Posted: November 19th, 2022

The Relationship between Quality of Work

Project description
Research Paper, Sociology
Relationship quality, retirement age, and depression among aging adults
abstract needs to be 150-250 not exceeded and Write your discussion (1 or 2 pages). Your discussion should be based on how your results will connect with or provide a different perspective from previous studies
Abstract
This essay discusses the relationship between quality of work, retirement age and depression among the aging adults. It first discusses the dependability of quality of work on mental health which is again dependent on the age of the worker. The key drivers in the determination of mental health stability are identified as the family status and the education levels of a person. Majority of widowed male workers are more likely to have mental health problems than women while majority of divorced female workers are more likely to have mental health problems than men. Mental health directly affects the quality of psychological work. Labor policies including provision of incentives for early retirement may incite workers within the retirement age bracket to perform poorly so that they can acquire their retirement benefits earlier. Age limits participation in physical exercise and hence reduces mental activity. Deciding retirement age requires that all these factors be considered for the effectiveness on the part of the implementation of such policies.
The Relationship between Quality of Work, Retirement Age and Depression among Aging Adults
At work, expertise counts a lot especially when the nature of the work is not physical but not all through an individual’s lifetime. Social and economic policy formulation must take into account the foregoing fact to come up with a reasonable retirement age. However, it is important to note that not only age plays a vital role in the performance of an employee. The performance of an employee are pegged on sustenance of their interest in the work as a result of job satisfaction, their relationship with the employer and the general labor policies of a country. Poor quality of work is consistent with old aged people.
Generally, the quality of work among the aging adults decreases following a weakening mental health as one becomes older. However, deterioration of mental capability and consequently the quality of work does not entirely lie on the age of the person but also varied factors including their education levels and family status. According to Buber and Engelhardt (2008), research showed that divorced and widowed aging adults suffer more depressive symptoms to a greater extent compared to people living with their partners. Buber and Engelhardt added that widowhood impacts more negatively on the mental health of men than that of women while a direct converse was true for the genders on grounds of divorce. By correlation, mentally ill person is automatically physical ill too because someone’s physical health depends much upon their mental conditions. Mental health is also determined by daily living activities and cognitive impairment. At older ages, functional disability sets in and cognitive performance reduces (Nolen-Hoeksema & Ahrens, 2002). On normal situations, older employees are definitely less productive than they were at active ages.
In another separate research reported by Siegrist, Wahrendorf, Von Dem Knesebeck, Jürges and Börsch-Supan in 2007, poor quality of psychological work was consistently associated with older employees who intended to retire early. The study which was summed up with a call for improved investments in better quality work through increased control and appropriate balance between the efforts workers put in work and the rewards received, pointed out that early retirement posed a challenge to the health and social policies in the European countries. The majority of people were estimated to reach 60 years old before the expiry of two decades which would lead to a small population of actively people of being depended upon for sustenance by the elderly majority. The only alternative they had been left with was to increase the number of regularly employed people of older age through reduction of financial incentives for early retirement, improvement of health and consequently the quality of work (Ng & Feldman, 2008). Obviously, solutions should be sought for the poor quality output by the older employees rather retiring them.
In conclusion, the consistent relationship of a poor psychosocial quality of work with proposed early retirement among many old aged workers over all European nations under study calls for enhanced speculations into bettering the quality of work, specifically by deploying an expanded control and a suitable harmony between efforts spent and rewards got at work. A part from age, deterioration in mental health is a function of many other factors, mainly family status and level of education of an employee. Age limits participation in physical exercise and hence reduces mental activity. Motivations behind early retirements can also cause poor quality of work among the old aged people.

References
Buber, I., & Engelhardt, H. (2008). The relation between depressive symptoms and age among older Europeans: Findings from SHARE (No. 1/2008). Vienna Institute of Demography Working Papers.
Ng, T. W., & Feldman, D. C. (2008). The relationship of age to ten dimensions of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 392.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Ahrens, C. (2002). Age differences and similarities in the correlates of depressive symptoms. Psychology and aging, 17(1), 116.
Siegrist, J., Wahrendorf, M., Von Dem Knesebeck, O., Jürges, H., & Börsch-Supan, A. (2007). Quality of work, well-being, and intended early retirement of older employees—baseline results from the SHARE Study. The European Journal of Public Health, 17(1), 62-68.