Whats and Hows of Family Financial Socialization: Retrospective Reports of Emerging Adults, Parents, and Grandparents

• Date: 01 October 2018
• Published date: 01 October 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12335

A B. LB The University of Arizona

E. J H, C M. R,  L D. M Brigham Young University

Whats and Hows of Family Financial Socialization:

Retrospective Reports of Emerging Adults, Parents,

and Grandparents

Objective: To qualitatively explore the whats

and hows of nancial socialization in families,

as reported by emergingadults and their parents

and grandparents.

Background: Previous research has examined

the positive impact of nancial socialization in

families as well as the negative consequences

of a lack of sufcient nancial education. How-

ever, there is a need to explore the breadth

of parent–child nancial socialization methods

and topics.

Method: A convenience sample of 90 emerging

adults (18–30 years of age), 17 of their parents,

and eight of their grandparents (N=115) were

interviewed at three diverse universities regard-

ing what and how their parents taught them

about money. Parents and grandparents were

also interviewed regarding what and how they

taught their children about money.

Results: Thematic content coding revealed

three core how themes (modeling, discus-

sion, and experiential learning) and four core

what themes (nancial planning, work ethic,

money management, and sharing). The themes

coded most often were discussion and money

management.

650 N. Park Avenue, McClelland Park Room 401,

The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0078

(lebaronashley@gmail.com).

KeyWords: nancial socialization, family nance,parenting,

emerging adults, qualitative, family life education.

Conclusion: The ndings provide a starting

point for gaining insight about how and what

parents teach children about money but leave

many questions unanswered that future research

will need to address to build efcient and effec-

tive evidence-based approaches for parental

nancial socialization in future generations.

Implications: Family life educators and others

can use our ndings to better understand how

nancial socialization occurs in families as a

necessary step in ultimately improving nancial

socialization and increasing the nancial capa-

bility and independence of emerging adults.

The study of how parents inculcate nancial

principles and practices in their children can

provide many practical applications. Financial

capability and independence, important to indi-

vidual well-being, is also linked with many

other aspects of life, including marriage and

family relationships (Britt & Huston, 2012;

Dew, 2007; Kerkmann, Lee, Lown, & All-

good, 2000). Lack of nancial competence is

associated with a host of personal, family, and

societal problems (Clarke, Heaton, Israelsen,

& Eggett, 2005; Hira, 2012; Xiao, Chatterjee,

& Kim, 2014). Thus, it is vital that the general

populace be nancially competent. Optimally,

nancial education begins early in life because

the nancial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors

developed during childhood and adolescence

tend to carry into emerging adulthood and

Family Relations 67 (October 2018): 497–509 497

DOI:10.1111/fare.12335