Geriatric community health workers’ views about aging,work, and retirement: implications for geriatrics and gerontology education

ABSTRACT

Seasoned geriatric community health workers offered valuable data that will inform educators and community health workers working with older persons. Geriatric community health workers’ views about retirement and about facilitators and barriers that keep them engaged with older adults during retirement were identified. Twenty geriatric community health workers participated in semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted by the research team. Sixty percent of the participants (N = 12) reported plans not to work during retirement, although 40% (N = 8) expressed interest in full- or part-time employment post-retirement. When asked about their expectations to stay in the field of aging or gerontology in some capacity during retirement, 30% (N = 6) expected to stay in gerontology during retirement. The findings from this research will help organizations and educational institutions create programs and resources that will encourage geriatric community health workers to continue working in the field of aging during retirement.     

The complex route to success: complex problem-solving skills in the prediction of university success

Successful completion of a university degree is a complex matter. Based on considerations regarding the demands of acquiring a university degree, the aim of this paper was to investigate the utility of complex problem-solving (CPS) skills in the prediction of objective and subjective university success (SUS). The key finding of this study was that CPS was not only strongly correlated to objective university success but also explained university grade point averages (GPA) of N?=?78 German business students even after intelligence and high-school GPA were controlled for. In addition, priority setting while working on a complex problem explained self-rated SUS. Given this incremental validity over the most established predictors of objective university success and its versatility, we argue that CPS may be a valuable addition to existing predictors in university applicant selection.     

Knowing when to Retire: The First Step Towards Financial Planning in Malaysia

This article draws upon expected retirement age cohorts as a main determinant to financial planning preparation in Malaysia. The return rate was 55% from 600 questionnaires distributed. Five hypotheses were analyzed using hierarchical and stepwise regression analysis. The results revealed that expected retirement age cohort variables made significant contribution to financial planning preparation as well as personal orientation towards retirement planning, particularly the younger age cohort. There is an effect on personal orientation towards retirement planning. No significant effect was found between expected retirement age cohort and current financial resources, but older age cohorts were relatively more significant predictors.     

Subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept predict academic achievement: Evidence from a selective student population

The study examined the relationship between implicit theories, goal orientations, subjective and test estimates of intelligence, academic self-concept, and achievement in a selective student population (N = 300). There was no direct impact of implicit theories of intelligence and goal orientations on achievement. However, subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept had incremental predictive value over conventional intelligence when predicting achievement accounting for more than 50% of its variance. The obtained pattern of results is presented via structural equation models and interpreted within a dynamic regulative systems framework suggesting the importance of further studying complex sets of achievement predictors that include ability, personality and mediating constructs.     

Assessing the impact of financial education programs: A quantitative model

Prior studies disagree regarding the effectiveness of financial education programs, especially those offered in the workplace. To explain such measurement differences in evaluation and outcomes, we employ a stochastic life cycle model with endogenous financial knowledge accumulation and investigate how financial education programs optimally shape key economic outcomes. This approach permits us to measure how such programs shape wealth accumulation, financial knowledge, and participation in sophisticated assets (e.g. stocks) across heterogeneous consumers. We apply conventional program evaluation econometric techniques to simulated data, distinguishing selection and treatment effects. We show that the more effective programs provide follow-up in order to sustain the knowledge acquired by employees via the program; in such an instance, financial education delivered to employees around the age of 40 can raise savings at retirement by close to 10%. By contrast, one-time education programs do produce short-term but few long-term effects. We also measure how accounting for selection affects estimates of program effectiveness for those who participate. Comparisons of participants and non-participants can be misleading, even using a difference-in-difference strategy when the common-trend assumption is unlikely to hold. Random program assignment is needed to evaluate program effects on those who participate.     

如何提高财务专业应届本科学生考研成功率——以宜宾学院财务管理专业为例

在当前的考研热潮中,在校大学生考研的人数逐年增加,但考研成功率普遍较低,尤其是财务专业学生更甚。文章针对宜宾学院财务专业学生进行问卷调查,从主观和客观两方面,分析了财务专业应届毕业生考研成功率低的原因,提出了一些具体措施和建议。     

Students' motivational goals and beliefs about effort and ability as they relate to college academic success

The problem of predicting who will succeed in college is currently of critical importance during an era of spiraling costs and declining enrollments and resources. Previous research has focused on academic factors such as high school grades and/or college entrance exam scores. There is a dearth of studies, however, examining psychological processes as predictors of students' participation and satisfaction, which are both indices of college success. One hundred twenty-five college freshmen at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University participated in a study designed to examine psychological processes underlying college academic success. The results indicated that students' rules of reasoning about effort and ability, their motivational goals, and their confidence in their intelligence and strongly related to students' types of participation in the college experience and their level of satisfaction. These relationships and their implications are examined carefully and suggestions for adminstrators and academicians in higher education are offered.     

Infusing Aging Content Into a Research Course: A National Organization and University Partnership

Increased longevity coupled with inadequate savings makes retirement savings and investment research increasingly important. A policy-capturing method was used to examine the relative importance of 6 demographic predictors on the retirement investment decisions of 64 working adults. All predictors were significant predictors of the investment. In addition, although age differences on amount of investment were not significant, interactions between participant age and vignette information were found. Results indicate that older and younger adults make similar decisions using different pieces of information. These findings have implications for individuals planning for retirement and financial professionals who help others make decisions.     

Job involvement in a career transition from university to employment

Job involvement–alienation was studied over three time points with a sample of undergraduate engineers undergoing a career transition from university to paid employment. Data from Newton and Keenan (1991) were re-analyzed under a latent growth curve modelling (LGCM) perspective, in order to provide an alternative analysis of the development of job involvement across that situational change, and to test the hypothesis that job involvement actually changed over that time period. University course satisfaction and anxiety were included as time-invariant predictors of growth, and compared to ascertain whether there would be differential effects of both predictors. The results supported the hypothesized relationships, indicating a significant growth in job involvement–alienation over time, with course satisfaction and course anxiety showing an equivalent impact on its change trajectory.     

中小学新教师工作满意度影响因素的实证研究

本文基于对全国2976名在中小学工作一年后的师范毕业生的跟踪调查,考察其工作满意度的影响因素。多元线性回归分析发现,客观因素,如性别、学段、毕业学校、任教学校所在地、工作量对新教师工作满意度没有产生显著性影响。而教师职业热诚度、感知工作负担、人际关系、教学能力与发展需要因素以及学校的制度环境因素对新教师的工作满意度产生显著影响。因此,为提高新教师工作满意度,需要重视教师主观因素和学校制度因素的关键作用,塑造新教师的积极职业价值观,营造有利于其成长的组织环境,关注其工作适应状态和发展需求。     

Simulation of institutional incentive plans for faculty early retirement using a behavioral model of retirement decision-making

This paper uses coefficient estimates from a model of retirement decision-making for faculty members in higher education institutions to simulate the impact of financial incentives for early retirement. The results suggest that plans can be designed to induce relatively large numbers of faculty members to retire prior to the mandatory retirement age. However, the costs of hiring replacements plus pension subsidies can be substantial, especially if the subsidies are directed toward faculty members with relatively low salaries. Hence, institutions wishing to provide open positions to hire new faculty may prefer different incentive plans than those whose goals do not require filling each position with a new faculty member.     

关于事业单位财务管理中存在的问题探析

现在财政体制的改革不断地发生变化,事业单位财务管理的理念也随之发生改变,以市场经济理论为指导,以财经法规为依据,以理财为重点,以有利于自身发展为目的的财务管理也成为事业单位财务管理中的新机制。本文就针对现阶段事业单位中所存在的问题进行分析和阐述,同时也指出相应的改革措施,以便大家今后在遇到这些问题的时候可以及时地进行解决。     

测算养老保险替代率的模型和方法

近年来,随着中国养老社会保险制度的逐步确立,基本养老保险中的替代率问题受到了人们越来越多的关注。本文根据中国现行基本养老保险的规定,提出并建立了测算养老保险替代率的模型和方法,并运用实际数据进行了初步的测算,最后由测算的结果得出以下结论：一、中国基本养老保险中由于男女职工退休年龄的不同,直接导致女性职工退休后替代率低于男性职工替代率;二、保险替代率随着工资增长率的增加将随之下降,且收入越高者,其退休后的替代率越低。随着中国经济的不断发展,工资水平的不断提高,原先高替代率低保障的养老保险,必将为低替代率高保障的养老保险所取代。     

以金融危机为契机：提高文科师范类大学生就业的对策思考

在此次金融危机的大背景下,重新审视大学生特别是文科师范类大学生面临的就业难问题。分析了我国文科师范类大学生出现就业困难的几个原因,并根据这些主客观原因提出了一系列解决措施。加强文科师范类大学生教学实习和第二专业学习以及培育新的就业理念是有效脱摆文科师范类大学生就业难的局面的正确措施。     

Retirement lifestyle conceptualization and well-being in recent retirees

ABSTRACT

The retirement literature contains four distinct conceptualizations of retirement lifestyle. Retirement can be seen as an opportunity to make a new start, the continuation of a pre-retirement lifestyle, an unwelcome imposed disruption, and a transition to old age. This research examines the conceptualizations of retirement lifestyle and how they relate to retirement adjustment and well-being in recent retirees (N = 173). A factor analysis confirmed the existence of four factors identifying four retirement conceptualizations. Although previous studies have presented retirement conceptualizations as mutually incompatible, significant relationships were found between them in this research, indicating that recent retirees can synchronously conceptualize seemingly distinct lifestyles. The cluster analysis identified three types of retirees in the sample. These types were labeled to reflect the prevailing retirement lifestyle concepts. The first type of retiree (N = 90) is “New beginning and continuation,” the second (N = 44) is “Imposed disruption without hope,” and the third is (N = 39) “Accepted disruption and ending.” The analysis of variance revealed the three types differ significantly in the level of satisfaction in retirement, subjective happiness, and life meaningfulness – with the highest level being found in the first retiree type and the lowest level in the second retiree type. The findings suggest that conceptualizations of retirement lifestyle change over time and affect psychological well-being in the recent retiree cohort. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are outlined.     

FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT: AN IMPERATIVE FOR BABY BOOMER WOMEN

The baby boomer generation is quickly moving to the time of retirement. Signs point to the need for boomers to assume more responsibility for their financial security in retirement. In general, older women today do not have the financial resources that men do and are poorer in retirement. Conditions seem to be pointing to the fact that boomer women are moving in that direction as well. However, women seem to prepare less for retirement. This article looks at some of the reasons for women's lack of planning and saving for financial security in retirement. Economic and psychosocial reasons that contribute to this lack of preparation are examined, and some recommendations for change are suggested.     

我国民办高校财务管理问题研究

随着民办高校数量和规模的急剧扩张,其财务管理暴露出越来越多的问题,这些问题既阻碍了民办高校自身的发展,也影响了社会资源的合理配置。民办高校应积极探索财务管理的新思路、新举措,采取有效措施改善其财务管理活动,以适应社会主义市场经济发展的新形势。     

ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF OLDER ADULT EDUCATION ON SUBJECTIVE WELL‐BEING

The number of educational programs for older adults is increasing. It has been proposed that older adults maintain or increase their subjective well‐being by participating in such programs. Indeed, many educational programs targeted for older adults have objectives that deal with enhancing subjective well‐being. However, program evaluations that assess the subjective well‐being of participants are infrequent. A literature search located only seven research reports including data on the impact of educational programs on the subjective well‐being of older adults. The studies mostly were pre‐experimental, contained a variety of outcome measures, and yielded inconclusive results. In this paper, we discuss a global and multidimensional perspective of subjective well‐being encompassing the constructs of happiness, morale, and life satisfaction by specifying their location on temporal, cognitive, and affective dimensions. We also point out that current scales used to assess these constructs may be inappropriate, because the content of specific items may be inconsistent with program objectives. Recommendations are offered, in terms of measurement and research design issues, for upgrading the evaluation of educational interventions targeted for older adults.     

The effects of student financial aid on access to higher education: An analysis of progress with special consideration of minority enrollment

An objective of the federal student financial aid programs is to promote access to higher education, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. During the past few years, concern has been expressed by diverse segments of the higher education community that this objective is not being met for black and Hispanic students. This article analyzes the effects of aid offers on enrollment decisions by college applicants from the classes of 1972, 1980, and 1982, and analyzes the effects the type of aid offered had on enrollment by minority students in the classes of 1980 and 1982. The principal findings from this analysis are that (1) all types of aid packages had a positive impact on enroliment decisions by college applicants in all three classes, and (2) all types of aid had a positive influence on enrollment by minority students.     

Effort–reward imbalance and overcommitment in UK academics: implications for mental health,satisfaction and retention

This study utilises the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) model of job stress to predict several indices of well-being in academics in the UK: mental ill health, job satisfaction and leaving intentions. This model posits that (a) employees who believe that their efforts are not counterbalanced by sufficient rewards will experience impaired well-being and (b) feelings of ERI are more frequent and damaging in employees who are overcommitted to the job. A sample of 649 academic employees working in UK higher education institutions completed validated measures. Findings showed that academics who found their work more demanding, who perceived greater rewards and who were less overcommitted typically reported poorer well-being across all measures. Rewards related to esteem/support and financial/status appeared to be particularly important in protecting academics from the negative impact of work-related efforts. Potential interventions are discussed that draw on the ERI framework to improve mental health, satisfaction and retention in the sector.