The relationship between making a voluntary or a forced retirement decision, retirement age, attitudes towards aging, perceived ageism at work, and between well-being and self-image among males.

Retirement from work is an important milestone in man's late age and brings changes in his everyday routine, in his task performing in his social relations, in his income and in more other factors. Last decades, owing to life expectancy which has become longer, old aged adults spend more and more time in retirement.

According to Mazar (2006), retiree population in the country can be devided into two sub groups: a retirement according to age: normative retirement – at the obligatory retirement age and early retirement – before obligatory retirement age; b. voluntary retirement at will: people who want and choose to retire or people who are forced to retire because of system constrains or because of personal reasons and if they could they would go on working.

In my research I have examined the differences between the diverse groups of the retiree population. I have specifically examined the relationship between accepting the decision to retire from work (voluntary retirement/involuntary retirement) and age of retirement (normative retirement/early retirement) and the retiree mental well being and self image.

The main assumption of the research had been that there would be differences between workers who retired in early retirement and workers who retired in normative retirement [early-retirement-workers and normative-retirement-workers], as well as differences between workers who chose to retire and workers who were forced to retire. I had assumed that workers who retired in normative retirement would report on better wellbeing and self image than workers who retired in early retirement, as well as workers who chose to retire from work would report on higher indexes of mental wellbeing and self image than workers who were forced to retire.

In addition I had expected to find a connection between the type of retirement (normative/early) and the decision of retirement (voluntary/involuntary), to the way retiree would perceive ageism (discrimination on the basis of age) at work and their attitudes towards aging (positive or negative). All these would mediate the connection between the retiree perception of ageism at work and their attitudes towards aging and the retiree subjective wellbeing and self image.

The research included 160 men who retired from a security organization, in the ages of 58 to 68, out of which 88 (55%) retired in normative retirement and 72 (45%) retired in early retirement. The data was collected among retirees who participated in four retirement seminars organized by the company – two normative retirement seminars and two early retirement seminars. The researcher turned to the whole audience of each seminar, in the beginning of the day, explained about the research and its aims and distributed the questionnaires among the retirees.

According to the main assumption of the research, among those who retired in normative retirement, distinctive higher indexes of self image and satisfaction of life at old age, were found. In addition, among those who retired in early retirement, distinctive differences were found concerning both attitudes to old age and ageism the retirees had experienced at work. Retirees in early retirement reported on more negative attitudes to old age and much experience of ageism at work in comparison to retirees who retired in normative retirement.

Following the research and its findings and the existence of a significant and distinctive difference of indexes between the retirees in early retirement and the retirees in normative retirement, applying there arises the need to adjust to each group population a suitable preparing retirement process according to its different characteristics. That would improve adaptability to life and wellbeing after retiring, both for those who retire in normative and for those who retire in early retirement.