Arnold B, Fülgraff B
Z Gerontol. 1983 Sep-Oct;16(5):228-33.
During recent years universities have increasingly attracted men and women of middle age and old age. On the basis on a sample of appr. 350 fully enrolled students age 45 and over, drawn from the official 1980 students' census in Lower Saxony, we describe the group of older students in terms of age, sex, education, and social status, in order to compare their characteristical structure to the normal students. We, furthermore, formulate hypotheses on their attitudes toward learning in later years, their motives to choose the university, and their personal as well as social aspirations. Obvious are their need to orientate themselves in a critical life situation, and their need to actualize knowledge and skills in order to minimize the adverse effects of social segregation. We perceive the middle aged and older persons' return to university studies as a paradigm both for an individual's active reaction toward prescribed social obsolescence, and as a valuable attempt to reestablish intergenerational relations.
近年来，大学越来越吸引中年人和老年人。基于从下萨克森州1980年官方学生普查中抽取的约350名年龄在45岁及以上的完全注册学生样本，我们从年龄、性别、教育程度和社会地位等方面描述了老年学生群体，以便将他们的特征结构与普通学生进行比较。此外，我们还就他们对晚年学习的态度、选择大学的动机以及个人和社会抱负提出了假设。很明显，他们需要在关键的生活情境中找到方向，需要实现知识和技能，以尽量减少社会隔离的不利影响。我们将中年人和老年人重返大学学习视为个人对既定社会过时现象的积极反应的范例，以及重建代际关系的宝贵尝试。
