The choice between retirement and bridge employment: a continuity theory and life course perspective.

The rapid aging of the workforce in most developed countries, and the strengthening presence of bridge employment among older employees, has brought about a need for a deeper theoretical and practical understanding of this employment phenomenon. This study examined the concept of bridge employment from a continuity theory and life course perspective. Several personal and job-related antecedents of 539 middle-aged and older U.S. Federal Government employees' intentions of full retirement or engagement in bridge employment were investigated. A multinomial logistic regression analysis provided support for most of the hypotheses on the antecedents of full retirement and overall bridge employme…