Do credential programs matter to nontraditional age students? Factors influencing adult participation in postsecondary education.

In recent decades, growth in postsecondary education has been due in part to increased numbers of adult learners. Since the end of the Cold War, forces such as economic globalization, internet access, and the information explosion are changing the educational landscape. This study focuses on factors influencing adult postsecondary participation in credential programs; however, to the extent that significant numbers of adult participants in postsecondary educational programs for a credential are also in the labor force, employed either part-time or full-time, the economic and social environment cannot be ignored. In contemporary society, working adults must master new types of literacy skills on an ongoing basis. By including distance education and variables related to literacy and lifelong learning as possible indicators of information literacy, the design of this research recognizes the information technology (IT) infrastructure as well as the sociocultural context. The 1999 National Household Education Survey (NHES) Adult Education Interview data source (AE-NHES:1999) includes adults who participated in credential programs as well as those who did not, all of whom were making their career choice decisions in the early years of public Internet availability. Several analysis techniques are employed. The descriptive analysis examines bivariate relationships among key independent variables representing the characteristics and motivations of adult participants in postsecondary credential programs, and compares these with the characteristics and motivations of participants in work-related courses not leading to a credential. Through multinomial logistic (MNL) regression analysis, this study finds age, prior educational attainment, and reason for postsecondary participation to be significant factors for all college/university degree outcomes. Gender, marital status, household income, and household size significantly predict participation in vocational/technical programs. Females were found to be about one-half as likely as males to be participants in a credential program. Overall, the odds of being a credential program participant decrease with age, and with increasing annual household income. The study concludes that work-related goals are important to nontraditional age (adult) students, and that younger adults consider Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate/Professional degree credential programs to be more valuable than Associate's degree and vocational/technical credential programs. Institutional and public policy implications are discussed.Ph.D.Adult educationEducationEducational technologyHigher educationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/126199/2/3238001.pd

Disturbances in sleep, circadian rhythms and daytime functioning in relation to coronavirus infection and Long-COVID – A multinational ICOSS study

This protocol paper describes the second survey produced by the International Covid Sleep Study (ICOSS) group with the aim to examine the associations between SARS-CoV-2 infection and sleep, sleepiness, and circadian problems as potential predisposing factors for more severe COVID-19 disease profile and for development of Long-COVID in the general population. The survey consists of 47 questions on sleep, daytime sleepiness, circadian rhythm, health, mental wellbeing, life habits, and socioeconomic situation before and during the pandemic, and conditional questions to those reporting having had coronavirus infection, being vaccinated, or suffering from particular sleep symptoms or sleep disorders. Surveys will be administered online between May and November 2021 in Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and USA. Data collected by the survey will give valuable information on the open questions regarding COVID-19 disease risk factors, symptomatology and evolution of Long-COVID, and on other long-term consequences related to the pandemic