EDUCATIONAL PREFERENCES OF A SAMPLE OF OLDER ADULTS LIVING IN PARTICULAR PLANNED RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES (WASHINGTON, D.C.)

The study was conducted to identify the educational preferences, as assessed by the Educational Preference Survey, of older adults living in particular planned retirement communities and to delineate profiles of older adults who expressed an interest in taking credit and/or non-credit courses and those who were not interested in taking college courses. As an explanatory descriptive study, the following research questions were postulated: (1) In terms of residence and marital status, age, sex, education, mobility, and health, in the study sample, what are the modal characteristics of older adults who are interested in taking: (a) only credit courses? (b) only non-credit courses? (c) both credit and non-credit courses? (d) no courses?; Two questionnaires were designed and distributed to 746 residents of three planned retirement communities in the Washington, D.C. area. Each community represented a generic type of community. Responses from 570 subjects (76.4 percent) were analyzed to determine the modal characteristics of the interested respondents. Profiles were drawn of those interested in credit courses only, non-credit courses only, both credit and non-credit courses, and no courses. The basic findings of the study were that adult residents of planned retirement communities have almost no interest in taking only credit courses. Health, mobility, and education level appeared to be important factors in the older adult's decision to take courses. Among the interested respondents, there was greatest interest in taking non-credit courses in business, fine arts, and the humanities. Residents of planned retirement communities expressed interest in taking courses about four times more frequently than older adults in general currently participate in courses. The respondents strongly favor their retirement community as the location of courses. Leisure residents preferred a length of three hours whereas total life-care residents preferred one hour. Both groups preferred the lecture format and would spend a maximum of $75 per course. Interest in taking courses was 43.4 percent for leisure residents, 21.4 percent for total life-care residents, and 3 percent for domiciliary residents.