Mahoney, Helen Joanne (1997) Retired professional women's past, current and future perceptions of their life satisfaction, health status and locus of control. PhD thesis, Victoria University of Technology.

Abstract

This thesis examines one hundred retired professional women's (remembered) past, current, and future perceptions of their life satisfaction, health status, and locus of control. Participants in this Melbourne study completed a questionnaire which included the Life Satisfaction Index-A (LSI-A), Levenson's multidimensional locus of control scale, and a self-rating of health status. In addition, participants were asked a series of questions concerning the differences between their pre-retirement expectations and their actual retirement experiences. Participants also provided written responses to several open-ended questions. Eighty-four of these retired women took part in an interview. Results show that most retired professional women have substantial life satisfaction, robust health, and an internal control orientation. For a majority of women, their retirement life satisfaction, health status, and internality reflects their experience in pre-retirement. Achieving key life preferences and priorities in preretirement,contributed to the life satisfaction, and, to a lesser extent, the health and internality of most women. A failure to achieve key life preferences and priorities usually resulted in diminished life satisfaction and health for participants. Whilst not achieving key life preferences and priorities may have challenged women's control capacities, it does not appear to have altered their locus of control orientation.

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