School financial education and parental financial socialization: Findings from a sample of Hong Kong adolescents

Abstract

This study evaluated a conceptual model with which to explore the influence of parental financial socialization in a sample of Hong Kong adolescent students and to evaluate how school financial education impacted the model’s results. Baseline data, collected before the financial intervention, revealed that parental financial socialization positively influenced adolescent financial behaviors as mediated by financial learning outcomes and psychological transformation, in sequence. Model results based on follow-up tests suggested that the positive link between parental financial norms and adolescents’ financial attitudes was stronger in the experimental group than in the control (no financial intervention) group, but the positive link between direct parental teaching and self-control in financial behaviors was weaker in the experimental group compared to that in the control group. Neither differential direct pathways linking financial learning outcomes to financial behaviors nor differential indirect pathways mediated by psychological transformation were identified. These findings improve the understanding of parental financial socialization in the context of school education. The results produce multiple research questions to be considered in future studies.