of formal education) is also included as a control variable because it is likely to influence

an array of factors such as occupation, income, wealth, health (House and Williams,

2000), and subsequent labor force transitions.

 Measurement of Health

 Measures of physical health such as hypertension, stroke, heart disease, diabetes,

chronic lung disease, psychological problems, at thi itin, and cancer are included in the

analyses. First, these were coded as dummy variables according to how the respondent

answered the question, "Has a doctor ever told you that you have (had a) [condition]." A

summary measure of the total number of the above conditions ever diagnosed is included

in the analyses. A measure of the respondent's self-rated health is also included

(l=excellent, 2=very good, 3=good, 4=fair, 5=poor

 Measurement of Family Circumstances

 Both present family circumstance and earlier social roles impact labor force

behavior in later life (O'Rand et al., 1992). Previous research has shown that single

parenthood experiences affect women's retirement behavior (Brown and Pienta, 2002).

Women typically enter single parenthood via one of two pathways. First, women may

become single mothers as a result of a nonmaritalfirst birth (1= nonmarital first birth; 0=

otherwise). Second, when women with children divorce or become widowed we measure

post marital single parenthood (1= post marital single parent; 0= otherwise). Given

single mother's relatively precarious economic circumstances, older women who have

experienced single parenthood may need to continue working in order to amass sufficient

savings for retirement. Further, racial disparities in rates of single parenthood may play a

role in the race-retirement relationship.