THE EFFECT OF NEW OCCUPATION ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF RETIRED PERSONS

The purpose of this paper was to explore inter-group differences in mental and physical health between retired persons who have returned to work and those who are unemployed. Selected demographic attributes (sex, age, years of education, etc.) were also examined for their relationship to mental health. The subjects were a convenience sample of 150 people aged 48 to 72 who were recruited from a retirement centre in Isfahan city (75 newly-employed retired persons, and a control group of 75 unemployed retired persons). The general health questionnaire (GHQ) was applied to measure the status of mental health. The results showed that unemployed retired persons had significantly lower scores than those who had new employment in mental health and, especially, in physical function.