ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601310097
SECTION: NEW RIVER ECONOMY PAGE: 20 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TRACY GALLIMORE
Describing a 2-year-old or a 6-year-old is a fairly easy assignment, says Loretta Buffer, assistant professor with Virginia Tech's Family and Child Development Department, because at that age children have so much in common.
But describing a retiree is a much tougher job. "It is very difficult to generalize when you look at older adults. As we age, the differences in our life experiences make us a very diverse group," said Buffer, who teaches theories on aging in her classes.
Older people have three options for work in retirement, Buffer says.
Continuity: A person may retire and then seek a job that continues his or her former career. An executive, for example, may take a company buyout package and then volunteer with the Service Core of Retired Executives to help new businesses get off to a good start.
Activity: A person leaves one kind of work and goes to something completely different: A woman who has been an office manager for 25 years retires and becomes a teacher in a day-care center.
Disengagement: A person leaves the work force for good and never works outside the home again.
LENGTH: Short : 30 linesby CNB