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We obtained 180 pre- and post-test surveys to investigate how an established financial literacy program may have increased financial knowledge of residents in a work release program in Augusta, Georgia. Paired t tests analyzed changes in subjective and objective financial knowledge, understanding of banking and credit, and financial attitudes. OLS regressions of pre- and post-test financial knowledge were guided by human capital theory to learn which program participant characteristics were associated with greater increase in knowledge and infer why. Education, age, and use of financial tools were significant predictors in the pretest. Controlling for pretest knowledge, there were significant, positive differences from pre- to post-test, regardless of race. Implications for further research and specific suggestions for financial education content for the incarcerated are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between financial literacy and financial behaviors among various age groups. Financial literacy was measured in three ways: objective financial knowledge, subjective financial knowledge or confidence, and subjective financial management ability. The age groups were 18–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, and 65 and older. Long-term financial behavior referred to retirement saving and investing behavior, whereas short-term financial behavior referred to spending and emergency saving behavior. In the full sample, both objective and subjective financial literacy variables were positively associated with long- and short-term financial behaviors. In the age subsamples, subjective financial knowledge or confidence was more strongly related to long- and short-term financial behavior than either objective financial knowledge or subjective financial management ability in the younger age groups. In the older age groups, objective financial knowledge was more strongly related to long-term financial behavior than either of the other two measures of financial literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in social construction theory, the current study investigates the learning context when studying financial planning in high school by analyzing the nesting of student, teacher and classroom characteristics. Key findings were that three student characteristics (initial financial knowledge, gender, senior grade level), one teacher variable (use of all curriculum assessments), and two classroom variables (proportion of junior students and students who spent more money per week) were significant predictors of students' financial knowledge gain. Significant predictors of students' behavior gain were one student characteristic (senior grade level), two student access to money variables (employment status, spending per week), and three classroom variables (mean initial financial behavior, proportion of students working part-time, proportion of rural students). Findings indicated that subject matter content alone was not sufficient to create behavior change; learning context must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]