A Factor Analytic Investigation of the Needs of Older Students Enrolled in College.

Autor/in	Kelly, Michael
Titel	A Factor Analytic Investigation of the Needs of Older Students Enrolled in College.
Quelle	(1984), (54 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Adult Education; Adult Students; Cluster Analysis; College Students; Educational Needs; Factor Analysis; Higher Education; Individual Needs; Multivariate Analysis; National Surveys; Needs Assessment; Nontraditional Students; Statistical Surveys; Student Needs + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Adult; Adults; Education; Adult basic education; Adult training; Erwachsenenbildung; Student; Students; Erwachsenenalter; Studentin; Schüler; Schülerin; Clusteranalyse; Collegestudent; Educational need; Bildungsbedarf; Faktorenanalyse; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Multivariate Analyse; Bedarfsermittlung; Statistische Erhebung
Abstract	A study examined the needs of older students (individuals 26 years old and older) enrolled in college. The population of the study included undergraduate adult learners enrolled in the 18 institutions participating in the Higher Education for Adult Mental Health Project. Usable surveys were returned by 852 individuals from 14 of the 18 institutions contacted. These adult learners, or nontraditional students, were most likely to be female, white, married without children, employed full-time, and out of school for a period of 2-5 years. A principal factor analysis of the completed survey instruments resulted in the extraction of eight needs factors: interest in job and career planning, concern for personal welfare, personal relationships, need for basic academic skills, institutional reentry concerns, special family problems, working student concerns, and special problems. These eight factors accounted for 57.7 percent of the total variance. Numerous pairs of means were found to be significantly different throughout the dependent variables; students who were older, had more children, were widowed, were divorced or separated, or who had been away from school for more than two years tended to have higher need means on the different factors than did other students. Two higher-order factors--internal student concerns and external student concerns--resulted from a second-order factor analysis. (MN)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC