Abstract
Amid predictions of increasing numbers of jobs requiring employees with degrees, the retention of adult students returning to degree programs has become a critical concern. This study investigates generational differences in psychosocial factors that may influence adult students to discontinue taking classes, and the sources of support they find most helpful and important. A newly- created survey instrument was found to have acceptable validity and reliability and used to collect data from thousands of adult college students in April-May 2011.
Keywords
adult, retention, psychosocial, generational, support
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Ritter-Williams, D.,
&
Rouse, R. A.
(2011).
Psychosocial Issues and Sources of Support Affecting Retention for Adult Learners: Generational Variations.
Adult Education Research Conference.
https://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2011/papers/84
Psychosocial Issues and Sources of Support Affecting Retention for Adult Learners: Generational Variations
Amid predictions of increasing numbers of jobs requiring employees with degrees, the retention of adult students returning to degree programs has become a critical concern. This study investigates generational differences in psychosocial factors that may influence adult students to discontinue taking classes, and the sources of support they find most helpful and important. A newly- created survey instrument was found to have acceptable validity and reliability and used to collect data from thousands of adult college students in April-May 2011.
