# A Mixed-Method Analytical Cross-Sectional Research of Person-Centered Learning Behaviors Among Adolescent and Adult Learners

## TL;DR

This study compares learning behaviors between adolescents and adults, finding that adults show higher person-centered learning tendencies.

## Contribution

The study introduces a validated questionnaire to assess person-centered learning behaviors in adolescent and adult learners.

## Key findings

- Adult learners had significantly higher mean scores for person-centered learning behaviors than adolescents.
- Qualitative findings aligned with the quantitative results from the learning behavior questionnaire.
- Differences in learning scores between adults and adolescents were not statistically significant at the 5% level.

## Abstract

Background

In their academic lives, students progress from the stage of primary learning to the stage of adolescent learning and then to the stage of adult learning. At every step of learning, learners display particular learning habits, which must be mapped out to maximize learning.

Objectives

The objective of the present study is to evaluate the person-centered behaviors that influence learning among learners in adolescent and adult age groups by employing a learning behavior questionnaire that has been previously validated.

Material and methods

A cross-sectional study in which 944 participants were enrolled, including 456 adolescents from English-medium schools (aged 11 to 16 years) and 488 adults from a health professional institute (aged 18 to 23 years). The validated learning behavior questionnaire, which study participants rated on a scale of 0, 1, and 2, served as the study's quantitative component. The focus group discussion that was held for a group of adult and teenage students comprised the study's qualitative component. Using STATA-14 software (StataCorp LLC, College Station, USA), all of the responses were tallied and statistically examined.

Results

The mean scores of person-centered learning behaviors were significantly higher for learners in the adult age group than for learners in the adolescent age group. The findings of the component, which was qualitative in nature, were consistent with the findings of the learning behavior questionnaire analysis. For both adults and adolescents, the difference in mean person-centered learning scores was statistically negligible at a 5% level of significance (p=0.415 and p=0.368, respectively).

Conclusion

The study's checklist, which is self-monitoring in nature, may aid in the evaluation of learning behaviors and make it simpler for adult and adolescent learners to establish excellent learning habits.