Abstract
This study examined psycho-social variables and pre-retirement anxiety of public senior secondary school teachers in Rivers State. Four objectives, four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. Correlation research design was utilized for the study. The population of the study consisted of all pubic senior secondary school teachers in Rivers State, with 2,791 males and 2,978 females, making it a total population of 5,769 teachers. The sample size was 414, using Taro Yamane for formula to determine the sample. Multi-stage procedure was adopted, while proportionate sampling technique was used to determine the number of teachers from each of the selected public school in Rivers State for the study. Self-structured instrument titled" Psycho-social Variables and Pre-Retirement Anxiety among Senior Secondary School Teachers’’ (PVPASSST), was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by two experts from Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Rivers State University. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha for a measure of internal consistency, which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.81 for Stress, 0.83 for Depression, 0.82 for Social Support, 0.84 for Family Responsibility, and 0.85 for Pre-Retirement Anxiety. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was used to answer the research questions and test of null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that social support had a negative relationship with pre-retirement anxiety, while stress, depression and family responsibility had a positive relationship with pre-retirement anxiety of public senior secondary teachers in Rivers State. The study recommended amongst others that teachers should be guided on setting realistic post-retirement goals and engaging in structured retirement planning programmes to manage future-oriented anxiety. Teachers should be provided with financial literacy programmes, pension planning guidance, and family support resources to help manage family responsibilities and reduce associated pre-retirement anxiety.