Education Participation Scale Factor Structure for Older Adults

Abstract

Eighty-four older adults who had retired from the workforce and were enrolled in Vancouver adult education programs completed a short form of the Education Participation Scale (E.P.S.), from which items known to be job-related had been deleted. The new version of the E.P.S. was factor analyzed to examine the extent to which previously identified factors would re-emerge. The E.P.S. clustered into four independent factors: Escape/Stimulation, Social Welfare, Social Contact and Cognitive Interest. The extent to which the emergent factors were suitable for use with older adults was determined through a concurrent validation process. E.P.S. fac tors were correlated with scores on a Social Participation Scale, an Adjust ment to Later Life Scale, and a Life Satisfaction Index. Three factors were significantly correlated with one or more of these measures. The psychological foundations of the Social Contact factor remained as elusive with this group of older adults as they had in previous studies involving younger participants. The subjects were most "motivated" by Cognitive In terest and Social Contact. Escape/Stimulation was a very weak "motivator."