When adult learners come to the learning program, they bring the individual "baggage" that they carry around--such as home problems, time constraints, employment problems, and positive or negative feelings about self. The baggage of an adult's life contains all that adults are, have been, and hope to be, as well as all that life means to them.…

This report consists of excerpts from nine papers presented at a conference on managing an aging workforce. The first excerpt deals with the nature and impact of age-related changes. Discussed next is the need to better identify the changes that come with age and to develop improved methods to assess human capability without respect to age. The…

Career counseling is a particularly critical need for blue collar men, displaced workers from the declining industries of manufacturing. This article uses developmental theory based on the model of adult development of Daniel Levinson (1978), "Seasons of a Man's Life," to discuss the difficulty of blue collar men in attaining developmental…

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;…

The objectives of this book, a collection of papers about recent research on psychosocial aging, are to broaden scientific understanding of the psychosocial components of the aging process and the place of older people in society, and to call attention to a number of issues in aging research. The papers emphasize that aging does not occur in a…

This literature review examines 12 current works dealing with converting basic research on adult learning, adult development, adult education, instructional methods, and learning theory to practical application in the training of trainers. Focus of the review is on translating principles from scientific language to language more suitable to…

Because relationships with family and friends may cause stress for women, the effects of interactions with family, friends, and community on women's adaption to the experiences of aging are important. Interviews were conducted with 75 women between the ages of 44 and 77 who were educated, relieved of child-rearing responsibilities, and relatively…

The components of a college course on communication and aging are described and discussed in this paper. The first section of the paper focuses on appropriate assignments, their underlying strategies, and necessary materials for enhancing young people's communication with older adults and their appreciation of the situations that elderly people…

The central objective of the Childhood and Parenting Research Program was to assist member states of the Appalachia Educational Laboratory in determining ways to work with families to foster the development and educational progress of children. To achieve this objective, research, reporting, analysis, and dissemination activities were conducted in…

A survey of the 29 Michigan community colleges was conducted in regard to the services each provided to older Americans. The survey data indicated that two fundamental strategies exist for serving the older population: an integrated effort whereby the objective is the inclusion of older adults in existing services; or specific programmatic efforts…

Research has shown that the transition period from a man's completion of school to first full-time job and first marriage has become shorter in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to explain part of the time reduction in this transitional period. Early in the twentieth century the transition took about 18 years because many men left school…

After compiling a national inventory of centers which provide career and educational guidance to adults, a curriculum was developed for advocates of adults and a technical assistance conference conducted for organizations which sponsor advocacy efforts. Advocacy was seen as incorporating the tasks of both the labor market intermediary (providing…

A review is presented of studies which examine the psychological predictors of successful adult performance, or life skill success. Scholastic achievement is generally regarded as an ineffective predictor of successful life performance. It is suggested that factors such as ego maturity and personal competence (developmental psychological…

Substantial evidence exists in both popular and professional literature which suggests that some adults, male and female, will experience what has been variously labeled as a "mid-life crisis" or "mid-life depression." Research provides evidence that the lifespan can be conceptualized as a series of transitions from one status or situation to…

The paper presents some of the organizing principles that have emerged in the process of designing higher education programs for adults. The analysis relies on some of the recent research and literature on adult development, life stages, and learning interests. The organizing principles were not predetermined, but have resulted from years of…