Analysis of Factors Influencing Dropout Among Adult Learners in Korea: A Study Utilizing the Nontraditional Undergraduate Student Attrition Model (80825)

Session Information: Comparative Issues in Higher Education
Session Chair: Maxime François

Saturday, 13 July 2024 17:10
Session: Session 5
Room: B08 (Basement)
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation

All presentation times are UTC0 (Europe/London)

This research aims to investigate the relationship among factors affecting dropout of adult college students in Korea using structural equation modeling. Traditionally, university students in East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan were predominantly composed of students within the traditional age range of 19 to 24. However, with a decline in the young population, there has been a significant rise in the proportion of nontraditional, older, part-time adult students in universities in Korea. Many of these non-traditional learners pursue higher education for career development, re-skilling or reemployment purposes. Nevertheless, a number of adult college students choose dropout due to insufficient motivation or circumstances to sustain academic commitments.

Despite the growing prevalence of adult learners in Korean universities, there is a limited amount of research analyzing the factors influencing dropout considering the context of Korean adult learners. Therefore, this study aims to utilize Bean & Metzer's (1985) Nontraditional Undergraduate Student Attrition Model to analyze the factors influencing academic discontinuation among adult learners in Korea. For the analysis, this study utilized panel data collected by the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study. Using Structural Equation Modeling(SEM), the influence of background characteristics, Academic variables, Environmental variables and Psychological outcomes were analyzed. The results showed that the inlfuence of environmental variables(hours of employment, family responsibilities) had significant influence on the dropout intention. Based on the results, strategies to prevent adult learners' dropout inspite of their learning environments will be discussed.

Authors:
Inseo Lee, Halla University, South Korea


About the Presenter(s)
Professor inseo Lee is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Halla University in South Korea

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Posted by Clive Staples Lewis

Last updated: 2023-02-23 23:45:00