Quality of Life of Retired Pensioners in Madurai District

Abstract

The employees working in the government sector retire from the service once they cross the age of superannuation and generally remain as the elderly population in society with the privilege of availing benefits of social security such as provident fund, gratuity and pension. There is a tendency among the people in our society that economic privileges of the retired elderly community enjoy better social support, enhanced psychological wellbeing and greater quality of life rather than a common elder who is not a retired pensioner from government service. Many studies have been conducted among the elderly population but very few among retired pensioners. Apart from the economic privileges, the retired pensioners also remain as generic elders. This study attempts to examine the possible relationships between social support, psychological well-being and the quality of life of pensioners. The study included 150 retired pensioners from a pensioner’s association in Madurai by using descriptive research design and self-structured tool. The results reveal that there exists a strong positive relationship among social support, psychological well-being and quality of life of retired pensioners. The developed model, which examined the relationship and influence among perceived social support, psychological well-being and quality of life, resulted in a good fit model. The study also disproves the notion that economic variables such as a monthly pension, employment engagement activities after retirement and secondary income sources apart from the pension are not the contributing factors of quality of life of the retired pensioner.