Life satisfaction and perceived social support as predictors of retirement stress among nigeria public service retirees

The study examined life satisfaction and social support as predictors of retirement stress among pensioners who retired from public service. The participants were 401 pensioners from Enugu State civil service who were made up of two hundred and thirteen (213) males and a hundred and eighty-eight (188) females sampled during the 2016 Enugu State civil service pensioners’ Bio-data verification exercise. Their age ranged from 51-76 years with a mean age of 68.90 years and standard deviation of 6.48. The participants were selected through a simple random sampling whereas the sample population was selected through a purposive technique. Data were collected using Retirement stress inventory (Omoluabi, 1996); Life Satisfaction Index-Short Form (Barrette & Murk, 2009) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988). Predictive design and multiple linear regression analysis and were used as design and statistics to test the significance of the hypotheses. Data analyzed confirmed that life satisfaction and social support both significantly and negatively predicted retirement stress at β = 4.16* p < .05, (n = 401) and β = 3.35* p < .05, (n = 401) respectively while social support significantly and positively correlated life satisfaction at r = 603*, p < .05 (n = 401). Considering the practical implications which arise as a result of retirement stress, there is need for government to embrace consistent review of Public Service Act and Pensions Act to see where improvements are necessary to enrich the service and help reduce retirement stress for upcoming retirees.