WP#2003-1  

Abstract

This article compares the relative economic status of women who take and postpone taking early Social Security benefits, with particular attention to the role of marital history. Marital history categories discussed include: lifelong marriages, marriages in which the woman had been previously divorced or widowed, divorced, widowed, and never married. The results presented here should be useful in evaluating the potential consequences of increasing the Earliest Entitlement Age (EEA). While increasing the EEA would not cause economic hardship for many, it may have adverse effects on divorced and widowed women who generally are at greater risk of poverty than married women. The economic effects of prior divorce or widowhood are reflected in the lower financial resources of women who remarry.

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Tay K. McNamara is a Ph.D candidate in Soiology at Boston College. Regina O'Grady-LeShane is the Assistant Dean of Academic and Student Services of the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. John B. Williamson is a Professor of Sociology at Boston College. The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a grant from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) funded as part of the Retirement Research Consortium. The opinions and conclusions are soley those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policies of SSA or any agency of the Federal Government or the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.