Future Money-Related Worries Among Adolescents After Divorce

Abstract

The present research examined adolescents’ views of their future with respect to money and financial well-being via an open-ended question and inductive content analysis. The participants were adolescents ( N = 255) whose parents were divorced between 5 and 24 months at the time of data collection. The most common worries pertained to (a) being poor/struggling for the necessities of life, (b) attaining/maintaining a high quality of life, (c) job-related matters, (d) (in)ability to care for future family or parents, (e) educational expenses, (f) negative interpersonal consequences, and (g) managing money. Gender, age, and family income differences in financial worries were also examined. The present study fills a surprising gap in the literature and should aid those professionals who work directly with teens, especially those who have experienced parental divorce.