The indirect effects of work-related antecedents to retirement on retirement adjustment quality via change in social resources : a resource-based dynamic perspective : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Abstract

The present investigation sought to address the paucity of longitudinal retirement adjustment research in relation to the social resources of retirees, and how change in these resources may affect the degree of retirement adjustment quality they experience. This study was a secondary analysis with an observational, repeated measures design conducted on the 2006 and 2014 data waves of the Health, Work, and Retirement (HWR) study (Alpass et al., 2007). From a resource-based dynamic perspective, retirement adjustment can be viewed as a longitudinal process which fluctuates as a function of given resources and changes in such resources (Wang, Henkens, & van Solinge, 2011). Guided by this theoretical framework, the primary focus of this investigation was to examine if change in perceived social support would mediate the relationships between job-related conditions (i.e., job satisfaction and job stress) and post-retirement psychological wellbeing across the period of 2006 – 2014. The sample (n = 435) was drawn from the HWR study’s 2006 nationally representative sub-sample of the general New Zealand older adult population. Participants were male and female New Zealanders, aged between 55 – 70 years in 2006, and were of New Zealand European, Māori, Asian, or other ethnicity. Participants were in paid employment at the time of the 2006 data wave, and had entered retirement at the time of the 2014 data wave. Cross-sectional analyses of the 2006 wave were also undertaken to determine whether the theorised relationships between the principal constructs were supported at the cusp of the retirement transition before participants retired. These analyses indicated the relationship between job satisfaction and psychological wellbeing appeared to operate indirectly via perceived social support, as did the relationship between job stress and psychological wellbeing. However, longitudinal mediation analyses did not support the resource-based dynamic model of retirement adjustment. Recommendations for measuring adjustment outcomes and resources at multiple assessment points, measure selection and construct domain sampling, improving capacity for causal inference, and using alternative data analytic strategies are made for future research adopting a resource-based dynamic perspective