A Comparative Analysis of Different Social Adjustment Variables among Retired Old Aged Women and Men

 

Pintu Sil

 

Assistant Professor, State Institute of Physical Education for Women, Hastings House, Alipore, Kolkata, India.

 

ABSTRACT

 

The old aged men and women are facing adjustment problems in the important spheres of their social life. The purpose of the present study was to find out the magnitude of different social adjustments variables among old age women and men and compare them between two genders. A total of 50 old aged people were randomly selected for the study among them 28 was men and 22 were women. Their age was in between 60 to 80 years. Different dimensions of social adjustments were the criterion in this study. Shamsad-Jasbir Old-age Adjustment Inventory (SJOAI, 1995) was used to measure the variables. Mean and standard deviation were used as descriptive statistics and t-test was used to analyze the mean difference between old age men and women. All statistical analyses were done using standard statistical software. Only 0.05 level of confidence was considered in this study. Result revealed that the old age men were in better position in health, emotional and financial aspect than women and all these difference were statistically significant. On other side old age women had better position in home, social and marital aspect of social adjustment than old age men but except marital status all mean difference were statistically insignificant. Overall social adjustment for men was significantly better than old age women. From the findings it was concluded that both retired old age women and men had lower level of social adjustment (below 45 percentile) and old age men was in superior position than women.

 

Key words: Social Adjustment, Old age women and men, Retired family life.

 

INTRODUCTION

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The twenty -first century is projected to be the century of population ageing, and even the size of the population is expected to decrease considerably in a number of countries over the coming decades (Lutz, Sanderson, and Scherbov, 2004; United Nations, 2005).^[1,2] Old age is considered the final period of life. It is an obvious fact that every individual has to pass through this stage. Physiologically, old age may be said to have arrived to an individual when general decline or debilitating diseases have resulted in extreme frailty, displacement or invalidism. Psychologically, the mental processes have slowed down and the individual turns to self contemplation, retrospection and concern over the meaning of life.

The past recognition of old men and women in the family neighborhood and community as mentor has been reduced to a good extent in modern Indian life. Obviously, a retired old man or woman perceives in certain family situations of his or her low social worth and self-esteem. In their futile effort to rationalize respective effects of frustrations they perceive significant psychological distance with younger generation and develop adjustment problems in the important spheres of social life. These people are facing stress for death anxiety, sense of isolation, feeling of social deprivation due to negligence, feeling of disability and dependency and low self esteem. Several researchers have reported that a large section of old men and women badly need health care, financial assistance, social recognition and counseling service to cope with concomitant stress for overcoming these situations (Dutta, 1989; Saha 1984; Ananthaman, 1982).^[3-5] Shyadan and Paramjeet (2003) remarked “adjustment to retirement may often be difficult for individuals as it requires adopting a new life style, characterized by decreasing income and increased free time”.^[6] Christine, A. P. (2003) found that adjustment to retirement for professional women may be enhanced by utilizing work related skills, maintained activities and related skills.^[7] Samuel, O. S. (2006) investigated the relationship of retirement context and psychological factors and findings indicate that retirement status, job challenges, financial situation, physical health, social support separately predicted psychological well being of retires.^[8] Present study was designed to find out the magnitude of social adjustments of retired old age people of Bengal in different spheres of modern life and compare them between two genders.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

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Subject

          A total of 50 old aged people were randomly selected for the study.  Among them 28 was men and 22 were women. Their age was in between 60 to 80 years.

Criterion Measure

          Old age social adjustments were the criterion in this study.

Tool and Test Used

          Shamsad-Jasbir Old-age Adjustment Inventory (SJOAI, 1995)^[9] was used to measure the variables.

Statistical Procedure

           Mean and standard deviation were used as descriptive statistics for each different social adjustment variables and significance of difference between two means was computed by t-test. Only 0.05 level of confidence was considered in this study. All statistical analyses were done using Excel- 2007software.

 

RESULTS AND FINDINGS         

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  Table-1: Descriptive and Inferential statistics of integrated score and percentile value of different social adjustment variables of old age men and women

** Significant at both 0.05 and 0.01 level.*Significant at 0.05 level. ^Not significant statistically.

 

The Shamsad-Jasbir Old-age Adjustment Inventory (SJOAI) measured old age adjustment by measuring six different aspects of social life. These are health, home, social, marital, emotional and financial dimension of old age people. The mean and standard deviation of integrated score of health, home, social, marital, emotional and financial dimension of old age people have presented in Table-1. Integrated score of health, home, social, marital, emotional and financial dimension of retired old age women and men have presented graphically in Figure-1. The t-value for the integrated score of health, home, social, marital, emotional and financial dimension of old age social adjustment for both retired old age men and women has also presented in Table-1 which indicated that retired old age women had higher mean value in home, social and marital status than men and old age men were in superior position in health, emotional and financial dimension of old age social adjustment. Table-1 also indicated that except for home and social aspects all the t-values between old age men and women were significant statistically. Percentile value of health, home, social, marital, emotional and financial dimension of retired old age women and men have presented graphically in Figure-2.

 

Figure-1: Graphical representation of integrated score of health, home, social, marital, emotional and financial variables of old age social adjustment between women and men

 

Figure-2: Graphical representation of Percentile value of health, home, social, marital, emotional and financial variables of old age social adjustment between women and men

 

Figure-3: Graphical representation of overall old age social adjustment

 

The mean and standard deviation of overall old age social adjustment integrated score of old age man and women has presented in Table-2. As per the normative scale of the Shamsad-Jasbir Old-age Adjustment Inventory (SJOAI) the mean value of old age social adjustment for both men and women were below the 45 percentile (Table-2). The percentile of overall old age adjustment for men was 43.21 and for women it was 36.82. The percentile of overall old age adjustment for retired old age women and men have presented graphically in Figure-3. The details of inferential statistics also have presented in Table-2 which indicated that the t-value of overall old age social adjustment integrated score for both men and women was significant statistically.

 

Table-2: Descriptive and Inferential statistics of integrated score and percentile value of overall social adjustment of old age men and women

** Significant at both 0.05 and 0.01 level

 

DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS

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The emerging changes in the age and sex structure of India’s population, particularly at old and older ages will have a profound impact on the demographic landscape and are expected to pose multifaceted developmental challenges. While the knowledge base with regard to the elderly in terms of their demographic, social and economic conditions, health needs and their living arrangements are fairly extensive in developed countries, it is woefully inadequate in India. Present study found poor social adjustment score in different dimensions of social life between retired old age women and men. Overall social adjustment among old age men and women was very poor which was below the 45 percentile value as per SJOAI 1995. 

Rafiq, T. (2006) conducted a study on adjustment and values of old age people in Kashmir reported that there is significant difference between male and female old age subjects, in all the areas of adjustment, viz. home, health, social, marital and emotional.^[10] Another study on adjustment problems of male and female found that there is significant difference between male and female retirees in their adjustment pattern.^[11] Survey report conducted by BKPAI on the status of elderly people in India on 2012 and found low level of educational attainment, poor level of health, low marital status and low level of economic independency among the elderly population in selected states.^[12] The lower old adjustment level in different dimensions of social life, found in this study was more profound among old age women than old age men. The various indicators of physical and mental well-being show a significant level of poor health among the elderly, with a high proportion of oldest old, poor, illiterate and widows in this category. The analysis on self-rated health shows about 55 per cent of the elderly rating their health as poor or fair on a five point scale. Thus the self-rated health appears to be lower in comparison with that of the elderly population in developed countries. The BKPAI survey report further supported this fact of findings.^[12]

 

CONCLUSION

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From above findings following conclusions were drawn in this study.

1.      Retired old age women were significantly better in marital status than old age man.

2.      Retired old age men were significantly better in health, emotional and financial status than old age woman.

3.      Retired old age men and women have poor overall social adjustment which was below the 45^th percentile.

4.      Poor social adjustment was significantly profound among retired old age women than old age man.

 

REFERENCES

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1.      Lutz, W. Sanderson, W. and Scherbov, S. The End of World Population Growth in the21^st Century: New Challenges for Human Capital Formation and Sustainable Development. (2004); London and Sterling, Virginia: Earthscan.

2.      United Nations. World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision. New York: (2005); United Nations.

3.      Dutta, E. Growing Old in Young India, Sunday Review, The Times of India, Sept. 17, 1989.

4.      Saha, G. B. Some Socio-psychological aspects of aged, Indian Psychological Abstracts, Abst. No. 316. 1984; 1(21): 22-32.

5.      Ananthraman, R. N. Concepting Self among Elderly, Indian Psychological Abstract, Abst. No. 304. 1982; 2(20): 47-51.

6.      singhi, S. and Paramjeet, K. Standing Adjustment to Retirement: International Journal of Gerontology. 2003; Vol.1: 12-14.

7.      Christine,     A.     Price.     Professional     women     retirement adjustment: The Experience of Reestablishing Order. Journal of Ageing Studied.  2003; Department     of     Human Development and Family Science. Ohio University.

8.      Samuel, O. Salami. Relationship of Retirement Context and Psychological Factors. Journal of Women and Aging. 2006; Department      of Guidance and Counseling, Kampala International University.

9.      Shamshad and Jasbir, The Old Age Adjustment Inventory (SJOAI), 1990; National Psychological Corporation, 4/230 Kachiri Ghat Agra-28004, India.

10.  Rafiq, T. Study of Adjustment and Values of Old Age People in Kashmir. An Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, 2006: University of Kashmir.

11.  Lateef, S. Adjustment Problems of Male and Female Retirees in District Shopian and Pulwama. Unpublished M. Ed. Dissertation, 2010, University of Kashmir.

12.  Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India (BKPAI)-2012. Report on the Status of Elderly in Select States of India. 2012; The United Nations Population Fund, 55 Lodi Estate, New Delhi.

 

How to cite this article: Sil P. A comparative analysis of different social adjustment variables among retired old aged women and men. International Journal of Science & Healthcare Research. 2016; 1(1):49-53.

 

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