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Gender differences in financial socialisation in the home – an exploratory study

Gender differences in financial socialisation in the home – an exploratory study

Agnew, Steve, Maras, Pamela and Moon, Amy ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5795-3206 (2018) Gender differences in financial socialisation in the home – an exploratory study. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 42 (3). pp. 275-282. ISSN 1470-6423 (Print), 1470-6431 (Online) (doi:10.1111/ijcs.12415)

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Abstract

Recent literature has stressed the need for research examining the causes of females in general having lower levels of financial literacy than males. This paper uses social cognitive theory of gender development as a framework to propose differing financial socialisation of children in the home by gender as a possible cause of gender differences later in life. Evidence is found of gender based differences in the financial socialisation of eleven to fourteen year olds. Findings include more frequent parent-child discussions being correlated to more positive financial attitudes, but not to saving behaviour. Saving behaviour of children is influenced by attitudes to money along with the presence of parents when spending, which is subject to a same sex gender bias for girls, with large effect sizes. Girls are over 200% more likely to state they save some of their pocket money if their mother is present when they spend their pocket money, compared to having no parent present. This difference does not exist for male children. When a boy is with both parents when spending, they are 245% more likely to report saving some of their pocket money then when neither parent is present. Having a father present when spending does not yield significantly different results to when no parent is present. These findings of gender biased financial socialisation in the home are important considerations for the design of school-based financial literacy programmes. Specifically, these programmes should consider a goal of encouraging discussion and questioning gender based attitudes and roles in the home. They are also important findings in terms of going some way to explaining the existence of a gender difference in financial knowledge in adulthood.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Child; education; family; gender; financial; household; shopping; women
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences
Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Applied Psychology Research Group
Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Last Modified: 04 Oct 2021 13:24
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/17616

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