The Roles of Leisure Attitudes and Self-Efficacy on Attitudes Toward Retirement Among Retirees: A Sense of Coherence Theory Approach

Abstract

Retirement has become a common phenomenon in our society. However, it still is a major life transition especially to older adults, since it affects their lives in many ways.Antonovsky (1987) asserted that coping well with such a significant transition depends on sense of coherence (SOC), or how we view the situation/world. While diverse resources could determine SOC, the relationships between SOC and leisure related resources have been overlooked. Therefore, this study explored the roles of leisure attitudes and leisure self-efficacy on attitudes toward retirement using SOC theory. Moreover, it examined how retirement decision (retired voluntarily or forcedly) influenced the relationships among the main factors.In this study, a total of 423 respondents who are aged between 55 and 75, retired from their primary career and now residing in Illinois State were recruited through an on-line survey venue. The respondents were asked to complete the on-line questionnaire including the questions related to demographic information, leisure attitudes (LA), leisure self-efficacy (LSE), sense of coherence (SOC) and attitudes toward retirement (ATR). The data was analyzed employing structural equation modeling (SEM) and an Independent T-Test using both SPSS and AMOS software.The results showed that leisure variables (i.e., LA and LSE) were substantial resources for the respondents' SOC and ultimately contributed to a positive ATR. Moreover, SOC played a partial mediator role between leisure variables and ATR, which indicates that it is a prominent determinant of ATR. Lastly, voluntary retirees showed (statistically?) significantly higher scores on all the main factors and were more likely to utilize leisure sources actively than forced retirees. This study contributes to the SOC and leisure literature as it expands SOC theory by applying it to different population and context. Moreover, it confirmed the possible relationship iii between SOC and ATR, the reliabilities and validities of the main factors as well as their components. Furthermore, this study not only sheds the light on the importance of leisure in retirement, but also highlights the necessity of promoting leisure-focused retirement planning programs.

Leisure behavior and sense of coherence in the context of depression

“…This finding supports the hypothesis introduced by Caldwell () regarding possible links between leisure and SOC. The current study provided stronger evidence to demonstrate the link by addressing an issue in existing empirical studies by Lammel (), Lee et al (), and Forsberg et al (). Namely, we used valid and reliable measures for leisure‐generated resources.…”

“…The limitations of the study were the author-developed intrapersonal outcome measurement and small sample size, which might have been resulted in an inaccurate estimation of the relationship with SOC. In contrast, a study by Lee et al (2018) that used standardized scales and significantly larger sample (n = 423) reported that positive leisure attitude and self-efficacy were associated with better SOC among community-living retired older adults. Although the results of structural equation modeling demonstrated positive associations between leisure attitude (Leisure Attitude Scale; Teixeira & Freire, 2013), leisure self-efficacy (New General Self-Efficacy Scale; Chen, Gully, & Eden, 2001), and SOC (SOC-13; Antonovsky, 1987), the relationships were relatively weak (0.16-0.36).…”

“…What makes the overall stress–health relationship more complicated, however, is the link between leisure and SOC. Researchers have demonstrated that there is a link between leisure and SOC (Caldwell, ; Lammel, ; Lee, Payne, & Berdychevsky, ), in samples without depression. Considering the importance of a stress‐resistance capacity, the relationship between leisure and SOC is important because it may call an attention to include leisure into treatment in community psychology.…”

Relationship Between Mental Health and the Education Level in Elderly People: Mediation of Leisure Attitude

“…Tsai et al (2014) referred in their research that participation in leisure activity is a consequential determinant for successful aging and leisure activity is positively related to motivation (Wu, 2008) and to a leisure attitude. A leisure attitude is an essential element in the study of leisure experiences, and individuals with a favorable attitude toward leisure get more benefits from that involvement (Orsega-Smith et al, 2007;Lee et al, 2018). A leisure attitude can be understood as the cognition and positive or negative affection for leisure, and the prepared status to face leisure life (Ragheb and Beard, 1982;Bennett, 1998;Tsai et al, 2014).…”

“…A leisure attitude can be understood as the cognition and positive or negative affection for leisure, and the prepared status to face leisure life (Ragheb and Beard, 1982;Bennett, 1998;Tsai et al, 2014). Literature suggests that leisure is also a significant tool in the life change to retirement (Mannell, 2007;Scherger et al, 2011;Nimrod and Janke, 2012;Lee et al, 2018). In the case of retired people, an attitude of positive leisure is related to a better health lifestyle (Tsai et al, 2014), a greater leisure participation (Searle and Iso-Ahola, 1988;Tsai et al, 2014), and low boredom experiences (Iso-Ahola and Weissinger, 1987;Tsai et al, 2014), and people who have a positive attitude concerning leisure achieve a more successful retirement (Carpenter and Patterson, 2004).…”