Psycho-social transition to retirement and adjustment to retired life: influence on wellbeing and mental health in retired farmers

Abstract

AbstractThis article investigates the relationship between psycho-social transition to retirement on the wellbeing and mental health of retired farmers through their adjustment to retired life. The sample was taken from the Approche Multidisciplinaire Intégrée cohort, a French prospective study of retired farmers living in rural areas in south-western France. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on a sample of 530 participants. The wellbeing and mental health of retirees were investigated through three outcomes: satisfaction with current life, perceived health and depression. Multiple mediator models show that the more retirees consider retirement as a positive event, the better they adapt to the new temporality of their retirement life and the more they feel satisfied with their current life, healthy and less depressed. Acceptance of the end of working life is also a mediator in the perceived health model. These results highlight the centrality of the adjustment to the new temporality induced by retirement. They indicate that the level of this adjustment is linked to how retirement is affectively experienced, regardless of its duration.