Assessment of Learning Activity Level in a Group of Black Aged

Abstract

A learning activity level (LAL) scale was developed to assess the learning efforts of older persons with minimal formal education. Learning was broadly defined to include all purposeful attempts to acquire knowledge and information. The scale consisted of three components: reading, educational use of television and radio, and formal and informal learning endeavors in the recent past. The alpha reliability coefficient for the scale was .8 1. The sample consisted of 132 urban, black men and women, aged 60 to 94, with mean educational attainment of 6 grades. Results of a multiple regression analysis showed that sex, age, educational attainment, having participated in organized adult education, self-perceived reading ability, health and life satisfaction accounted for over forty percent of the variance associated with LAL scores, with sex and self-perceived reading ability emerging as the most significant predictors.