Happily ever after? An exploration of retirement expectations

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 Australian sample. Eighty-three Britains and 100 Australians, in paid employment, aged 40 and above, completed ct 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 Hornstein and Wapner (1985). A factor analysis of the REI confirmed 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 significant gender differences. As predicted, high personal job involvement, but not high general work involvement, was significantly associated with the expectation of Imposed Disruption, as was an unsatisfactory current leisure experience. The most popular content areas for preretirement education were financial management, hobbies, and physical health. These results are discussed, and a number of implications for preretirement education arising from the results are noted.