Aging and Retirement among Ethiopian Elderly: Adjustment, Challenges and Policy Implications
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study was conducted on 326 retired persons aged 60 and above to examine retirement
adjustment of the elderly and the extent to which adjustment was influenced by social,
psychological and contextual factors. The study also intended to identify challenges facing the
elderly after retirement and to assess how supportive national social policies were to the elderly
in meeting their developmental needs. Three hundred and sixteen elders in the ages between 62
and 79 (M = 68.22, SD = 6.29) completed a self-administered questionnaire and 10 elders age
ranged from 64 to 72 participated in an interview. A general survey questionnaire was
constructed to collect data on demographic characteristics of participants, organizational
conditions for retirement and postretirement activities. Four independent Likert-type scales were
adapted from different sources to measure participants’ adjustment to retirement, preretirement
planning and preparation, perceived social support and personal mastery. Preliminary pilot study
was conducted to test validity and reliability of the scales. The pilot study revealed valid and
reliable instruments with considerable modifications on the original scales. Findings of the main
study showed that majority of the elderly were in difficulty adjusting to postretirement situations.
They were facing economic, social and psychological problems. Inadequate preretirement
planning and preparation, lack of access to supportive organizational programs and lower level
of personal mastery were reported from the vast majority of the participants, contributing to the
poorer adjustment to retirement. Government social policies also have not been considerate of
the retired elderly and hardly been meeting their psychological, social and financial needs.
Establishing an institution, recognizing the retired elderly and introducing retirement savings
were the prevalent opinions of the participants to lessen the postretirement plights. Several
factors were found to influence retirement adjustment either psychosocially, financially or both.
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Better participation in postretirement activities, strong sense of personal control, being married
or in a relationship, adequate access to bridge employment, increased number of years since
retirement, adequate preparation on self-protection and public protection issues and adequate
support from family and friends significantly predicted better adjustment to psychosocial
adjustment. On the other hand, adequate preparation on self-insurance (financial) and selfprotection
(social, psychological and health) issues, higher level of education, adequate access to
supportive preretirement programs, adequate family support, strong sense of personal control,
better income, better health and adequate public-support significantly predicted better adjustment
to financial conditions. From all the predictors, self-protection, public protection, family support
and personal control were significant predictors of both the psychosocial adjustment and
financial adjustment. On the contrary, age and sex of the participants were not significant
predictors of any of the adjustment measures. Together, these findings suggest that adequacy of
the social, psychological, organizational, preretirement and postretirement resources enhance
individual’s adjustment to retirement with considerable policy implications.
Key terms: aging and retirement, adjustment to retirement, retired elderly, Ethiopian elderly
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Keywords
Aging and Retirement, Adjustment to Retirement, Retired Elderly, Ethiopian Elderly