The growing adult population in higher education highlights the need for student personnel workers to study adult development. The five propositions set forth here are intended to serve as a knowledge base for student personnel workers as they face their new clients. (Author)

Adult development theory can assist supervisors in understanding the needs of staff member sin various stages on their psychosocial and career development. A chart was created that identifies developmental tasks or challenges many student affairs professionals face during their working lives, and approaches supervisors may use to assist staff in…

Some kind of transition or change related to work is the major motivation for adults seeking further education. The needs of these adult learners, including information needs and the need to identify transferable skills, are examined. Also discussed is the role of higher education in aiding workers in transition. (JMD)

Research and theoretical literature about adult development and adult learning are synthesized within a conceptual framework that has three basic domains: life phase, developmental stage, and learning style. The life phase includes theories that identify age-linked periods of stability and transition throughout adulthood. The development stage…

Theories of adult development are reviewed and considered in relation to the role of higher education and the educational methods employed. The literature is divided according to two perspectives: issues and tasks that are characteristic of chronological periods in the adult life cycle; and developmental stages that have no strict relationship to…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are developmental tasks unique to the older female student returning to undergraduate school. These students are attempting to meet obligations to family, society, and self, while engaging in educational pursuits often experienced by others before assuming family or income-producing obligations;…