Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Much research has been completed regarding the need for financial literacy over the past two decades. Teaching financial knowledge alone is not enough to improve financial outcomes due to the psychological factors that may result in bad financial decisions despite individuals being aware of financial best practices. Financial self-efficacy, the belief that one is capable of making good financial decisions without being overwhelmed, has been proposed as the conduit between financial knowledge and financial outcomes. Past research has found that males tend to outscore females in financial literacy assessments as well as a variety of types of self-efficacy; however, very little research has been done to determine why this occurs. This study explored whether there were differences between the genders in both financial self-efficacy and financial parenting as well as assessing the effect of parental social status, perceived parental financial communication, and perceived parental financial expectations on general self-efficacy and financial self-efficacy. Since this study consisted of an exploratory sample of only 357 complete responses, it is difficult to generalize the data to all college students. However, the research questions can be answered by the statistical analyses completed. Gender was found to matter when it comes to financial self-efficacy. The results indicated that males had significantly higher total financial self-efficacy scores than females. However, no significant differences were found between females and males in parental social status, perceived parental financial communications, or perceived parental financial expectations scores. Further research is needed to try to determine what factor or factors may contribute to females scoring significantly lower than males in financial self-efficacy. Both gender and parental social categories had a significant effect on the jointly considered general self-efficacy and financial self-efficacy and general self-efficacy alone. Only females and males significantly differed for financial self-efficacy alone. Perceived parental financial communications was found to have a significant effect upon general self-efficacy, financial self-efficacy, and the combination of general self-efficacy and financial self-efficacy. However, females and males were found to significantly differ only for general self-efficacy. When gender and perceived parental financial expectations were analyzed, there was a significant difference between the genders, but not with perceived parental financial expectations when general self-efficacy and financial self-efficacy are considered jointly as well as when general self-efficacy and financial self-efficacy were considered separately. While further investigation is needed, these findings should be significant to all parents as they raise their children. How they communicate their views on managing finances will make a difference in how their children manage their finances once they can do so. Parent should also be aware that their social status may be limiting how much they know about financial management, which may limit them financially as well as limiting what they can discuss with their children. Teachers can also obtain an estimation for their students financial self-efficacy levels by asking questions about their parents communication about financial matters as well as assessing their parents social status.

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