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Imagined interactions, family money management patterns and coalitions, and attitudes toward money and credit

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Abstract

This study explores the imagined interactions college students have with their parents about money and credit, their attitudes toward credit and money, the ways they say their parents deal with financial decisions, and the communication coalitions regarding finances they perceive existing within their family. Students’ imagined interaction pleasantness is greatest when parents jointly form a plan for paying off credit card debt and lowest when parents argue. When family coalitions exist, students report more frequent imagined interactions. Imagined interaction frequency and pleasantness are related to credit and money attitudes.

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Notes

  1. Other characteristics of imagined interaction are theoretically relevant to family communication and financial issues. However, in a pilot study we discovered that proactivity was strongly correlated with activity and did not provide additional insight. We also experienced difficulty with the reliability of measuring discrepancy and so did not include it in this investigation. Other characteristics were of less theoretical interest to the present investigation and were not included in order to control the length of the questionnaire.

  2. Because not all respondents had credit cards, one survey focused on credit card use and the other on spending behaviors. Therefore, the DIFS questions differed depending on whether or not the respondent had a credit card.

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Acknowledgment

This study was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for Financial Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, University of Arkansas, 417 Kimpel Hall, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Myria Watkins Allen

  2. Department of Communication Studies, Louisiana State University, 136 Coates Hall, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Renee Edwards

  3. Department of Apparel, Housing and Resource Management, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 101 Wallace Hall (0410), Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Celia Ray Hayhoe

  4. Family and Consumer Sciences Department, Northwest Missouri State University, 800 University Drive/312A Administration, Maryville, MO, 64468, USA

    Lauren Leach

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  1. Myria Watkins Allen
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Correspondence to Myria Watkins Allen.

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Allen, M.W., Edwards, R., Hayhoe, C.R. et al. Imagined interactions, family money management patterns and coalitions, and attitudes toward money and credit. J Fam Econ Iss 28, 3–22 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-006-9048-1

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