What predicts literacy, numeracy, and problem solving for incarcerated individuals? A PIAAC examination

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to investigate relationships between literacy, numeracy, and problem solving ability with characteristics of individuals within the United States prison system. The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) dataset was used for analysis, which included information for 1,319 participants ages 16–74. Results indicated that offenders’ prior experiences and prison context variables differentially predicted literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. Implications for prison education are discussed along with study limitations.

Keywords:

• Correctional programing
• offender rehabilitation
• prison education programs
• quantitative research
• risk factors
• program evaluation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figure 1. Path diagram of the full model. This model predicts problem solving, literacy, and numeracy from background characteristics and prison context variables.