The Need to Provide for Security in Old Age in Hierarchy of Needs – An Estimation of its Ranking Within the Polish Population

The results of studiesconducted in the last 5 years in Poland formedthe basis for the assumption that amongst manyneeds an individual or a Polish household seeksto satisfy, the need to provide for security inold age takes a prominent position. Determiningthe position of this need among other needs asdefined in Schrab's classification (Schrab,1943), was the objective of an empirical studyconducted at the end of 2001. The results ofthe study indicate that within the Polishpopulation, clusters of Poles with the highestfrequency were those in which the need toprovide for security in old age is ranked infirst position in a declared hierarchy ofneeds. Those clusters pertaining to relativelyworse economic situations are, however,positively motivated as it appears they arecharacterised by an apparent achievement drive.A lower ranking for the need to provide forsecurity in old age correlates to a relativelybetter economic situation and an increasinglypassive attitude reflected by the lack of anachievement drive, which can be a result ofeither mental inhibitions or of lifetimeachievements so far, because the individuals inthe cluster displaying a marginal position forthe need to provide for security in old agewere of a relatively older age compared to theremainder.