Transitions: A Woman's Guide to Successful Retirement

The special problems that working women face when they retire and various possibilities open to them are examined here in authoritative, constructive detail. Psychotherapist Cort-Van Arsdale and Newman, her retired psychologist sister, both married with grown children, contend that many of the first generation of liberated women whom they interviewed have not sufficiently planned a retirement that will meet individual practical and emotional needs. The authors stress the importance for women of considering the strength of their attachment to family and of their funds should they decide to relocate, say, to a warm climate; and, for those married, the effect of a husband's constant presence. Among options discussed to structure one's leisure hours are part-time paid or volunteer work, social groups, adult education and remarriage. Retirement, readers are wisely reminded, should not be viewed as a backdrop to old age. (Aug.)