Gender, Residential Areas, Retirement Transitions, and Psychological Well-Being of the Elderly

은퇴가 심리적 안녕에 미치는 영향에 관한 종단적 연구: 노인의 성과 거주지역을 중심으로

This study examined whether a relationship between retirement transitions and psychological well-being of the elderly may differ by gender and residential areas, and whether associative factors of psychological well-being may vary by gender and residential areas. The sample included 1,124 older adults aged 60 and over, which derived from the first wave and the third wave data of the "Aging and the Quality of Life of the Elderly in Korea: A Longitudinal Study" living in Seoul and Chuncheon. The total sample was divided into four sub-samples(urban male elders, rural male elders, urban female elders, and rural female elders) to answer research questions. Psychological well-being was measured by measured by the PGCMS developed by Lawton, and a retirement variable had four categories: being continuously non-retired, newly retired, newly non-retired, and being continuously retired with a reference group of being continuously non-retired. Multivariate OLS regression was run separately for the four groups. For urban male elders, retirement transition was associated with worse psychological well-being whereas no relationship between retirement transitions and psychological well-being was found for rural male elders, urban female elders, and rural female elders. Associative factors of psychological well-being varied by gender and residential areas. The findings implies that a relationship between retirement transitions and psychological well-being of the elderly may differ by gender and residential areas, and these differential effects of retirement transitions may be attributable to different life experiences and economic activities through a life course and different roles after retirement. Also, different associative factors of psychological well-being for the four sub-samples reflect variations in their different life course.

본 논문은 서울과 춘천지역 거주자를 대상으로 실시한 "고령화와 한국 노인의 삶의 질에 관한 조사"의 1차년도와 3차년도 패널자료를 이용하여, 노인의 성과 거주 지역에 따라 은퇴로의 진입이 심리적 안녕에 미치는 영향이 다른지를 분석하였다. 전체 표본(n=1,124)을 도시 남성노인, 농촌 남성노인, 도시 여성노인, 농촌 여성노인으로 구분하여 은퇴로의 진입과 심리적 안녕과의 관계를 살펴본 결과, 도시 남성노인에게서만 은퇴로의 진입이 심리적 안녕에 부정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구결과는 은퇴로의 진입과 심리적 안녕과의 관계가 노인의 성, 거주 지역에 따라 다름을 보여주며, 이러한 차이는 성과 거주 지역에 따라 생애주기 동안 경험한 경제활동, 가정내 역할, 은퇴 이후 역할 등의 차이에 영향을 받은 것으로 보여진다.