Financial Socialization

of College Students:
Domain-General and
Domain-Specific
Perspectives Written By: Ji Hyun Kim
and Julia Torquati
Presented By: Clarissa
Kayga
Financial
Socialization Theory
Family communication pattern
This theory examines the level of
communication between parents and children
about finances.
This specific paper focuses on a study that Ji
Hyun Kim and Julia Torquati conducted that
demonstrates how children learn money
management from their parents and how they
handle their finances.
The Study
Financial socialization is the process
through which children develop.
values regarding financial practices
The study mainly focused on credit
card spending and credit card debt
with college students.
 The participants were given a survey
that discussed their perceptions
about their parents' financial
management, their own financial
management, and the amount of
overall communication about
finances.
 Domain-General- is the
family communication
pattern.

Key Terms Domain- Specific- the

disclosure of financial
information and avoidance of
financial discussions.
 Explicit financial socialization- is a
more direct and open approach about
discussing money and more
instruction is given about the
importance of money management.

Key Terms Implicit financial socialization- is more

observation based where children just
learn what they can from observing
their parents with financial
management.
PARTICIPANTS
585 Undergraduate Students
Age range 19-32
Majority of the participants did not live with
their family, had a part-time job, and little credit
card debt.
The participants reported on their age, gender,
ethnicity, parental education, parental income,
marital status, employment status, residential
status, income, debts, student loans, and
monthly expenses.
Example
Questions
I wish that my parents taught me more
about how to manage money.

My parents are open about their income

with me.

My parents share their financial

information with me.
Simple Mediation
Model
Results
Results
College students reported that they learned
most of their financial management knowledge
from their parents.
It was found that college students who
discussed credit cards with their parents had
more positive credit card spending history.
This study has shown that the lack of
communication between parents and
their children about finances has
resulted in an increase of debt.
The study found that implicit
financial socialization was more
common.
The most common situation that is
found with financial socialization is
that parents are willing to teach their
children the right practices of money
management. But they are reluctant
to share any of their personal
financial information with their
children.
Studies have shown that most
parents have concealed their
financial information from their
children to not make them worry
or even judge their parents. This
practice is very common in
American families.
That being said, there are some families that
have taken a different approach.
Some parents have shared their financial
information with their children so that their
children can learn from their parents' mistakes
and make better decisions making them more
financially responsible.
The results of this study concluded
that parents' disclosure of financial
information with college students
resulted in positive and responsible
financial management.
The positive family communication
pattern resulted in college students
being more open about their credit
card usage.
 References
Kim, Ji Hyun, and Julia Torquati.
“Financial Socialization of College
Students: Domain-General and Domain-
Specific Perspectives.” Journal of
Family and Economic Issues, vol. 40,
no. 2, 2018, pp. 226–236.,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-018-
9590-7.

GRIFFIN, EM. First Look at

Communication Theory. MCGRAW-
HILL EDUCATION, 2022.