Becoming Financially Self-Sufficient: Developing a Need-Supportive and Need-Thwarting Scale for Financial Parenting of Emerging Adults

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.

Ethical approval

Ethical aspects of the study were reviewed and approved by the committee of Psychological Research Ethics of Mykolas Romeris University (decision no. 1/-2021, issued on February 12, 2021)

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The data supporting this study's findings are openly available in Open Science Framework at https://bit.ly/3CaF94k.

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data, Open Materials and Preregistered through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://bit.ly/37WeTQX, https://bit.ly/37WeTQX and https://osf.io/wbqvf. To obtain the author's disclosure form, please contact the Editor.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the European Social Fund under the No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712 “Development of Competencies of Scientists, Other Researchers, and Students through Practical Research Activities” measure. Grant recipient: Rimantas Vosylis. Grant no: 09.3.3-LMTK-712-19-0214.