EXPLORING HOW YOUNG ADULTS LEARN TO MANAGE THEIR FINANCES AND THE ROLE OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES.

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1006748
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2015
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2018
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108

Performing Department
Family Social Science

Non Technical Summary
The college life experience is a time when students are in transition from adolescence to adulthood. This transition period has been coined as the emerging adulthood stage of life when youth are between the ages of 18 and 25 years old (Arnett, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, & 2002). During this time period, students are experiencing a "...host of major life-changing experiences, as these individuals make the transition out of adolescence" (Xiao et al., 2007, p. 33). One of the life-changing experiences that these students face is how to manage their finances independently. This is a time where students will be transitioning from a life of financial dependency to a life of financial independency (Xiao et al., 2007). Research has not provided a clear understanding of a young person's financial attitudes and values during this time period (Beutler, 2012).With the unstable economic conditions of the past few years, fewer parents are able to assist students with rising college costs for many reasons (Lyons, 2004). These reasons include a changing economy, economic demands of raising a family, and already high levels of debt. Parents may have already overextended themselves with debt (Lyons, 2004), such as refinancing their homes, credit card debt, and home equity loans. So, it is no surprise that college students will be faced with many financial challenges (Lyons, 2004). Furthermore, it is not surprising that financial aid hasn't kept up with the rising costs of college tuition (Lyons, 2007).With the rising cost of a four year college education and the recent economic crisis, college students are shouldering more of the burden to finance their college education. Coupled with the fact that many students of color are first-generation college students, navigating financial aid and taking on loans is an unfamiliar and complicated process. Understanding how young adults learn about and apply financial practices through this lens will help to create educational supports not only for students, but increase the knowledge and confidence of the college employees who work with this population, such as financial aid officers, counselors, and educators.Results from this research will inform educational programming for young adults and those who work with young adults. The targeted audiences benefiting and/or utilizing the results from this study are college students, educators working with non-Hispanic White students and students of color, and campus Student Financial Aid personnel. One of the project outcomes is to better understand the development of money management behaviors and the influence of family values and attitudes regarding money management. Additional project outcome recommendations as a result of this research project might be to explore a peer to peer mentoring model of financial education, financial coaches on campus, required online courses, and community based programming.

Animal Health Component

15%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

70%

Applied

15%

Developmental

15%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
801	6020	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
801 - Individual and Family Resource Management;

Subject Of Investigation
6020 - The family and its members;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Keywords

college students

emerging adults

financial and money management

financial knowledge and literacy

Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this research project is to examine money management practices that affect young adults (college students) with a specific interest in students of color. This research agenda will investigate young adult's money management practices including their financial knowledge, behavior, and attitudes, use of technology to manage their finances, socialization of money, and demographic information. Also, this research agenda will examine how young adults and their parents navigate affording the costs of a college education. The results of this project will serve as a base line to enhance future research and to provide a better understanding of young adult's money management practices and the development of money management practices in households of color.Furthermore, more research is needed to examine money management practices that affect young adults as they transition from a life of financial dependency to a life of financial independency. The overall goal of this research project is to examine money management practices that affect young adults specifically college students.The overarching research objective is:1) To examine financial management practices that affect young adult's economic well-being, specifically college students.

Project Methods
The proposal is exploratory and will use several data sets to get a deeper understanding of the financial practices of young adults. Once this first stage is complete, collaborating with additional individuals and agencies such as other colleges/Universities, community colleges will be important.This research project will use both qualitative and quantitative data sources to meet the research objective. To specifically examine the college student's money management experience, qualitative data will come from the "Examining Money Management Practices Exploring How College Students Handle Their Finances" a convenient sample of University of Minnesota students. The quantitative data will also come from the "Examining Money Management Practices Exploring How College Students Handle Their Finances" data set and the Youth Development Study (YDS).In analyzing the qualitative data, a collaborating data reduction method was utilized in which information was removed and arranged into patterns, categories, and themes that emerged from the large data selection using the open-ended survey questions. In analyzing the quantitative data, variables will be drawn from various disciplines depending on the research questions.Examples of studies drawing from the "Examining Money Management Practices Exploring How College Students Handle Their Finances" data set include both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data from this data set will be used to examine 24 married college student's perspectives regarding their own and their partners' financial attitudes and behaviors. Another study utilizing quantitative data will examine differences between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen in terms of total financial knowledge, total confidence, and total motivation. A third study will examine the differences of financial stress between International Asian students and Asian American students. Additional topics will be examined as the data set is explored in more detail.The Youth Development Study (YDS) data set examined a cohort of students who were born in 1973-1974 originating from Minnesota public schools. Two proposed studies from the YDS data set will examine cohorts of emerging adults on economic pressure in diverging life paths and on self-reliance in early adulthood.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Educators, policy makers, researchers, college students, financial counselors, financial practitioners, financial planners, financial therapists, and student financial aid personnel. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For the first research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2018. For the second research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2018. None to report for the third project. None to report for the fourth project. For the fifth project, the Peer$ had multiple campus workshops to do outreach on financial awareness. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?For the first research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2018 and plans are to submit to a journal for review for publication. For the second research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2018. A revised manuscript has been submitted to a journal for review for publication. For the third research project, a manuscript was submitted to a journal for review for publication. For the fourth project, plans are to submit a revised manuscript to a journal for review for publication. For the fifth project, the Peer$ conducted multiple campus workshops through the College Possible program, worked with area high schools, and worked with high school students from the TRIO program. Peer$ also had booths at the university student union and at the Ninth Annual Twin Cities Financial Planning Day to promote financial awareness among their peers and the community. To bring special attention to the National Financial Literacy Month, Peer$ held several college student financial awareness events on the University of Minnesota campus to raise awareness of the importance of financial literacy among college students. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This research agenda examines the financial management practices that affect college students' economic well-being. The research project has five sub projects that inform the overarching research objective. The first research project examines both the financial socialization influence of parents on their young adult's financial behavior along with examining the young adult's romantic partner's influence on their financial behavior and how these socializing factors affect the young adult's perception of the couple's financial relationship. The current study analyzes data from the Arizona Pathways to Life Success for University Students (APLUS) and is a longitudinal project that began in 2008 and focused on examining financial attitudes and behaviors of young adults. Authors presented their findings at the 2018 Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE) Annual Symposium. They plan to submit a revised manuscript to the AFCPE's journal. The second research project examines whether college student use technology to manage their money along with examining their financial knowledge and the potential impact of technology use on their financial well-being. Results show that the majority of college students are using technology to manage their personal finances and that they lack in their financial knowledge, however they tend to overestimate their knowledge of personal finances. Authors presented their findings at the 2018 Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE) Annual Symposium and submitted a revised manuscript to AFCPE's journal. The third research project focuses on comparing Asian American college students with International Asian college students to investigate financial stress within the Asian college student population. The sample from this study comes from a large Mid-Western university; however, its sample size is small at 23 students. The authors revised the manuscript, submitted it to a journal, and are awaiting a response from the journal. The fourth research project builds on the third research project only using data from the 2014 National Student Financial Wellness study, which is a larger sample size. This sample has 671 Asian college students. The study examines how families influence Asian college student's financial attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. The authors are revising the manuscript and plan to submit it a journal. The fifth project continues to be the outreach component of my research agenda. In 2018, I along with a colleague Dr. Joyce Serido, worked with and mentored undergraduate students on financial management practices that affect young adult's economic well-being and how these practices and decisions impact their everyday choices. This group is referred to as the Peer$. Peer$ used a small group discussion format, to engage their peers in discussions to address specific questions of interest to them. They worked with both high school aged students and college aged students. Peer$ had a social media presence providing financial tips every Tuesday on their Face Book page and Twitter account.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Li, Y., Serido, J., Zuiker, V.S., & Shim, S. (2018). Examining the influence of parental financial socialization on young adults in a romantic relationship. In V. Anderson and E. Kiss, Proceedings of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, Norfolk, VA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Li, L., Zuiker, V.S., Quito Fernandez, V. (2018). College students⿿ money management and financial well-being in a digital age. In V. Anderson and E. Kiss, Proceedings of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, Norfolk, VA.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Li, L., Zuiker, V.S., Quito Fernandez, V. (In review). Understanding Money Management and Financial Well-being of College Students in a Digital Age.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Li, Y., & Zuiker, V.S. (In review). Understanding Asian college students: A Glimpse into their financial stress, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Educators, policy makers, researchers, college students, financial counselors, financial practitioners, financial planners, financial therapists, and student financial aid personnel. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For the first research project, findings were published in the Journal of Financial Therapy Volume 7(2). For the second research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2016 and have been submitted to a journal for review for publication. For the third research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2017. None to report for the fourth project. For the fifth project, the Peer$ had multiple campus workshops to do outreach on financial awareness. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?For the first research project, findings were published in the Journal of Financial Therapy Volume 7(2) and presented to students enrolled in a family financial counseling course. For the second research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2016 and have been submitted to a journal for review for publication. For the third research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2017. None to report for the fourth project. For the fifth project, the Peer$ conducted multiple campus workshops through the College Possible program, Junior Achievement program, and worked with high school students from the TRIO program. To bring special attention to the National Financial Literacy Month, the Peer$ held several college student financial awareness events on the University of Minnesota campus to raise awareness of the importance of financial literacy among college students. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plans are to continue examining college student money management practices, to continue working with the Peer$ to assist with the outreach component of this project, and work on manuscripts for publication.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overarching research objective for this research project is to examine financial management practices that affect young adult's economic well-being, specifically with college students. This research project had five sub projects that pertained to this overarching research objective. The first research project, the article was published in the Journal of Financial Therapy. This paper focused on college students who self-identified themselves as being in a committed relationship and we asked them about their perspectives on their money management practices as a couple and also topics related to money management that they discussed as a couple. We examined 23 college age students utilizing a mixed method approach. Findings suggested that those who were mindful in engaging in positive money management practices tended to have less conflict and stress over their finances. Also, that having open communication in their relationship and talking about finances was a way to prevent or to solve financial challenges. The second research project focused on Asian American college students and International Asian college students. This study begins to investigate financial stress within the Asian college student population. Literature is lacking when specifically examining the Asian college student experience about their money management practices. Authors presented their findings at the 2016 Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium. They also submitted the manuscript to one journal and it was rejected. The authors then revised the manuscript and submitted it to another journal based on the reviewer's comments from the first journal and are awaiting a response from the second journal. The third research project also focuses on Asian college students and includes 671 Asian college students. The data comes from the 2014 National Student Financial Wellness study. This study explores how families influence Asian college students' financial attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. Findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2017. The fourth research project is a study that begins to look at how college students manage their money through technology. Preliminary results show that college students are using technology when managing their money. Authors are working on a manuscript to submit to refereed journal publication outlet. The fifth project was an outreach component of my research. In 2017, I along with a colleague Dr. Joyce Serido, worked with and mentored both undergraduate and graduate students on the financial management practices that affect young adult's economic well-being and how these practices and decisions impact their everyday choices. This group called themselves the Peer$. The Peer$ used a small group discussion format, to engage their peers in discussions to address specific questions of interest to them. They worked with both high school aged students and college aged students. The Peer$ had a social media presence providing financial tips every Tuesday on their Face Book page and Twitter account.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Rea, J.K., Zuiker, V.S., & Mendenhall, T. (2017). Money and emerging adults: A glimpse into the lives of college couples financial management practices. Journal of Financial Therapy. 7(2), 16-40. doi.10.4148/1944-9771.1110
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Li, Y., Zuiker, V.S., Mendenhall, T., & Montalto, C. (2017, November). Asian college students: Examining their differences on financial matters In V. J. Anderson & D.E. Kiss, Proceedings of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, San Diego, CA, p.4.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2017 Citation: Li, Y., & Zuiker, V.S. (In review). Understanding Asian college students: A Glimpse into their financial stress, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Educators, policy makers, researchers, college students, financial counselors, financial practitioners, financial planners, financial therapists, and student financial aid personnel. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For the first research project, findings were incorporated in the researcher's family financial counseling course by utilizing case studies, group work, and problem-based activities. For the second research project, findings were incorporated in the researcher's family financial counseling course by utilizing case studies, group work, and problem-based activities. None to report for the third project. For the fourth research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2016. For the fifth research project, findings were presented at the annual McNair Scholars Program at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. For the sixth project, the Peer$ had multiple campus workshops to do outreach on financial awareness. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?For the first research project, findings were published in the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, Volume 27(1) and presented to students enrolled in a family financial counseling course. For the second research project, findings were published in the Gender Issues Journal, Volume 33(1) and presented to students enrolled in a family financial counseling course. None to report for the third project. For the fourth research project, findings were presented at the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Annual Symposium in November 2016. For the fifth research project, findings were presented at the annual McNair Scholars Program at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. For the sixth project, The Peer$ conducted multiple campus workshops through the President's Emerging Scholars program, College Possible program, Junior Achievement program, Wellness Fair at St. Mary's University in Minneapolis, MN, and worked with high school students from the TRIO program. To bring special attention to the National Financial Literacy Month, the Peer$ held several college student financial awareness events on the University of Minnesota campus to raise awareness of the importance of financial literacy among college students. Additionally, we participated in a break out session panel discussion led by Dr. Joyce Serido for Jump$tart at the Minnesota Jump$tart Coalition Annual Conference held at the Federal Reserve Board of Minneapolis. The panel was titled "Promising Strategies for Increasing Youth Motivation Toward Financial Literacy." Panel Members Jennifer Rea, Dr. Sharon Powell, and Dr. Virginia S. Zuiker. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plans are to continue examining college student money management practices and to continue working with the Peer$ to assist with the outreach component of this project.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overarching research objective for this research project is to examine financial management practices that affect young adult's economic well-being, specifically with college students. This research project had seven sub projects that pertained to this overarching research objective. For the first research project, the article was published in the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning and it focused on college students' perceptions of being overindulged as children and how it relates to their current financial skills and behaviors. Findings suggest that overindulgence is correlated with impulsive spending, but not with credit card use. Further this finding might suggest that overindulged young adults may not have learned good money management skills during their growing up years. For the second research project, the article was published in the Gender Issues Journal and it examined income disparity and poverty between single mothers and single fathers across three decades (1990-2010), using a U.S. nationally representative sample. Findings suggest that single mothers are much more likely than single fathers to be poverty even after controlling for demographic, human capital, and work related variables. This finding suggests that single mothers are significantly more disadvantaged economically than single fathers. The third research project is a manuscript that has been accepted with revisions to the Journal of Financial Therapy. This manuscript is taking a look at college students who self-identified themselves as being in a committed relationship and their perspectives on how money is handled and discussed in their relationship. This manuscript examined 23 college age students through a qualitative approach. The fourth research project is a study that focuses on Asian American college students and International Asian college students. This study begins to investigate financial stress within the Asian college student population. Literature is lacking when specifically examining the Asian college student experience with regards to money management. Authors are working on manuscripts to submit to refereed journal publication outlets. The fifth research project is a study that begins to look at how college students manage their money through technology. Preliminary results show that college students are using technology when managing their money. Authors are working on manuscripts to submit to refereed journal publication outlets. The sixth project was an outreach component of my research. In 2016, I along with a colleague Dr. Joyce Serido, worked with and mentored both undergraduate and graduate students on the financial management practices that affect young adult's economic well-being and how these practices and decisions impact their everyday choices. This group called themselves the Peer$. We had 10 undergraduate students and 4 graduate students who helped with the outreach during 2016. The Peer$ used a small group discussion format, to engage the other students in discussions to address specific questions of interest to them. The Peer$ had a social media presence providing financial tips every Tuesday on their Face Book page and Twitter account.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Heuring, S.H., Solheim, C.A., Zuiker, V.S., & Ballard, J. (2016). The link between childhood overindulgence and adult financial behaviors. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning. 27(1), 80-91. doi.10.1891/1052-3073.27.1.80
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Kramer, K.Z., Myhra, L.L., Zuiker, V.S., & Bauer, J.W. (2016). Comparison of poverty and income disparity of single mothers and fathers across three decades: 1990 - 2010. Gender Issues. 33(1). 22-41. doi: 10.1007/s12147-015-9144-3
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Rea, J.K., Zuiker, V.S., & Mendenhall, T. (Accepted). Money and emerging adults: A glimpse into the lives of college couples financial management practices.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Li, Y., & Zuiker, V.S. (November 2016). The influence of financial stress between Asian American college students and International Asian college students. In V. Anderson & E. Kiss, Proceedings of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, Louisville, KY, p.107.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Quito Fernandez, V. & Zuiker, V.S. (2016). Money management & technology: Financial practices of college students. Poster presented at the annual McNair Scholars Program/University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.