Approaches to studying across the adult life span: Evidence from distance education

• Older students tend to display more desirable study behaviour than younger students.
• This effect is confounded with those of gender, subject of study and level of study.
• There is no variation with age in surface approach if these effects are controlled.
• Older students still obtain higher scores on deep approach and strategic approach.
• Nevertheless, these are small effects of little theoretical or practical importance.

Older students in higher education exhibit more desirable forms of study behaviour than do younger students. This study investigated whether this trend continued across the adult life span, whether it was due to confounded variations in gender, subject and level of study, and whether it was of any theoretical or practical importance. A questionnaire on approaches to studying was administered to a sample of 7000 distance learners, stratified by age. Usable responses were received from 1829 men and 2032 women aged between 21 and 92. Scores on deep approach and two aspects of a strategic approach increased with age, but scores on surface approach declined with age. When the effects of gender, subject and level of study were statistically controlled, there was no significant variation in their scores on surface approach, but age differences in deep approach and strategic approach remained significant. Even so, statistically these represented only small effects.