Parents Influence Responsible Credit Use in Young Adults: Empirical Evidence from the United States, France, and Brazil

Abstract

From the start of adulthood, consumers are frequently faced with complex financial decisions, and the consequences of these decisions may be reflected throughout the rest of their lives. As access to credit has expanded among college students around the world, it is critical that we understand both universal and culture-specific processes. Although some work has examined credit card use in two cultures simultaneously, there is, to our knowledge, no research examining such use in three cultures on three continents and across both genders. This study analyzes credit card use behavior among 1458 young adults living either in Brazil, the United States, or France. A structural equations model is used to incorporate relationships between the latent variables. The model, which was validated by the study, examines how financial well-being is affected by the way in which the individual uses credit cards, which in its turn is affected by social comparison and by financial self-confidence, the latter being also impacted by the financial education received from the parents. In the comparison between groups we found evidence that men are more dependent on parental education than women.