Retirement and psychic investments

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Gerontology

Background:

• Retirement involves significant life changes, potentially impacting an individual's social engagement.
• Existing theories like disengagement theory and role flexibility theory attempt to explain post-retirement adjustments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of retirement on psychic investment across social domains.
• To evaluate the applicability of disengagement theory and role flexibility theory to retirement.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study involving 28 pensioners.
• Three questionnaires administered at retirement, 3 months, and 1 year post-retirement.
• Factor analysis and group analysis used for data processing.

Main Results:

• A high degree of stability was observed in subjects' psychic investment.
• 82% of participants remained in the same social group across all three measurement points.
• Results did not support the predictions of disengagement theory or role flexibility theory.

Conclusions:

• Individual stability is a significant factor in retirement, potentially overriding theoretical expectations.
• Further research is needed to understand the nuances of social investment changes during retirement.