Moneygrams: Recalled Childhood Memories about Money and Adult Money Pathology

Abstract

In this study, 512 adults completed two questionnaires. One questionnaire was devised specifically for this study concerning childhood memories of parental money beliefs and behaviors, which were passed to children (i.e., moneygrams). The second questionnaire established a measure of “money pathology” (Forman, 1987). The moneygram questionnaire was based on clinical cases and idiographic studies on money pathology. Around a fifth of the items showed significant sex differences. Factor analysis highlighted one clear factor, namely “money secrecy,” which was associated with greater levels of spending money pathology in adulthood. In women, but not in men, higher family money secrecy was significantly associated with compensating and hoarding money pathologies. The latter two were not related to income in either men or women. Implications and limitations of these results are considered.