Abstract
In order to realize a society where elderly people can flourish throughout their lifetime, quality of life (QOL) after retirement becomes more and more important in the future. It has not been fully recognized that the attitude towards one's work before retirement is important for one's retirement life. Therefore, this paper studies how attitude towards one's work before retirement affects the QOL in one's later life in light of psychosocial resources in old age.
In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from attendees aged 60 years or older (85 men and 119 women) in continuing education classes in Toyama Prefecture in 2012. The QOL in old age was assessed with CASP-19 measurements (i.e., QOL measures comprising four domains:‘control’, ‘autonomy’, ‘pleasure’, and‘self-realization’). The measured psychosocial resources in old age include general self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, and sense of desolation. In this analysis, a structural equation modeling is used to verify whether the working attitude before retirement contributes to the QOL after retirement, based on the relationship with psychosocial resources.
Mean CASP-19 score is 41.3 (SD=6.3) for men and 42.6 (SD=5.7) for women. The results of structural equation modeling indicate that the conformity index of the model including the variable about attitude towards one's work before retirement is high. The structural model shows that working attitude has an indirect effect on CASP-19 scores after retirement; however, no direct effect has been found. The conformity index of the model shows as GFI=0.990, AGFI=0.970, CFI=1.000, RMSEA=0.009, that indicates high level of conformity.
This study has indicated that the way of working before retirement will contribute to QOL through latent psychosocial resources in old age such as efficacy and solitude, and clarified that the experience of working hard enables people to live a more fulfilling life after their retirement.
