Breaking the cycle: The mediating effects of reading, mathematical and ICT literacy skills on financial success in youth

Abstract For young people, financial literacy is important because they face financial decisions that can have significant consequences throughout their lives, such as investing in a college education or a business, shopping, buying books or computer games. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the financial literacy levels of young people and their perceived ICT competence, reading and mathematical literacy, which are measurable and observable phenomena. The research data were obtained from the 2018 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) database, officially published by the OECD. The participants of this study were 15‐year‐old students from 15 different countries that participated in the PISA programme in 2018. Mathematical and reading literacy were found to be an important variable affecting the financial literacy performance of young people. However, ICT competencies did not significantly affect the financial literacy performance of young people. Additionally, this study tested the mediating effects of reading literacy, mathematical literacy and perceived ICT competence variables on financial literacy.