Work ability and psychosocial work stress - predictors of retirement intention among older teachers.

Objectives: Many teachers worldwide retire early for health or personal reasons. Predictors could help to identify teachers at risk in order to counteract this development. The study therefore investigates whether the intention to retire can be predicted by work ability, psychosocial work stress and work behaviour.

Material and methods: The data came from a representative cross-sectional study of German secondary school teachers (N = 18 971). The analyses included 1496 full-time teachers aged ≥50 years (58% female). Teachers were assigned to 1 of 2 groups based on their intention to take early or regular retirement. A binomial regression model was used to analyze the predictive power of the intention to retire for the following factors: work ability index (WAI) - factor 1, effort-reward ratio (ER ratio), overcommitment (OC), age and gender. In addition, a qualitative analysis of the teachers' suggestions was carried out regarding which measures would make the regular retirement age attainable.

Results: Half (49%) of the teachers intended to retire early, with the proportion of women being around twice as high (67%) as men (33%) (d = 0.37). The analyzed predictors explained a total of 22% of the variance. The WAI factor 1 proved to be the most important predictor (variance explanation: 14%). Effort-reward ratio and OC each contributed around 10% to the variance explanation of the retirement intention. The probability of taking early retirement increased with decreasing work ability, increasing ER ratio and a high tendency to overcommit; age and gender were of secondary importance. Teachers suggested a reduction in compulsory hours (46%), relief from extracurricular tasks (45%) and smaller classes (29%) as decisive measures for achieving regular retirement.

Conclusions: Work ability index factor 1, ER ratio and OC could be used as part of occupational health prevention programmes to identify and advise older teachers at risk who need support. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2024;37(5):508-23.