Faculty of Education - Theses

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Subject: Australia × End date: 2022 × Type: Doctorate × Author: Collie, Rosalie ×

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    Reconceptualising careers in later life
    Collie, Rosalie ( 2004)
    A sample of two hundred and ten older adults, (over 50 years), were involved in an exploratory research project aimed at discovering whether or not interests remain stable throughout the whole of life, what range of interest activities is available in later life and. how the various personality types adapt to retirement conditions.. It was hypothesized that later in life, particularly at the onset of retirement, adults progressed through a critical stage of circumscription and compromise in order to achieve reorientation of their priorities, needs and the available personal and environmental resources in the changing circumstances of retirement. Examination of relevant research literature gave no indication of any epistemological research into the reorientation of interests of older adults; the literature assumes that older adults' interests are fixed and stable following development early in life. Analysis of literature pertaining to older adults and interests led to the application of two theories relating to interests to this research study: Holland's theory of vocational choices and Gottfredson's theory of circumscription and compromise. Analysis: A multi-method approach to research permitted the researcher to discover both causal relationships and processes relating to the interests of older adults. The stability of the results across all parameters is an indication of the validity of the results. There were three stages of data analysis in all. Firstly, statistics derived from several descriptive variables led to a Cluster analysis of the cases. Secondly, two cases, randomly selected from each of the clusters, were subjected to in-depth interviews. The information revealed in these interviews was useful in comparing with, reporting and describing the information revealed in the next stage of the data analysis. Thirdly, Mosaic plots reported and displayed the significance of relationships between the variables; Sex, Occupation, Measured Interests and Leisure Interest activities. Another cluster analysis using Clustan Graphics grouped the cases according to their current leisure activities. Results of analysis: In conclusion, from the analysis, indications are that older adults generally modify their interest activities in retirement to the more gender-neutral types, specifically Social and Artistic. Holland claims that as adults become older, their interests become more differentiated, but this research suggests that the change in interests is more complex: for example, the numbers of older adults involved in Investigative, Enterprising and Conventional interest categories reduce severely after the age of 50, while Social and Artistic categories expand in numbers. A small core of people involved in Realistic activities remains faithful to their interest type throughout this stage of life. The implication of this research is that in the currently existing conditions with limited perceptions of retirement and capabilities of retirees, it is difficult for people to operationalise their interests. It is essential that further research examine ways of correcting this situation so that older adults may continue to remain active in their chosen field of interest for as long as they wish.