Job automation is a topical issue in a technology-driven labor market. However, greater amounts of human capital (e.g., often measured by education, and information-processing skills, including adult literacy) are linked with job security. A knowledgeable and skilled labor force better resists unemployment and/or rebounds from job disruption…

Job automation is a topical issue in a technology-driven labor market. However, greater amounts of human capital (e.g., often measured by education, and information-processing skills, including adult literacy) are linked with job security. A knowledgeable and skilled labor force better resists unemployment and/or rebounds from job disruption…

Our study of the nationally representative data of adult populations from the 2012/2014/2017 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) provides essential information on the roles of information processing skills (literacy skills) in the context of social, cultural, and political participation among Black women and men…

Volunteer participation benefits societies and individuals. The objective of this study was to examine the roles of education and adult literacy in formal volunteering among a nationally representative sample of the U.S. middle-aged and older adults (45-74 years) by race and ethnicity (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics). Using cross-sectional data (n =…

Aligned with the 2021 AERA conference theme, which asks us as citizen-scholars to use educational research to address complex social and educational problems, the objective of this study is to provide the first nationally-representative, empirical evidence on the relationships among literacy, literacy skill use, and these information-seeking…

The research team examined the associations between adult education and training (AET) participation, educational attainment, literacy skills, gender, race, and ethnicity among the U.S. adult population aged 25- to 65-years old (n = 5,450). As more women and racial/ethnic minorities make educational and economic advancements, it is important to…

Do skills protect against exclusion in adult ages, and how important are the skills acquired before the age of 16 years versus those acquired later on? We match the scores on numeracy and literacy skills from the 2011 PIAAC for young adults backwards to grade point average (GPA) data from compulsory school education, measured at the age of 16…

Volunteer participation benefits societies and individuals. The objective of this study was to examine the roles of education and adult literacy in formal volunteering among a nationally representative sample of the U.S. middle-aged and older adults (45-74 years) by race and ethnicity (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics). Using cross-sectional data (n =…

This study advances the analysis of cognitive skill use at work by considering another crucial factor: the motivation-to-learn (MtL). Previous research has indicated that MtL forms cognitive skills in the school setting. However, the role of MtL in the work setting is much less understood. The present study analyses the association between MtL and…

Little is known about which educational activities are most associated with incarcerated adults' literacy and numeracy skills. The present study examines whether informal engagement in reading, writing, and numeracy activities (e.g., reading newspapers or using calculators) is associated with incarcerated adults' literacy and numeracy skills.…

Computerized assessments and interactive simulation tasks are increasingly popular and afford the collection of process data, i.e., an examinee's sequence of actions (e.g., clickstreams, keystrokes) that arises from interactions with each task. Action sequence data contain rich information on the problem-solving process but are in a nonstandard,…

We examine complex pathways that link health information seeking behavior with education and health literacy (decomposed into general literacy and numeracy), and how these pathways differ by perceived health status (need) among a nationally representative sample of Americans age 50 and older (n = 2,750). Data come from the Program for…

Expanded international data from the PIAAC survey of adult skills allow us to replicate the IALS-based analysis by Coulombe, Tremblay and Marchand (2004) as well as Coulombe and Tremblay (2006) based on more recent and more comprehensive data on the literacy skills of the adult population. Results from panel estimations over the period 1970-2010…

Background: In Germany, three large-scale surveys--the Level One Study (LEO), the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), and the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS)--provide complementary data on adults' literacy skills that can be harnessed to study adults with low literacy. To ensure that research on…

Diploma and degree completion have become the fundamental standard for judging the performance of secondary and postsecondary educational institutions. Increasingly, leaders of education and workforce policy and programs assume that these measures of attainment effectively serve as indicators of adequate levels of essential literacy and numeracy…