Doctoral Dissertation Research: Retirement Practices, Resource Management, and Financial Planning

这篇博士论文研究项目科学地探索了如何在老龄化人口中管理资源和财务规划战略。研究人员聚焦于一个年龄受限的退休社区，考察了哪些经历会影响老年人的退休行为，以及退休人员如何理解和利用经济和生态资源。这项工作将揭示美国退休正在以何种方式塑造美国西南部的未来；哪些障碍阻碍了未来几代人退休的可能性；以及当前退休人员的人口结构对塑造这些变化产生了什么影响。这个项目的一个关键影响将是通过将关于退休的选择和经历与财务规划和生活史联系起来，扩大关于老龄化的学术和公众讨论。此外，它将侧重于人口增长对资源规划的影响，并将增加公众对该地区环境资源的了解。除了对研究生进行科学数据收集和分析方法的培训外，它还将为从事老龄化政策、退休规划和城市发展领域的政府和非政府专业人员提供宝贵的材料。这位研究人员将跟踪退休人员，进行媒体和档案研究，并进行深入采访和生活史，以了解美国老年人、遗产规划师、市政水务官员和退休人员亲属对退休的理解或经历。这位研究人员有几个具体的目标。她打算回答以下问题：无论是如何理解美国梦，还是它在西方当地的发展方式，今天的退休实践能说明美国梦的哪些方面？退休实践如何揭示社会群体之间的内部差异？美国西部退休社区的扩张如何塑造目前和未来的经济、生态条件和基础设施？通过回答这些问题，研究人员将有助于更好地理解资源管理，以及不同类型的群体如何建立新的社会性。她建议将人种学方法与强大的历史框架相结合，以提供对老年人护理、财务和环境的多维洞察。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This doctoral dissertation research project scientifically explores how resource and financial planning strategies are managed among aging populations. Focusing on an age-restricted retirement community, the researcher examines what experiences influence retirement behavior in older age, as well as how economic and ecological resources are understood and utilized among retirees. This work will shed light on the ways American retirement is shaping the future of the U.S. Southwest; what obstacles are inhibiting the possibility of retirement among future generations; and what influence the current demographic of retirees has in shaping these changes. A key impact of this project will be to expand academic and public discussions on aging by linking choices about and experiences of retirement with financial planning and life histories. Further, it will focus on the way population growth impacts resource planning and will increase public knowledge about the environmental resources in this region. In addition to training a graduate student in methods of scientific data collection and analysis, it will also provide valuable material for governmental and nongovernmental professionals working in the fields of aging policy, retirement planning, and urban development. The researcher will shadow retirees, conduct media and archival research, and conduct in-depth interviews and life histories in order to understand how retirement is understood or experienced by older Americans, estate planners, municipal water officials, and relatives of retirees. The researcher has several specific goals. She intends to answer the following questions: What can retirement practices today illuminate about the American Dream, both how it is understood and the way it plays out locally in the West? How do retirement practices reveal internal differentiation among social groups? And how does the expansion of retirement communities in the American West shape present and future economic and ecological conditions and infrastructures? By answering these questions, the researcher will contribute to a greater understanding of resource management, as well as to the way heterogeneous groups build new forms of sociality. She proposes to combine ethnographic approaches with a robust historical framework in order to provide multi-dimensional insights into eldercare, finance, and the environment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.