Anxiety and depression in middle aged Turkish Retirees

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the two psychological states, namely anxiety and depression, observed during the retirement. It was hypothesized that the non-engaged male retirees will show higher levels of anxiety and depression than alternatively working male retirees and secondly, the male retirees will show higher anxiety and depression levels than female retirees. To test the hypotheses two measurement instruments were used: The State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory. The sample was consisted by 20 non-engaged male retirees, 20 alternatively working male retirees, and 20 nonengaged female retires. An appropriate group of alternatively working female retirees was not found. The results indicate that our hypotheses are supported~ Non-engaged male retires showed the highest anxiety and depression levels while non-engaged female retirees showed the lowest anxiety and depression levels. However, further research is needed in this area since the sample of this study, consisted by highly educated with high income retirees, do not reflect the conditions of all Turkish retires.