Predicting the retirement intentions and attitudes of professional workers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the intentions about and attitudes toward retirement of professional workers, one of the more neglected groups in the retirement literature. Four types of professionals were represented: attorneys, social workers, high school teachers, and college professors. Intentions were defined in terms of projections regarding when respondents planned to retire, consideration of early retirement, and thinking about life after retirement. Attitudes were measured by using a set of three previously developed attitude scales. Six kinds of independent variables were controlled: (a) certain social factors (gender, age, and profession), (b) alienation from work and everyday life, (c) work history, (d) life-long habits of using free time constructively, (e) extensiveness of financial preparation, and plans for second careers and new involvements were the most consistent predictors of both intentions and attitudes. Alienation and certain types of financial preparation were by far the major variables.