Abstract

The shift in the parent-child relationship during the transition to adulthood presumes that emerging adults progress toward financial self-sufficiency. Research indicates that financial parenting contributes to success in this transition, and these effects extend beyond the financial domain. Nevertheless, there is a lack of theory-based tools to measure relevant financial parenting aspects. By applying the six dimensions of interpersonal behaviors outlined in the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the current study develops a scale targeting the interpersonal style of financial parenting. To validate the scale, it also tests seven preregistered hypotheses predicting internal structure and associations with relevant external variables in a sample of 600 emerging adults (M_age =24.94, SD_age = 3.03, range 19–29 years; 52.3% women). The sample, diverse occupational status characteristics, was recruited from an online survey panel using the controlled quota sampling strategy. While study results provide modest evidence for a hypothesized six-factor structure and advocate instead for a more parsimonious two-dimensional one, results provide evidence for the new scale’s convergent, discriminant, criterion, and incremental validity. This is the first study that brings SDT into family financial socialization research and opens a new line of research on family financial socialization, achievement of financial self-sufficiency, and emerging adults’ wellbeing.

摘要

在向成年期过渡期间亲子关系的转变假定新兴成年人在经济上自给自足。研究表明，财务养育有助于这一转变的成功，而且这些影响超出了财务领域。然而，缺乏基于理论的工具来衡量相关的财务养育方面。通过应用自我决定理论 (SDT) 中概述的人际行为的六个维度，当前的研究开发了一个针对经济养育人际风格的量表。为了验证量表，它还测试了七个预注册假设，这些假设预测了 600 名新兴成年人样本中的内部结构和相关外部变量的关联（M_年龄=24.94，SD_年龄 = 3.03，范围 19-29 岁；52.3% 的女性）。样本具有不同的职业地位特征，是使用受控配额抽样策略从在线调查小组中招募的。虽然研究结果为假设的六因素结构提供了适度的证据，并提倡更简约的二维结构，但结果为新量表的收敛、判别、标准和增量有效性提供了证据。这是第一项将 SDT 纳入家庭财务社会化研究的研究，开辟了家庭财务社会化、实现财务自给自足和新兴成年人幸福感的新研究方向。