Adjusting to retirement demands unlearning of some of the old behavioral patterns and acquiring new life skills to cope with the changed status and role conferred on the individual by retirement. In India, retirement generally is not a matter of choice. It is one of the most important social phenomena that may have far-reaching consequences for those who undergo it. The work life of an individual has three distinct phases – pre-retirement, retirement-transition and post-retirement. Pre-retirement, a Stage when a person approaches his date of retirement, is a state of high anxiety and apprehension for his post-retirement life and related problems, – Retirement- Transition marks the beginning of old age and post-retirement life and demands difficult adjustment on the part of the individual to the new living habits and social conditions, This transition happens so abruptly that it Seems problematic and even traumatic for many who retire from their job or work-field. Over- night the role and status of the retiree is changed. From being economically independent and a provider he becomes a non- productive dependent member of his family with reduced role and status.
But an important question is; how do people adjust to retirement’? Psychologists consider health, family and occupation as the three significant aspects of an individual’s life, adjustment to which is considered an index of his happy and successful life.
However, changes brought about in the occupational status of person by retirement significantly affect his personal well-being and family relations apart from the erotological changes of advance age that impair his physical health, Obviously, the retired persons have to make adjustment to limited in- come, more free time and a changed life pattern.
Though it is difficult to be both a gerontologist and an optimist, re- Search evidence shows that most of the retired persons to get used to retirement by making ad- equate efforts to pool in financial resources of the family accepting their changed role and status. Many of them do substitutive jobs (except women and persons of high Socioeconomic status) to fulfill their familial liabilities which they still have.
Most of the administrators and other high-ranking officials who during their very busy tenure failed to develop Leisure time pursuits” find time hanging heavy on them after retirement. Others who had earlier been so disproportionately involved in the upbringing of their children throughout find themselves suddenly free without knowing what to do.
Oddly enough, their over investment of time, energy and care for their children draws return only in derision and indignities, Consequently, they have to do such odd jobs as they have not been accustomed to. Every day they are desired Lo experiment with new odd jobs; and when this role of theirs is lowered to the extreme ebb, severe disruptions in their adjustment emerge. The present day scene of family structure in India is: changing on western lines, The younger generation seems to prefer to have equitable cost-reward based relationship between old parents and young children rather than long lasting kinship ties, and when elders fail to absorb such shocks or come to the expectations of the younger family members they resort to religious or/and other activities because no senior citizens” homes and social security Schemes Can ever solve psychological problems of the elderly persons.
Still one important question remains to be answered: Why should retirement pose more serious disruptions in the life of some than others? Psychologists attribute this to the basic personality make-up of individuals. They assert that this depends upon the amount of change introduced by retirement and the capacity of the person to cope with that change. Individuals with a high level of tolerance for change (flexible) have more adaptability than those inflexible people who take even small changes in the status quo as a serious threat to their survival.
Obviously retirement docs not interfere with an individual’s personal goals other than the loss of job and reduced income. Physical frailty and ill health arc not the consequence of retirement but of the intrinsic biological processes which may also be postponed if the older people could live in a self-satisfying way. Thus adjustment to retired life could be smoother if environmental changes other than the loss of job are minimum.
For the younger generation, society has to redefine, plan for and adopt new, adequate measures of social learning (apart from their formal education) to counterbalance the illusory effects of technological advances, their“ modern climbing attitude and imperialistic values of life and its beginning will have to be made from their early childhood and right now.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 19, 1994
