Adult educational psychology is emerging as a legitimate field of study as both educational and developmental psychologists examine the interrelationships of developmental processes and educational activities across the adult years. This work has significant practical implications for adult educators, but few textbooks exist which integrate this work in a summary fashion. Adult educators therefore rely upon survey textbooks in adult development and aging to gather information about adult development. This study was a content analysis of such textbooks, and examined the texts' coverage of five general topic areas of great interest to adult educators. Coverage of these topics was found to vary: there was extensive discussion of adult intelligence across most of the textbooks, but little information in regards to the roles and functions of adult education in promoting adult development. There is a need for adult development and aging textbooks that link developmental research and theory to adult education practice.
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