Do financial education workshops enhance parent–adolescent communication about money?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of financial education workshops (FEWs) on parent–adolescent communication about money by controlling for a parent's gender.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized a pre- and post-survey-based experimental research design for impact evaluation. Assuming that parents often claim that they frequently communicate with their children about money, the researcher asked children to rate their perception of their mothers' financial communication with them. Their mothers completed the pre-survey before agreeing to participate in FEWs. A follow-up survey was conducted for both study groups six months after completing the FEW series. The data consisted of 300 responses on 19 pairs of money communication items from both study groups. Neither the mothers nor the children were aware that data were collected from both the groups.FindingsThe results of the paired t-tests support the notion that financial education enhances monetary communication between mothers and adolescents.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is helpful to policymakers and financial educators not only to understand the need for “family-based financial education workshops” but also to design and implement such programs to open up the line of “money communication” between parents and children.Social implicationsThis important outcome provides a likely assumption that the enhancement in communication that had been previously constrained by factors such as a “parent's inability or unwillingness to discuss financial matters” is improved by empowering the parent on the subject of personal finance. Second, financial educators and policymakers need to understand that parents play a crucial role in the socialization process of their children. Parents' instructions and communications with their children not only impact the children's financial choices but also make them feel more competent about managing their finances. So, importance of financial socialization strategies should be included in the FEWs designed for the adults.Originality/valueExisting research studies evaluated the FEW outcomes by reporting a positive change in various financial behaviors of the participants by considering only one unit of the household. This study extends the impact evaluation of FEWs to measure the behavioral outcomes at the household level by considering two units of the household, the mother parent and adolescent child by studying their communication about money.