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Links Between Family Poverty and the Financial Behaviors of Adolescents: Parental Roles

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Abstract

The financial behaviors of adolescents, especially those from economically disadvantaged families, is critical and has long-term effects. This study tested and compared two conceptual models that connect a family’s material hardship to adolescents’ financial behaviors by using a convenience sample of adolescents in Hong Kong. The main purpose of this study was to offer effective entry points for parents and family practitioners to implement interventions for improving the financial behaviors of adolescents, particularly those from economically disadvantaged families. The model of financial socialization demonstrates that material hardship was associated with financial behaviors through financial self-beliefs, direct parental instruction, and the adoption of parental financial role models. The model of general poverty links material hardship to financial behaviors through parental investment, parental stress, financial literacy, and financial self-beliefs. Of the two models, the model of parental financial socialization offers more effective entry points for family practitioners to implement interventions.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all adolescent participants and their affiliated schools, for their cooperation and contribution.

Funding

This study was funded by grants from the Research Grant Council Strategic Public Policy Research (HKIEd 7001-SPPR-11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Innovative Programmes for Adolescents and Families, Jockey Club Innovation Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR

    Alex Yue Feng Zhu

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  1. Alex Yue Feng Zhu
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Correspondence to Alex Yue Feng Zhu.

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The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Zhu, A.Y.F. Links Between Family Poverty and the Financial Behaviors of Adolescents: Parental Roles. Child Ind Res 12, 1259–1273 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-018-9588-6

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