Statistical data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics were analyzed to identify correlations between race/ethnicity, age, and prose literacy among adults in 1992. According to the analysis, prose literacy was highest among those adults with the highest levels of educational attainment, and adults aged 19-54 had higher average literacy scores than did individuals aged 55 and older. Other key findings of the analysis were as follows: (1) Blacks and Hispanics with high school diplomas or General Educational Development (GED) certificates had literacy levels similar to those of Whites who had completed only 9-12 years of education and who lacked a high school diploma/GED certificate; (2) Hispanics achieved lower scores than Blacks or Whites on the prose, document, and quantitative literacy scales; (3) on the quantitative literacy scale, the difference between blacks and whites (63 points) was larger than that between white high school and college graduates (50 points); and (4) more than one-fifth of adults scored at the lowest level on the prose literacy scale, which means that they were unable to match/integrate multiple pieces of information when irrelevant (distracting) information was present or when background knowledge/inference drawing was required. (MN)