Abstract
Financial capability—financial knowledge, skills, and access to financial services—may help smooth transitions to adulthood for youth and is affected by socialization experiences with parents and other family members. Among a sample of youth and their parents enrolled in the YouthSave experiment in Ghana (n = 4,065), this study examined whether physical access to financial services and/or visiting banks with parents or other family members was associated with youth’s perceptions and understanding of financial institutions. We found a statistically significant association between visiting the bank with a parent or other family member and youth’s attitudes (β = 1.45, p < 0.001) and understanding of financial services (β = 2.96, p < 0.001), controlling for other factors like household income and assets. Conversely, physical access (distance, travel time) was not associated with financial services attitudes or understanding. Parents may play an important role in introducing their children to financial services. Practitioners and policy makers should consider ways to include parents in efforts to promote financial capability among youth.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, F., Carletti, E., Cull, R., Qian, J., Senbet, L. W., and Valenzuela, P. (2014). Improving access to banking: Evidence from Kenya. Retrieved from http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/1813-9450-6593.
Ansong, D., Wu, S., & Chowa, G. A. (2015). The role of child and parent savings in promoting expectations for university education among middle school students in Ghana: A propensity score analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 58, 265–273.
Baltagi, B. H. (2011). Regression diagnostics and specification tests. In Econometrics (pp. 179–221). Berlin: Springer.
Berry, J., Karlan, D., & Pradhan, M. (2015). The impact of financial education for youth in Ghana (Working Paper 21068). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w21068.
Chant, S., & Jones, G. A. (2005). Youth, gender and livelihoods in West Africa: Perspectives from Ghana and the Gambia. Children’s Geographies, 3(2), 185–199. doi: 10.1080/14733280500161602.
Child and Youth Financial International. (2015). Ghana. Retrieved from http://childfinanceinternational.org/africa-region/ghana.
Chowa, G., Ansong, D., Masa, R., Despard, M., Osei-Akoto, I., Richmond, A. A., & Sherraden, M. (2012). Youth and saving in Ghana: A baseline report from the YouthSave Ghana Experiment (CSD Research Report No. 12–56). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development. Retrieved from https://csd.wustl.edu/publications/documents/ghana_baseline_report_final.pdf.
Chowa, G. A., & Despard, M. R. (2014). The Influence of parental financial socialization on youth’s financial behavior: Evidence from Ghana. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 35(3), 376–389. doi:10.1007/s10834-013-9377-9.
Demirguc-Kunt, A., & Klapper, L. (2013). Measuring financial inclusion: Explaining variation in use of financial services across and within countries. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 279–340. doi.org/10.1353/eca.2013.0002.
Deshpande, R. (2012). What do youth savers want? Results from market research in four countries (Save the Children YouthSave Note). Washington, DC: Save the Children.
Despard, M. R., & Chowa, G. A. (2014). Testing a measurement model of financial capability among youth in Ghana. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 48, 301–322. doi:10.1111/joca.12031.
Elliott, W., Jung, H., Kim, K., & Chowa, G. (2010). A multi-group structural equation model (SEM) examining asset holding effects on educational attainment by race and gender. Journal of Children and Poverty, 16(2), 91–121.
Erulkar, A., and Chong, E. (2005). Evaluation of a savings and microcredit program for vulnerable young women in Nairobi. Retrieved from http://www.childfinanceinternational.org/index.php?option = com_mtreeandtask = att_downloadandlink_id = 695andcf_id = 200.
Filmer, D., & Scott, K. (2012). Assessing asset indices. Demography, 49(1), 359–392. doi: 10.1007/s13524-011-0077-5.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2014). Ghana living standards survey round 6 (GLSS 6): Labour force report. Retrieved from http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/glss6/GLSS6_Labour%20Force%20Report.pdf.
Gudmunson, C. G., & Danes, S. M. (2011). Family financial socialization: Theory and critical review. Journal of Family Economic Issues, 32, 644–667. doi: 10.1007/s10834-011-9275-y.
Gujarati, D. N. (2003). Basic Econometrics (4th edn.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hirschland, M. (2009). Youth savings accounts: A financial service perspective (MicroReport #163). Retrieved from http://www.microfinancegateway.org/library/youth-savings-accounts-financial-service-perspective-literature-and-program-review.
InterMedia. (2010). Young Africans’ access to financial information and services: Lessons from surveys in Kenya and Ghana. Retrieved from http://www.youtheconomicopportunities.org/sites/default/files/uploads/resource/Youth%20and%20Financial%20Services_Kenya%20and%20Ghana_Final_David%20Montez.pdf.
International Labour Office. (2011). Global employment trends for youth: 2011 update. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/empelm/pubs/WCMS_165455/lang-en/index.htm.
Jamison, J. C., Karlan, D., and Zinman, J. (2014). Financial education and access to savings accounts: Complements or substitutes? Evidence from Ugandan youth clubs (No. w20135). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/papers/w20135.
Johnson, L., Lee, Y., Ansong, D., Sherraden, M., Chowa, A. N., Ssewamala, F., Zou, L., & Sherraden, M. (2015). Youth savings patterns and performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal (YouthSave Research Report 15–01). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development. Retrieved from http://csd.wustl.edu/Publications/Documents/RR15-01.pdf.
Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 16489–16493. doi:10.1073/pnas.1011492107.
Kilara, T., Magnoni, B., and Zimmerman, E. (2014). The business case for youth savings: A framework (Focus Note 96). Washington, DC: CGAP. Retrieved from https://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/Focus-Note-Business-Case-for-Youth-Savings-A-Framework-Jul-2014.pdf.
Kim, J., LaTaillade, J., & Kim, H. (2011). Family processes and adolescents’ financial behaviors. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 32, 668–679. doi:10.1007/s10834-011-9270-3.
Moschis, G. P. (1985). The role of family communication in consumer socialization of children and adolescents. Journal of Consumer Research, 11(4), 898–913. doi:10.1086/209025.
Nagarajan, G. (2005). Microfinance, youth and conflict: Emerging lessons and issues (United States Agency for International Development Micronote #4). Retrieved from http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnade303.pdf.
National Youth Authority of Ghana. (n.d.). National Youth Policy implementation plan 2014–2017. Retrieved from http://www.nya.gov.gh/NYPI_P.pdf.
Norvilitis, J. M., & MacLean, M. G. (2010). The role of parents in college students’ financial behaviors and attitudes. Journal of Economic Psychology, 31, 55–63. doi: 10.1016/j.joep.2009.10.003.
Sherraden, M. S. (2013). Building blocks of financial capability. In J. Birkenmaier, M. S. Sherraden & J. Curley (Eds.), Financial capability and asset development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Sherraden, M. S., & Ansong, D. (2013). Research evidence on the CYFI model of children and youth as economic citizens (CSD Research Report 13–04). St. Louis, MO: Washington University. Center for Social Development.
Ssewamala, F. M., & Ismayilova, L. (2009). Integrating children’s savings accounts in the care and support of orphaned adolescents in rural Uganda. Social Service Review, 83, 453–472. doi: 10.1086/605941.
Ssewamala, F. M., Wang, J. S. H., Karimli, L., & Nabunya, P. (2011). Strengthening universal primary education in Uganda: The potential role of an asset-based development policy. International Journal of Educational Development, 31, 472–477. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.11.001.
Stock, J. H., & Watson, M. W. (2003). Introduction to econometrics (Vol. 104). Boston: Addison Wesley.
United Nations Capital Development Fund (2011). Listening to youth: Market research to design financial and non-financial services for youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from http://www.mastercardfdn.org/pdfs/Listening%20to%20Youth-YouthStart%20Market%20Research.pdf.
United Nations Development Program. (2014). Human development report 2014. Sustaining human progress: Reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-2014.
United Nations Children’s Fund (2015). The state of the world’s children 2015 (Executive Summary). Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/SOWC_2015_Summary_and_Tables.pdf.
Wheeler-Brooks, J., & Scanlon, E. (2009). Perceived facilitators and barriers to saving among low-income youth. The Journal of Socioeconomics, 38, 757–763. doi: 10.1016/j.socec.2009.03.015.
Xiao, J. J., Chatterjee, S., & Kim, J. (2014). Factors associated with financial independence of young adults. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 38, 394–403. doi:10.1111/ijcs.12106.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the YouthSave research participants for their time and involvement in the project, headmasters and teachers in the project schools for allowing their institutions to be part of the research, and field interviewers at the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research at the University of Ghana for their data collection support.
Funding
This study is a product of the YouthSave Project, supported by The MasterCard Foundation. The MasterCard Foundation did not take part in the design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data in this study. The funder did not take part in writing this manuscript, nor submitting the manuscript for publication. The original version of this paper was presented during the Financial Capability and Asset Building Convening hosted by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis and University of Maryland’s School of Social Work, May 12–15, 2015. Support for this or convening was generously provided by Wells Fargo Advisors, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, and The Woodside Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors declare that we have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, S., Despard, M.R. & Chowa, G. The Role of Parents in Introducing Children to Financial Services: Evidence from Ghana-YouthSave. J Fam Econ Iss 38, 453–462 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-017-9519-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-017-9519-6