Publication year
2019
Citation Title
Financial socialization of college students: Domain-general and domain-specific perspectives.
Journal Name
Journal of Family and Economic Issues
Journal Volume
40
Issue Number
2
Page Numbers
226-236
DOI
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/famconfacpub/204
Summary
The financial attitude and behavior of young adults is influenced by parents’ financial socialization (e.g., the communication pattern around finances in the family). This study examined the associations among parents’ financial behavior, parent-child communication patterns with regard to finances, and young adults’ financial attitudes and behavior. The findings indicate that parent financial behavior and family communication patterns have positive and negative implications on young adults’ financial attitudes and behavior.
Key Findings
Participants’ responsible financial attitude was positively associated with parents’ disclosure of financial information.
Participants’ responsible financial attitude was negatively associated with parents’ avoidance of financial communication.
In families where diversity of attitudes, values, and beliefs is encouraged, parent-child communication pattern was associated with participants’ more responsible financial attitudes.
In families where similarity of attitudes, values and beliefs is encouraged, parent-child communication patterns were associated with participants’ less responsible financial attitudes.
Implications for Military Professionals
Facilitate support groups for families that are struggling with managing their finances
Collaborate with other professionals (e.g., financial counseling services) in the field to guide parents on how to have clear communication with youth about financial matters
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide education to families to enhance positive communication skills around money (e.g., appropriate ways to disclose family finances to children)
Provide workshops to help parents learn more about available community resources for improving their financial behavior (e.g., effective money management)
Implications for Policy Makers
Encourage the development and continuation of programs that can promote effective communication in children, youth, and families
Recommend integrating parenting education into existing delivery systems (e.g., after-school programs)
Methods
The procedure of participant recruitment was not reported. Data were collected through an online survey instrument.
Participants’ self-report measures assessed their own financial attitudes and behaviors, their parents’ financial behavior, family communication patterns, parents’ disclosure of financial issues, and parents’ avoidance of financial communication.
Data were analyzed to examine relationships among perceived parents’ financial behaviors, family communication pattern, parental income, college students’ financial attitude and behavior.
Participants
The sample consisted of 585 undergraduate students at a public university in the Midwestern United States.
About 27% of the participants were male. Participants’ ages ranged from 19-32 years.
Most of participants (84.6%) were White, 5.9 % were Asian-American, 3.4% were Black, 2.8% were Latino, and 2% were Native American.
Limitations
The sample consisted of undergraduate students from one university in the U.S., which limits the generalizability of the results.
The data were dependent on participants’ self-reporting of their own as well as their parents’ financial behavior; using only college students’ report for both variables could introduce unintended bias among the results.
The measure for parents’ disclosure of financial issues was limited in scope, so results should be interpreted with caution.
Avenues for Future Research
Collect data from college students across more time points to assess potential changes in family communication and financial behavior as they transition through college
Assess financial behaviors of mothers and fathers separately to explore specific pathways of financial socialization between parents and young adults
Include parents’ self-report of their financial behavior to obtain more accurate patterns of financial socialization
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
This study investigated the association of domain-general and domain-specific parenting practices with college students’ financial attitudes and behaviors. Data came from a survey of college students (n = 585, 156 males) aged 19–32 attending a Midwestern University. Parents’ financial behaviors significantly predicted college students’ financial attitudes. Path analysis indicated that college students’ financial attitudes mediated the association between their perceptions of parents’ financial behaviors and their own financial behaviors. Parental avoidance of financial conversation was inversely associated with college students’ financial attitudes, and parental disclosure of financial information was positively associated with college students’ financial attitudes. Family communication pattern significantly predicted college students’ financial attitudes and moderated the association between parents’ financial behaviors and college students’ financial attitudes. These findings underscore the importance of examining both domain-general and domain-specific parenting practices in socialization and indicate that parental explicit financial communication may amplify or attenuate the influence of parental modeling.
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