Most research tends to focus on the husband's attitudes toward retirement while overlooking the wife's evaluation of this event. In this study interviews with wives whose husbands were retired or approaching retirement suggested that a variety of orientations toward their husbands' retirement was present. Some women expressed grave reservations; others looked forward to it; still others had no opinion. It is felt that an understanding of the wife's reaction to her husband's retirement can be useful in understanding the adjustments that both husband and wife may have to make in their relationship to each other.
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