[The transition towards retirement: adaptation of the Retirement Satisfaction Inventory scale in a Spanish sample of early-pensioners]

Abstract

Objectives: This study provides psychometric data for the Spanish adaptation of the scale of Retirement Satisfaction Inventory (RSI). We explore the factor structure and psychometric properties a sample of Spanish early retirees. RSI measures the motivation to retirement, satisfaction with life in retirement and leisure activities.

Material and methods: The RSI scale (Floyd et al, 1992) was applied to a sample of 638 Spanish early-pensioners with a mean age of 61.28 (SD: 5.77) years and a mean age at early retirement of 53.89 years (SD: 2.71). An exploratory factorial analysis was performed using the SPSS statistics package, and a confirmatory factorial using the AMOS 6.0 module. The data collection process was carried out by means of the questionnaires by post method.

Results: The adaptation of the RSI to Spanish showed a three-scale structure:: the reasons for retirement, satisfaction with life in retirement, and leisure activities. These scales showed a structure with four, two and three main factors, respectively, which differ slightly from those reported in the original instrument.The confirmatory factorial analysis demonstrated the optimum fit of the model for the three scales.

Conclusions: The RSI adaptation to Spanish provides a tool that could asses the motivation towards retirement during the leaving work process, satisfaction with retirement life, and the leisure sources in the Spanish early retired population.