Aging And Retirement Among Ethiopian Elderly Adjustment Challenges And Policy Implications

This study was conducted on 326 retired persons aged 60 and above to examine retirementrnadjustment of the elderly and the extent to which adjustment was influenced by social,rnpsychological and contextual factors. The study also intended to identify challenges facing thernelderly after retirement and to assess how supportive national social policies were to the elderlyrnin meeting their developmental needs. Three hundred and sixteen elders in the ages between 62rnand 79 (M = 68.22, SD = 6.29) completed a self-administered questionnaire and 10 elders agernranged from 64 to 72 participated in an interview. A general survey questionnaire wasrnconstructed to collect data on demographic characteristics of participants, organizationalrnconditions for retirement and postretirement activities. Four independent Likert-type scales werernadapted from different sources to measure participants’ adjustment to retirement, preretirementrnplanning and preparation, perceived social support and personal mastery. Preliminary pilot studyrnwas conducted to test validity and reliability of the scales. The pilot study revealed valid andrnreliable instruments with considerable modifications on the original scales. Findings of the mainrnstudy showed that majority of the elderly were in difficulty adjusting to postretirement situations.rnThey were facing economic, social and psychological problems. Inadequate preretirementrnplanning and preparation, lack of access to supportive organizational programs and lower levelrnof personal mastery were reported from the vast majority of the participants, contributing to thernpoorer adjustment to retirement. Government social policies also have not been considerate ofrnthe retired elderly and hardly been meeting their psychological, social and financial needs.rnEstablishing an institution, recognizing the retired elderly and introducing retirement savingsrnwere the prevalent opinions of the participants to lessen the postretirement plights. Severalrnfactors were found to influence retirement adjustment either psychosocially, financially or both.rnviiirnBetter participation in postretirement activities, strong sense of personal control, being marriedrnor in a relationship, adequate access to bridge employment, increased number of years sincernretirement, adequate preparation on self-protection and public protection issues and adequaternsupport from family and friends significantly predicted better adjustment to psychosocialrnadjustment. On the other hand, adequate preparation on self-insurance (financial) and selfprotectionrn(social, psychological and health) issues, higher level of education, adequate access tornsupportive preretirement programs, adequate family support, strong sense of personal control,rnbetter income, better health and adequate public-support significantly predicted better adjustmentrnto financial conditions. From all the predictors, self-protection, public protection, family supportrnand personal control were significant predictors of both the psychosocial adjustment andrnfinancial adjustment. On the contrary, age and sex of the participants were not significantrnpredictors of any of the adjustment measures. Together, these findings suggest that adequacy ofrnthe social, psychological, organizational, preretirement and postretirement resources enhancernindividual’s adjustment to retirement with considerable policy implications.rnKey terms: aging and retirement, adjustment to retirement, retired elderly, Ethiopian elderly

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