Pretesting For Financial Literacy by Gender and Income

Abstract

This study assesses the financial knowledge of high school students prior to completing the Missouri public high school personal finance graduation requirement. The students consisted of upper division students at an unnamed public high school in Springfield. Students in this sample were preparing to take either a personal finance class or different business class. Characteristics of students in the sample appear to approximate most other students in Missouri public schools. Results indicate no statistically significant difference between genders for the overall measure of financial literacy. However, higher socioeconomic status, defined in this paper as not receiving free or reduced lunch, appears to be directly related to financial literacy.