Changing College Students’ Financial Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior through Seminar Participation

This pilot study examined the influence of Credit Wise Cats, a financial education seminar presented by Students in Free Enterprise, on the attitudes, knowledge, and intentions toward financial responsibility of college students (N = 93). Findings suggest that the seminar effectively increased students’ financial knowledge, increased responsible attitudes toward credit and decreased avoidant attitudes towards credit from pre-test to post-test. At post-test, students reported intending to engage in significantly more effective financial behaviors and fewer risky financial behaviors. Finally, demographic factors (e.g., gender and employment status) predicted students’ financial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. These results suggest that a seminar format may be useful in reaching a wider audience of college students and, thus, warrants future longitudinal evaluation.

Young Adults’ Life Outcomes and Well-Being: Perceived Financial Socialization from Parents,the Romantic Partner,and Young Adults’ Own Financial Behaviors

We examined how perceived financial socialization—from parents, the romantic partner, and young adults’ own behavior—was associated with young adults’ life outcomes and well-being (i.e., physical and mental health, finances, romantic relationship). Using data (N?=?504) from young adults specific to their finances, results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that young adults’ own financial behaviors were the most patterned, followed by financial socialization from the romantic partner, and then from financial socialization from parents (only objective financial knowledge). We discuss how young adults’ financial behavior, financial socialization from the romantic partner and, to a lesser extent, parental socialization are associated with young adults’ life domains, underscoring the developmental salience of increased financial capability and relationship formation and decreased dependence on parents during the transition to adulthood.     

The Associations of Financial Stress and Parenting Support Factors with Alcohol Behaviors During Young Adulthood

This study examined concurrent and prospective associations of financial stress (financial strain, lack of financial access, public assistance) and parenting support factors (relationship quality, living at home, financial support) with young adults’ alcohol behaviors (alcohol use, heavy drinking, and problematic drinking) over a 5-year period. Analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data (N = 7,159) showed that, over the study period, alcohol use and heavy drinking declined while problematic drinking increased. In addition, living at home and parental relationship quality were associated with fewer concurrent and prospective alcohol behaviors whereas financial strain and parents’ financial support were associated with more alcohol behaviors. The implications for minimizing alcohol misuse in young adults amid uncertain economic conditions are discussed.     

Chronic stressors and daily hassles: unique and interactive relationships with psychological distress

Using daily telephone interviews of a U.S. national sample of adults, aged 25-74 (N = 1,031), the present analyses draw from theories of the stress process and recent research to examine how chronic role-related stressors and daily hassles affect psychological distress. Four separate hypotheses are examined. The first explores the association between chronic stressors and daily hassles. The second tests whether daily hassles function as an intervening variable between chronic stressors and psychological distress. The third tests whether a chronic stressor moderates the relationship between daily hassles and psychological distress. The fourth hypothesis tests for cross-domain effects of chronic stressors and daily hassles. Findings indicate that chronic stressors and daily hassles are distinct types of stressors with unique contributions to psychological distress. The study provides support for chronic home stressors functioning as a moderating factor on the relationship between daily hassles and psychological distress both within and across domains.     

Does Financial Satisfaction Vary Depending on the Funding Strategy Used to Pay for College?

This study sought to determine whether the levels of financial satisfaction reported by college undergraduates and graduates differ in relation to whether they funded their college education by working or borrowing or a combination of the two. Data for this study came from a survey sample of full-time freshmen that formed the basis of a longitudinal study conducted at a large public university. Funding sources examined were grouped into those who worked only, those who borrowed only, those who worked and borrowed, and those who used grants, scholarships, or other sources of money to fund their college education. Compared to those who had student loans, those who had financed college with grants, scholarships, or other money (usually from family and/or friends) were more likely to report greater financial satisfaction than those who had used student loans to pay for college. There was evidence that this was only true during college rather than after college. The results obtained suggest that merely possessing a student loan may not necessarily decrease the level of financial satisfaction as many suspect, especially considering other funding alternatives such as working during college. While there was no significant impact of these funding strategies on financial satisfaction either during or after college, there was evidence for possible thresholds at which overall student loan balances may begin to erode financial satisfaction. The results obtained suggest that student loans may not decrease the level of financial satisfaction as much as many have suspected when compared with working to pay for college, as long as the amount of the student loan is not excessive, and is not accompanied by other types of debt (which also reduced financial satisfaction).