Personal relation to each of these categories in relation to the new things that gain or lose, determines the nature of the reaction to the fact of the termination of work and retirement. Studies show that the abrupt discontinuation of older people can lead to a state of chronic stress, which is caused by the changing role of the pensioner in the family and society. At the same time, we know that the systematic work prolongs life, improves physical and mental health, gives a sense of social usefulness.
Retirement period is often considered foreign and domestic authors as a crisis, as it implies a significant change in life situation, which is associated with both external factors (the official retirement, the appearance of free time before time work, changing social status, etc.), and with internal (awareness of age-related loss of physical and mental strength, passive-dependent position of the society and the family, which leads to the formation of a new psychosocial status of elderly people). These changes require a rethinking of human values, relation to reality, to him, that is, alteration of consciousness, the search for new opportunities and ways to implement its activities. In older people, the process of restructuring of consciousness associated with retirement, occurs in different ways: some have faster. easier, while others – for a long time and with considerable “losses.” This is the so-called process of adaptation to retirement.
Retirement as a “marker” event in one’s life
There are some events the individual life course, which in psychology called psihobiosotsialnye change or transition periods. These events can be predicted, although the data on their predictability, contradictory. In a study of EM Hetherington and RB Bolts [Hetherington, Bakes, 1988], three types of such changes. Normative age-related changes – the biological changes (eg menopause) and social (such as marriage and retirement, which tend to occur at a certain age). These events are important for understanding the cohort differences, for example, people of the same age at the same time, go to school, they have approximately the same time, retirement, etc. These events are associated with certain social expectations. Regulatory historical changes – they are historical events that affect the fate of whole generations, or a large group of almost one and the same historical period (eg, wars, economic crises, epidemics, etc.). Nonnormative changes – is idiosyncratic (unique, describing a person) changes, such as divorce, unemployment and illness.
In the literature, there are two names of the age and non-legislative changes: “marker” or “signal” events and “critical life events” or “processes.” On a personal level, an event refers to two components of the experience of the individual. The first is expected events that shape the lives of most people. They are living in the parental home, marriage, birth of children, child care home, retirement, etc. Some events usually occur early in adulthood (marriage and fatherhood / motherhood), and others – much later, such as care retired, but there are those that can occur at any age, such as the loss of a loved one. Last relate to the second component and the experience of the individual, usually a negative connotation (loss of children, or work, poor health, or the unexpected loss of a heavy mountain).
Consider the effect of one of the “markers” of events – retirement – for the individual and his subsequent life.
A little history will help us to understand the problem. So, when people first began to retire?
The vast majority of older people do the work in a traditional society for as long as possible. Head of the family was not afraid of violent “social resignation” in his old age, as the most important function of adult personality – work – had a lifelong character. At any age, most men continued to work. There are examples from the history of England in the XVII., When 90-year-old continued to work. Even in the 1900 national census in England, USA, France, found 60% of men over the age of 65. However, according to official data, their numbers began to decline from the 1930s very quickly. Today in England, only 7% of men over 65 are still working.
Easier job, which passed by a man as getting old, was mostly poorly paid. Work for older women are also poorly paid, but for many, it is the income, as they do not earn, when their children were young.
Therefore, retirement in the modern sense was first unusual for most people, but then quickly went into action. Retirement for men was practiced in England (since the XVII century.). Merit for a pension, the length and size of payment discussed since the late XVII century. leading lawyers, including Daniel Defoe and later Thomas Paine. The first small group of Englishmen, which was provided with a pension in 1672, – underpaid warrant Navy and shortly after that – customs officers. The first general pension scheme in Britain was founded in 1810 for civilian agencies. Full pension program in 1859 allowed the men to retire at age 60.