Concordance in Spouses’ Intention to Move After Retirement Among Korean Middle-Aged Couples

Abstract

This study examined the concordance in spouses’ intention to move after retirement among midlife couples and its association with couples’ marital characteristics (i.e., marital satisfaction and dyadic coping). Using a sample of 1,285 middle-aged couples in Korea (aged 49–64), we conducted logistic/multinomial regression controlling for individual and household characteristics. The majority of couples (83%) were concordant in their moving desires—by either agreeing to move (29%) or to stay (54%), whereas 17% of couples were not in agreement—either only husband (9%) or wife (8%) desires to move. Couples who made daily decisions together and where wives perceived higher marital satisfaction were more likely to have concordant moving desires. Couples where spouses shared each other’s stress and discussed life after retirement were more likely to agree to move than to stay. Our findings suggest the importance of marital dynamics in understanding midlife couples’ residential mobility after retirement.

Keywords

decision-making dyadic coping marital relationship migration moving desire

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