The TURVA project: retirement and adaptation in old age

The TURVA project is a longitudinal, prospective follow-up study dealing with psychosocial adaptation to retirement and, subsequently, to old age. The initial sample consisted of 389 62-year-old individuals drawn from urban and rural areas in 1982. The subjects were examined thoroughly and have been followed-up at 4 and 8 years so far. A developmental approach to the individual's adaptation to new life situations was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. The first results of the project support the developmental theory when explaining the subject's adaptation in the early years of old age: Psychosocial adjustment can be understood on the basis of the subject's previous life. Preceding somatic and mental health were associated with the individual's actual psychosocial situation before official retirement age. Retirement from work seems not to be a stressful event; on the contrary, it was most often experienced as a positive change. Later adaptation was not so clearly associated with the initial health status.