ABSTRACTTo assess the relative influences of education, social environment, and current activities on the practical literacy of young adults in the United States, data were drawn from the 1985 National Assessment of Educational Progress survey of 3,618 21–25 year olds. Oral and written examinations provided reliable measures of comprehension of written language, documentary and writing skills, pictorial and chart understanding, and numeracy; oral and some additional writing skills were assessed with single‐item rating scales. A multidimensional model of literacy distinguished 20 early background characteristics of education, home, and family from 16 literacy‐promoting current adult activities—all of which were coded into scales from respondent reports. Regression and canonical analyses showed that both early experience and current activities powerfully influence young‐adult literacy.‘Matthew effects,’ however, show early environmental advantages yield subsequent advantages that lead to wide disparities in adult li