No abstract

The objectives of this study were to assess consumer knowledge of their health insurance plan and overall financial knowledge and to identify factors associated with consumer health insurance knowledge. A sample of taxpayers who had tax returns completed at a university-based volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) program was surveyed. More than 70% of respondents perceived their health insurance plan knowledge and overall financial literacy to be fair/good on a scale where the top choices were very good, excellent, and exceptional. The results of the binary logistic regression showed that those who were more likely to have high health insurance knowledge were U.S. citizens, not single, and reviewed their health insurance coverage at least once a year.

Confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling was used to measure the construct validity of the increasingly utilized social provisions scale. This scale was used to measure social support sources and types among a sample of 421 youth from 4 Pennsylvania schools. The youth were surveyed to determine their levels of social support and the relationship of social support to community and youth development capacities. Research findings indicated an acceptable model fit indices for the sources of the social support model. A lower fit for the types of social support was found. Overall, the analysis further verified the reliability and validity of the social provisions scale. With this information, youth practitioners can better measure and assess social support and use the social provisions scale to tailor youth development programs to individual and group needs.