With more Americans retiring earlier yet living longer than ever before, the country has a growing number of vigorous adults who no longer are in their career jobs but are not old. They are in a life stage for which they and society are totally unprepared.

So said Phyllis Moen, the Ferris Family Professor of Life Course Studies at Cornell University and co-director of the Cornell Applied Gerontology Research Institute, a Roybal Center for Research on Applied Gerontology. Moen organized and led a panel of speakers from the other five Roybal Centers, all funded by the National Institute on Aging, who addressed the topic, "Life after 65: How Science Can Promote Successful Aging," at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Baltimore on Feb. 12.

"Americans can now expect to spend up to one-third of their lives beyond retirement, with many of those years in good health," said Moen, who pointed out that by the year 2030, there will be more Americans over age 65 than children under 18. "Yet, our research indicates that about half of retirees retire unexpectedly with little or no planning and that the retirement transition is extraordinarily diverse, not at all a routinized exit."

Although more scientific research is needed to promote successful aging, Moen's groundbreaking and ongoing study, the Cornell Retirement and Well-Being Study, is providing valuable information. A random sample of 762 men and women between ages 50 and 72, it examines the retirement transition, including the nature and timing of retirement, antecedents to choices and decisions concerning retirement and productive involvement in paid work and unpaid volunteer work.

The sample is drawn from two Fortune 500 manufacturers, one large utility corporation, two hospitals and a research university, all in upstate New York. About 40 percent of the participants are still employed; 60 percent have retired. The average age of those not yet retired is 56; the average age of those already retired is 62. All were asked about their health, work, volunteer activities and plans and expectations for the future in the first wave of interviews; participants will be re-interviewed two more times over the next five years.

"We're finding that many of these 'seasoned citizens' find themselves in limbo. They have skills, education, good health and financial resources, yet to a great extent, existing structural arrangements in this society limit their options. This third stage of life is relatively new," said Moen, who added that about 2 million Americans retire annually and that by the turn of the century, that will swell to 3 million. "As a society, we must come to terms with this healthy and capable yet typically ignored group of retirees in their fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties." Moen reported on her key findings gleaned so far from the Cornell Retirement and Well-Being Study:

• Although 93 percent of those between 65 and 72 are retired, one in four (15 percent of the women and 35 percent of the men) of the "retired" still work, most part-time.
• Women tend to retire later, have fewer financial resources, and view retirement as more problematic than men do.
• Volunteering and caregiving actively increase with age; 45 percent of men and women between 65 and 72 volunteer; 31 percent of the women are caregivers vs. 14 percent of the men.
• Most of the retirees Moen studied are enjoying retirement; family is a key source of satisfaction for most retirees.
• Among the older workers (not yet retired), the men in the study reported much more job flexibility than the women.
• Older workers in the manufacturing/utility firms put in longer hours and are less able to reduce their working hours than their counterparts in the educational/health care organizations.

"The postretirement years have been too often cast as the post productive years. With few family and job obligations, individuals in this period of comparative 'rolelessness' can be especially at risk of social isolation and the onset of poor health," Moen said.

Although research shows that both paid and unpaid work expand an individual's social network and therefore, help promote health and well-being, Moen called for more research on the links between productive activities and health and ways to foster competence and productivity in this new life phase. "We also need to learn more about who plans for retirement and who doesn't; who remains active and why and how to promote strategies that allow workers to continue their productivity -- such as phasing into retirement by working fewer hours, removing disincentives to work, promoting volunteer work by reducing barriers and developing corporate retiree volunteer programs that allow retirees to apply their expertise in meaningful and fulfilling endeavors. " -30- EDITORS: A news conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 12, in the Severn Room of the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel. Phyllis Moen can be reached during the AAAS meeting Feb. 9-13 at the Hyatt Regency, (410) 528-1234. After Feb. 13, she can be reached at (607) 255-0838. Larry Bernard of the Cornell News Service can be reached in the AAAS newsroom Feb. 8-12, or at the Sheraton Inner Harbor, (410) 962-8300.