Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
BMC Public Health. 2010 Jan 19;10:22. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-22.
Previous studies have shown that age, physical and mental health status and working circumstances, along with different socio-economic and psychosocial factors affect the retirement process. However, the role of psychological resources, such as sense of coherence (SOC), on the retirement process is still poorly understood. This study investigated the associations between SOC and intentions to retire early and whether these associations were explained by socio-economic, psychosocial and work and health related factors.
The data were derived from the Finnish Health and Social Support (HeSSup) Study. The information was gathered from postal surveys in 1998 (baseline) and in 2003 (follow-up). The analyzed data consisted of 7409 women and 4866 men aged 30-54 at baseline. SOC and background factors including childhood circumstances, language, education, working circumstances, social support, health behaviour and somatic and mental health status were assessed at baseline. The intentions to retire early were assessed at follow-up using logistic regression analysis.
SOC was associated with intentions to retire early among both genders. Socio-economic, psychosocial and work and health behaviour related factors did not influence the association between SOC and intentions to retire early among women and men reporting somatic or mental illness. Further, the association between SOC and intentions to retire early remained among (somatically and mentally) healthy men. Among healthy women the association was weaker and statistically non-significant. Among unhealthy women, the odds ratios of SOC was 0.97 (CI 95% 0.96-0.98) and 0.97 among ill men (CI 95% 0.96-0.98), i.e., each additional SOC score reduced the risk of intentions by 3% among both genders.
Unhealthy employees with low SOC and low education were in the greatest risk to have reported intentions to retire early. SOC had an independent effect on intentions to retire early, and a strong SOC may have a potential to prevent early retirement in groups otherwise at risk. An important challenge would be to target the resources of SOC to the most vulnerable and design appropriate interventions in order to strengthen the level of SOC and hence prolong working years of the aging employees.
先前的研究表明，年龄、身心健康状况和工作环境，以及不同的社会经济和心理社会因素都会影响退休过程。然而，心理资源（如心理一致感）对退休过程的作用仍知之甚少。本研究调查了心理一致感与提前退休意愿之间的关系，以及这些关系是否可以用社会经济、心理社会和工作及健康相关因素来解释。
本研究的数据来源于芬兰健康和社会支持（HeSSup）研究。信息是通过 1998 年（基线）和 2003 年（随访）的邮寄调查收集的。分析的数据包括基线时年龄在 30-54 岁的 7409 名女性和 4866 名男性。心理一致感和背景因素，包括童年环境、语言、教育、工作环境、社会支持、健康行为以及躯体和心理健康状况，均在基线时进行评估。提前退休意愿在随访时使用逻辑回归分析进行评估。
心理一致感与两性提前退休意愿相关。躯体或精神疾病报告者的社会经济、心理社会和工作及健康行为相关因素并不影响心理一致感与提前退休意愿之间的关系。此外，心理一致感与提前退休意愿之间的关联在（躯体和精神）健康男性中仍然存在。在健康女性中，关联较弱且无统计学意义。在不健康女性中，心理一致感的优势比为 0.97（95%CI 95%为 0.96-0.98），而在患病男性中为 0.97（95%CI 95%为 0.96-0.98），即心理一致感每增加一个分数，两性提前退休的风险就会降低 3%。
低 SOC 和低教育水平的不健康员工提前退休的意愿最大。心理一致感对提前退休意愿有独立影响，而较强的心理一致感可能有潜力防止处于风险中的群体提前退休。一个重要的挑战是将心理一致感的资源瞄准最脆弱的群体，并设计适当的干预措施，以增强 SOC 水平，从而延长老年员工的工作年限。
