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Financial Literacy of Adolescents and Young Adults: Setting the Course for a Competence-Oriented Assessment Instrument

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International Handbook of Financial Literacy

Abstract

This chapter presents research activities that aimed at contributing to an educationally sound financial literacy assessment for adolescents and young adults. In particular, it describes the development and pilot testing of a first version of a competence-oriented assessment instrument involving 198 secondary students in Germany. The instrument mainly consists of 23 test items that intended to mirror different phases of financial decisions. Moreover, self-reports on motivational and attitudinal aspects as well as questions on students’ socio-demographic background were included. The study intended to exemplarily test the items on financial literacy. The results of the pilot testing are reported and discussed with regard to implications for further development of the assessment instrument.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We particularly followed the recommendations from Saylor et al. (2003, p. 79), which suggest the following steps:

    1. I.

      Instrument design: [Literature review] → [Conceptualization of components] → [Drafting of items]; These steps lead to version one

    2. II.

      Version one: [Formatting] → [Pilot testing] → [Administration (1)] → [Selecting items and/or drafting new items according to an examination of: item difficulty (1), Inter-item consistency (1), item discriminability (1), Instrument reliability (1)]; These steps lead to version two.

    3. III.

      Version two: [Administration (2)] → [Comparison with version one- selecting and/or drafting new items according to an examination of: item difficulty (2), Inter-item consistency (2), item discriminability (2), Instrument reliability (2)] → [External criterion validity]; These steps lead to version three; The process is to be continued as long as a sufficient quality level is reached and resource constraints permit.

  2. 2.

    In order to evaluate whether the single items comply with the assumed three phases, a factor analysis could be additionally conducted. However, given the early and still formative state of the test development as well as the limited number of test items, this move was remitted to a future testing phase.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Business and Economics Education, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Strasse 3, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Carmela Aprea

  2. Chair of Business and Economics Education, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Eveline Wuttke

Authors
  1. Carmela Aprea
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  2. Eveline Wuttke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carmela Aprea .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich Schiller University Jena , Jena, Germany

    Carmela Aprea

  2. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Eveline Wuttke

  3. Johannes Gutenberg Unversity Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Klaus Breuer

  4. National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Noi Keng Koh

  5. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Peter Davies

  6. Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Wien, Austria

    Bettina Greimel-Fuhrmann

  7. California State University, East Bay, Long Beach, California, USA

    Jane S. Lopus

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Aprea, C., Wuttke, E. (2016). Financial Literacy of Adolescents and Young Adults: Setting the Course for a Competence-Oriented Assessment Instrument. In: Aprea, C., et al. International Handbook of Financial Literacy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0360-8_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0360-8_27

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