The Unique Role of Parents and Romantic Partners on College Students' Financial Attitudes and Behaviors

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is marked by not only the search for individual identity but also the search for a committed personal relationship and financial independence (Arnett, 2000; Nelson & Barry, 2005). In the process of achieving these goals young adults often find it imperative to examine (frequently for the first time) their ideologies and family associations (Arnett, 2000; Nelson & Barry, 2005). Yet both the social structure and the economic environment in which young adults come of age are rapidly changing. As a result, the transition to young adulthood is today more often marked by a continuing reliance on parents to provide both emotional and financial support (Fingerman, Miller, Birditt, & Zarit, 2009; Settersten, 2012), particularly young adults in college. Also, many young adults living in the United States are waiting longer to move out of the family home, either to live on their own or to cohabit with other young adults, and they are marrying at later ages (Pew Research Center, 2012; U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Although these trends are not new, the Great Recession has drawn attention to them, emphasizing their importance as shifts in the social structure and the impact that these shifts have on the financial relationships and financial obligations historically associated with the age group (Settersten, 2012). These social and economic structural changes warrant the additional study of the processes by which young adults gain financial understanding, form attitudes about spending and saving, and develop the financial behavior they will use in adulthood.Because many young adults rely on their parents for ongoing financial support (FINRA Investor Education Foundation, 2013; Settersten, 2012), more parents than in the past continue to influence, intentionally or unintentionally, the process by which their offspring acquire financial understanding and know-how, even as the influence of romantic partners sets in and gains strength. To our knowledge, however, no studies have sought to evaluate the relative significance of the influences exerted by both the parents and romantic partners, nor has any study sought to gauge the effect of these simultaneous influences. We do know, however, that many American young adults currently lack the financial capability (e.g., knowledge, attitudes, skills) required to make good financial decisions on their own behalf (FINRA Investor Education Foundation, 2013) and are at increased risk of making poor financial decisions (Nelson, Lust, Story, & Ehlinger, 2008). Financial education and counseling efforts aimed at improving the financial behavior of college students have achieved limited success at best (Britt et al., 2012).Because early adulthood is a time for renegotiating family relationships and forming committed romantic relationships (Arnett, 2000; Cherlin, 2010; Eccles, Templeton, Barber, & Stone, 2003; Nelson & Barry, 2005), an evaluation of the influence that both relationships exert, and the extent to which each influence either contributes to or undermines the financial attitude and behavior of young adults, is timely and relevant. This study represents a first step toward identifying insights for educators and counselors engaged in designing early prevention strategies to help young couples communicate more effectively about their finances.To guide this study on how the financial practices of both the parents and a romantic partner contribute to college students' financial practices (i.e., financial attitude, financial behavior), we conceptualized a financial socialization model of the direct and indirect associations of two key socializing agents (i.e., parents and romantic partners). We extended the theory of consumer socialization (Moschis, 1987) to the financial domain (Danes, 1994) and integrated the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) into the conceptual model. We then tested our model using online longitudinal survey data collected from a convenience sample of college students in both their first year (ages 18-21) and fourth year of college (ages 21-24) who were committed to a romantic relationship at the time the second wave of data were collected (N = 693 individuals). …