TABLE 1.
—Medical Literacy as Assessed by the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) in the 1997/98 Baltimore STD and Behavior Survey
| Grade Range Estimatesa | ||||||
| Characteristics | n (unweighted) | ≤ Grade 3 (n = 50), % | Grades 4–6 (n = 65), % | Grades 7–8 (n = 162), % | ≥ Grade 9 (n = 715), % | Pb |
| Totals | 992 | 5.0 | 6.6 | 16.3 | 72.1 | |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||
| African American | 562 | 8.4 | 7.3 | 21.2 | 63.1 | < .001 |
| Non–African American | 415 | 2.5 | 5.1 | 11.0 | 81.4 | |
| Sex | ||||||
| Male | 406 | 8.5 | 6.8 | 18.2 | 66.4 | < .01 |
| Female | 586 | 4.2 | 6.1 | 17.3 | 72.4 | |
| Age, y | ||||||
| 18–25 | 266 | 7.1 | 4.6 | 21.5 | 66.9 | .822 |
| 26–35 | 465 | 6.1 | 7.0 | 16.6 | 70.3 | |
| 36–45 | 248 | 6.3 | 7.5 | 16.2 | 70.1 | |
| Self-reported education | ||||||
| Some high school or less | 221 | 15.6 | 15.0 | 30.4 | 38.9 | < .001 |
| Finished high school or equivalent | 297 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 22.6 | 64.5 | |
| Some college or 2-year degree | 285 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 10.6 | 82.3 | |
| Finished college or postgraduate degree | 173 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 5.0 | 94.2 | |
| Self-reported income, $ | ||||||
| ≤ 5000 | 109 | 18.4 | 14.6 | 19.8 | 47.2 | < .001 |
| 5000–10 000 | 101 | 9.6 | 14.9 | 24.4 | 51.1 | |
| 10 001–20 000 | 175 | 6.5 | 4.1 | 29.9 | 59.5 | |
| 20 001–30 000 | 187 | 2.0 | 9.1 | 14.7 | 74.2 | |
| 30 001–50 000 | 214 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 15.4 | 78.5 | |
| ≥ 50 000 | 143 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 4.3 | 92.2 | |
Notes. Sample ns are unweighted. Percentages are weighted to adjust for differing probabilities of selection and nonresponse to align our estimates with 1997 Census tabulations by race/ethnicity, age, and gender (Bureau of the Census, SU-98–1). Row percentages total to 100%.
aGrade range estimates based on number of correct responses out of a possible 66. 0–18: grade 3 or below; 19–44: grades 4 through 6; 45–60: grades 7 through 8; 61–66: grade 9 and above.
bP values based on χ2 test with statistical adjustment for complex sample design.