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Determinants of Psychological Well-being among Retirees

Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Madras, Chennai-600 005, INDIA
  • 2 A, N. No. 105A, Sivan Koil Street, Kodambakkam, Chennai-600 024, INDIA

Int. Res. J. Social Sci., Volume 4, Issue (3), Pages 19-26, March,14 (2015)

Abstract

Retirement is considered as a major transition and a source of stress in a retiree’s life. The present study aimed at investigating the influence of psychosocial factors, leisure time activities, family structure, and length of retirement on the psychological well-being of retirees. The study was ex-post facto in nature and the sampling method adopted was simple random sampling. The total sample comprised of 200 (97% male) retirees with good health status living in home environment whose age ranged from 60-73 years and annual income ranged from Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 1,50,000. The respondents’ duration of retirement was from one and a half years to fifteen years. The psychosocial variables studied were attitude towards old age, retirement specific self-esteem, rigidity, goal directedness, social support, household decision making, and life regrets. Various demographic data including family structure, length of retirement, and leisure time activities details were also collected from personal data sheet. Data were collected personally by the researcher using standardized scales. Data were analyzed using multiple regression, partial correlation and discriminant analysis. The results indicated that retirement specific self-esteem, dispositional rigidity, goal-directedness, social support (reliable alliance and reassurance of worth), regretfulness, leisure time activities, and family structure were the significant predictors of psychological well-being of retirees. The selected variables put together explained 93% of variance in the psychological well-being of retirees. Discriminant analysis revealed that the retirees with low and high psychological well-being found to differ on attitude towards aging, retirement specific self-esteem, dispositional rigidity, goal directedness, perceived social support, household decision making, regretfulness, and leisure time activities. The study had implications for identifying and training retirees for better psychological well-being.

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