HAPPILY EVER AFTER? AN EXPLORATION OF RETIREMENT EXPECTATIONS (original) (raw)

1999, Educational Gerontology

The dimensions of expectations for retirement, and their relationship with gender, current work attitudes, and current leisure experiences were investigated in a British and an A ustralian sample. Eighty-three Britains and 100 A ustralians, in paid employment, aged 40 and above, completed a questionnaire that included measures of current work and leisure experience, preferences for preretirement education, and a newly developed ''Retirement Expectation Inventory'' (REI) based on the four modes of retirement experience reported by . A factor analysis of the REI con rmed the four dimensions of Transition to Rest, New Beginning, Continuity, and Imposed Disruption. The predominant expectation was that retirement would be a New Beginning, with no signi cant gender di erences. A s predicted, high personal job involvement, but not high general work involvement, was signi cantly associated with the expectation of Imposed Disruption, as was an unsatisfactory current leisure experience. The most popular content areas for preretirement education were nancial management, hobbies, and physical health. These results are discussed, and a number of implications for preretirement education arising from the results are noted.