Adults differ in the extent to which they find spending money to be distressing; "tightwads" find spending money painful and "spendthrifts" do not find spending painful enough. This affective dimension has been reliably measured in adults, and predicts a variety of important financial behaviors and outcomes (e.g., saving behavior, credit scores). Although children's financial behavior has also received attention, feelings about spending have not been studied in children, as they have in adults. We measured the spendthrift-tightwad (ST-TW) construct in children for the first time, with a sample of 5-to-10-year-old children (n = 225). Children across the entire age range were able to reliably report on their affective responses to spending and saving, and children's ST-TW scores were related to parent reports of children's temperament and financial behavior. Further, children's ST-TW scores were predictive of whether they chose to save or spend money in the lab, even after controlling for age and how much they liked the offered items. Our novel findings - that children's feelings about spending and saving can be measured from an early age and relate to their behavior with money - are discussed with regard to theoretical and practical implications.

中文翻译：

---

童年时期的节俭和节俭：对支出的感受可以预测儿童的财务决策

成年人认为花钱的痛苦程度不同；“吝啬鬼”觉得花钱很痛苦，“节俭者”觉得花钱不够痛苦。这种情感维度已在成年人中得到可靠测量，并预测各种重要的财务行为和结果（例如，储蓄行为、信用评分）。尽管儿童的财务行为也受到关注，但尚未像成人那样研究儿童的消费感受。我们首次测量了儿童的挥霍无度 (ST-TW) 结构，样本为 5 至 10 岁儿童（n = 225）。整个年龄段的儿童都能够可靠地报告他们对支出和储蓄的情感反应，以及儿童的 s ST-TW 分数与父母对儿童气质和财务行为的报告有关。此外，儿童的 ST-TW 分数可以预测他们是否选择在实验室中省钱或花钱，即使在控制了年龄和他们对所提供物品的喜欢程度之后也是如此。我们的新发现——儿童对消费和储蓄的感受可以从很小的时候开始衡量，并与他们的金钱行为相关——在理论和实践意义方面进行了讨论。