Psycho-social factors influencing the psychological wellbeing of retirees in Ibadan

Abstract

Retirement is an inevitable event in the lives of an individual. All government workers must retire at one time or the other in their working lives. Unfortunately, the thought of retirement to some workers breeds anxiety, apprehension and disillusionment whereas attitude towards retirement needs not be this negative. Effort is made in this study to address this recurring and debilitating problem. This study therefore examined pre-retirement activities/planning, money saved investment, family support, religious factor, social responsibilities, and good health as determinants of psychological well-being among retirees in lbadan. The objectives of the study were to examine the composite and relative effects of those psychosocial variables on psychological well-being of retirees, and to draw inferences from the findings for future use. Using descriptive research design, two hundred (200) participants were selected using convenience sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents and data obtained were analyzed using t-test, Pearson and multiple regressions to determine the correlation between independent variables and psychological well-being of the participants. Thus, two research questions were asked and answered. The results indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between money saved, investment, family support, religious factor, social responsibilities and psychological well-being of the participants in this study. The result further revealed that all the six factors jointly predicted psychological adjustment to retirement (R value = 0.676) and Adjusted R square value of (0.416) 41.6% was reported. Also, an F-ratio (6.191) = 9.171, P<0.001) was obtained. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that retired workers should learn and develop coping strategies based on pre-retirement activities/planning, money saved investment, family support, religious factor, social responsibilities and good health method for improving their views about retirement. They may begin to embrace the process of retirement early in their work life. Those who are close to retirement age should be taken through programmes that will help them to manage their anxiety about their future well-being