A British study compared the characteristics of Open University students 60 years and older with those of a random sample of younger students. Data collection involved obtaining demographic information from the student database, questionnaire responses from 831 out of 1,042 older students and 884 out of 1,418 students younger than 60, and…

British students 60 years and older in 1985-86 were studied in order to learn about their age, sex, marital status, employment background, the subjects they study, their reasons for studying, how they study, and what they think about their studies. Considered by the researchers to be the largest survey of older students, the study involved 2,254…