A Qualitative IPA of the Motivations of Retirees’ Transitions to ‘Retirement’ Social Identities and the Consequences on Retirement Adjustment Satisfaction

Underwood, Jason; Watt, Sal

Abstract

Retirement is a relatively new phenomenon in relation to
shifting from being a privilege for the few to becoming a
normative ‘third age’ of the life course. However, retirement
represents one of the major life course transitions in late adult
life and associated with this transition is the question of how
well people adjust to retirement and the consequences of how
well people negotiate this adjustment on their sense of worth
and well-being can be either negative or positive. This paper
presents a qualitative approach through Social Identity Theory
and Self-determination Theory to explore the underpinning
motivational processes of retirees in their transition to
‘retirement’ social identities and the consequences on
satisfaction in retirement. Semi-structured interviews were
conducted with four white British participants including
three males and one female ranging in age from sixty-four
to sixty-nine and having retired between fifteen months and
four years. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of
the transcribed interviews led to five main themes emerging,
namely Strength of identity with working life; Significance
of non-work-related aspects of life; Psychologically preparing
for retirement; Process of shifting/adjusting to retirement;
Meeting expectations of retirement. The study found that
retirement is not a formulaic process but people experience
adjusting to retirement differently based on their individual
motivations and resources for preparing for and facilitating
the transition. The findings from the study has implications
in relation to the provision of intervention in supporting
individuals psychologically preparing for retirement beyond
financial planning along with those experiencing negative
consequences in transitioning to retirement.

Citation

Underwood, J., & Watt, S. A Qualitative IPA of the Motivations of Retirees’ Transitions to ‘Retirement’ Social Identities and the Consequences on Retirement Adjustment Satisfaction

• Journal Article Type: Extended Abstract
• Conference Name: 17th European Congress of Psychology (ECP 2022)
• Conference Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Deposit Date: Nov 25, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 28, 2023
• Journal: Horizons of Psychology
• Electronic ISSN: 2350-5141
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Pages: 59–447
• Publisher URL: http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2022/ECP_2022_Abstracts.pdf