 23(4), 317–335.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2012.702372
Reker, G. T., & Wong, P. T. P. (1988). In J. E. Birren, & V. L. Bengtson (Eds.), Aging as an
individual process: Toward a theory of personal meaning, in Emergent theories of aging
(pp. 214–246). New York, NY, US: Springer Publishing Company.
Spradley, J. P. (2016). The ethnographic interview. Long Grove: Waveland Press.
Steger, M. F. (2012). Making meaning in life. Psychological Inquiry, 23(4), 381–385.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2012.720832
Steger, M. F., et al. (2015). Meaning in life and health: Proactive health orientation links
meaning in life to health variables among American undergraduates. Journal of
Happiness Studies, 16(3), 583–597. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9523-6
Stillman, T. F., et al. (2009). Alone and without purpose: Life loses meaning following
social exclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4), 686–694. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.03.007
Tavory, I., & Timmermans, S. (2014). Abductive analysis: Theorizing qualitative research.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Teherani, A., et al. (2015). Choosing a qualitative research approach. Journal of Graduate
Medical Education, 7(4), 669–670. https://doi.org/10.4300/jgme-d-15-00414.1
Tornstam, L. (1997). Gerotranscendence: The contemplative dimension of aging. Journal
of Aging Studies, 11(2), 143. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0890-4065(97)90018-9
Vo, K., et al. (2015). Retirement, age, gender and mental health: Findings from the 45
and up study. Aging & Mental Health, 19(7), 647–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/
13607863.2014.962002
M.M. Kristensen et al.
Wanka, A. (2020). No time to waste–how the social practices of temporal organisation
change in the transition from work to retirement. Time & Society, 29(2), 494–517.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X19890985
Ward, S. J., & King, L. A. (2017). Work and the good life: How work contributes to
meaning in life. Research in Organizational Behavior, 37, 59–82. https://doi.org/
10.5014/ajot.53.6.547
Journal of Aging Studies 64 (2023) 101112
White, A., et al. (2011). Men’s health in Europe. Journal of Men’s Health, 8(3), 192–201.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jomh.2011.08.113
Wilson, N. J., Cordier, R., & Wilson Whatley, L. (2013). Older male mentors’ perceptions
of a Men’s shed intergenerational mentoring program. Australian Occupational
Therapy Journal, 60(6), 416–426. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12090
Wolf, S. (2012). Meaning in life and why it matters (Vol. 35). Princeton University Press.