Discussion of the field of adult education and its implications for practice and research in distance education focuses on general characteristics of adult learners. Highlights include individual change and development in adulthood; the impact of life experiences; the significance of the social context; and effective instructional practices for…

An approach to developing the technological skills of school personnel by promoting individual growth is explored. Considerations in planning technology staff development activities include focusing on instruction rather than hardware and software, involving everyone in the planning process, offering a variety of educational experiences, and…

Examined validity of Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI) and Career Adjustment and Development Inventory (CADI) as measures of adult vocational development by comparing responses of 124 salespeople to inventories and to measures of work adjustment. CADI clearly seemed to measure vocational development; ACCI seemed to measure concern about…

Three strands of practice and theory--adult learning, women's development, and feminist pedagogy--contribute to development of a learning environment attuned to women's needs. Instead of concentrating on information storage/retrieval, alternative education should focus on requiring fourth-level consciousness: ability to choose how, whether, and…

Considers traditional approaches to identity across life span, then presents discursive perspective showing how, during interaction, individuals actively construct age-salient identities for themselves and others through talk. Conversational processes of age-identity management are explored in corpus of geriatric medical outpatient consultations.…

Interviewed Hindu religious renunciates living in Varanasi and Pondicherry, India. Analysis of excerpts from three representative interviews indicated that these men rated as highly mature by Western developmental models, but Western correlates of life satisfaction were not found to hold for these men. Considers implications for Western aging,…

This article reviews several research studies on the achievement of gifted females. Factors that appear to contribute to lower achievement in career and profession include lower aspirations, lack of mentors, pressure to put energy into family, and poor self-esteem. Stressed are the different timelines for achievement experienced by many females.…

Argues that adult education must be concerned with coordination of adult development and social development. Suggests that the functions of adult education are adjustment to social needs, economic growth, enriched intellectual content, and enhancement of individualization. (SK)

Describes the use of David Savageau's book, "Retirement Places Rated," as a tool for teaching U.S. regional geography. Discusses factors used to evaluate and rate regions as retirement destinations. Includes two project assignments used in a college-level course titled "Geography of the Aged." (CFR)

Explored position that relational patterns indicative of Personal Authority in Family System occur during fourth and early fifth decades of life. Participants were 232 university students. Canonical correlations revealed that, as age increases, amount of variance accounted for by nuclear family triangulation, intergenerational intimidation, and…

Applies two-axis model of human development to problem of suicide trajectory, in which organism begins each stage at negative or dystonic position in reaction to stage-initiating life event and must move ahead vertically to achieve positive syntonic quality and attain stage-specific syntonic equilibrium. Provides clinician with developmental guide…

Three studies examined naturalistic concepts of moral maturity in young through older adults to develop a more comprehensive understanding of moral excellence than in dominant theories. Findings indicated that naturalistic notions of moral excellence contained themes of principled reasoning, also referenced aspects of moral character and virtue…

Presents three views of adult development: (1) person-centered, focused on self-realization and based on humanistic psychology and liberalism; (2) production-centered, focused on organizational goals and based on behaviorism and libertarianism; and (3) principled problem solving, based on cognitive psychology, progressivism, and pragmatism.…

This article proposes a conceptual model concerning mental retardation and family well-being during the transition from late adolescence into young adulthood. It suggests that success in residential, vocational, and social realms will influence family well-being directly, while individual characteristics, environment and culture, and family…

Questionnaires were administered to single professional women (n=152) in higher education institutions. Performance on life satisfaction was significantly explained by recourse to the variables of job satisfaction, internal locus of control, regrets regarding life circumstances, sexual satisfaction, and leisure-time activities. (JPS)