Literacy, Numeracy and Disadvantage among Older Adults in England
| Title | Literacy, Numeracy and Disadvantage among Older Adults in England |
| Author(s) | Jenkins, Ackerman, Frumkin, Salter, Vorhaus |
| Organisation | NRDC, London Institute of Education |
| Date | February 2011 |
| No. of pages | 83 |
| Key words | older learners; basic skills; health; mental health; inequality |
| Description | This report sets out findings from new research on the relationships between the literacy and numeracy levels of older adults and the extent of disadvantage in later life |
| Select quotations | “The review of the literature revealed the thinness of the evidence base on the literacy and numeracy of older adults.” “…there was no evidence that either literacy or numeracy were related to the likelihood that an older adult was in work, once allowance had been made for other factors such as health, gender and education level.” “…there was little evidence that moving out of work and into retirement was associated with literacy or numeracy levels as such, once controls for other factors were included in statistical models.” “Among older adults with jobs, pay was less for those with low numeracy (although not significantly so for those with low literacy).” “Those in the lower literacy and numeracy groups tended to give lower evaluations of their own health, that is they were more likely to state that their own health was poor, and less likely to regard it as good or very good. They tended to score relatively highly on a measure of the presence of depressive symptoms…” “…across a broad set of health indicators low literacy and low numeracy were associated with poorer health outcomes.” |
| Link | www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=187#doc_4714.pdf |
