The article aims to show that taking into account diverse characteristics of the wider social environment is indispensable for a better understanding of participation in adult education (PAE). It explores the association of corruption as a macro factor with PAE, arguing for an integrated approach to PAE. By using two indexes for corruption at country level Corruption Perception Index and the Index of Public Integrity—and micro-data for adults aged 25–64 from 29 European countries in the Adult Education Survey, 2016, as well as by applying random-effects logit models, this study has demonstrated that a country's higher corruption level is associated with the lower probability of PAE. Our article also reveals that the relationships between individual-level variables such as gender, higher education, social background, and PAE are embedded in a wider social milieu, and corruption is an essential characteristic of that milieu which deepens some of the inequalities in PAE.

本文旨在表明，要更好地理解参与成人教育 (PAE)，考虑到更广泛社会环境的不同特征是必不可少的。它探讨了腐败作为宏观因素与 PAE 的关联，主张对 PAE 采取综合方法。通过使用国家层面腐败感知指数和公共诚信指数的两个腐败指数——以及 2016 年成人教育调查中来自 29 个欧洲国家的 25-64 岁成年人的微观数据，以及应用随机效应 logit模型，这项研究表明，一个国家的腐败程度越高，PAE 的概率就越低。我们的文章还揭示了诸如性别、高等教育、社会背景、