Credit card and financial well-being among females

Abstract

The literature documents the impact of credit card use on people's financial well-being, including special interest in women's credit card behavior. This chapter examines predictors of the financial well-being for female college students living in São Paulo City (Brazil) or New York City (United States), focusing upon behaviors regarding credit card use. The results of structural equation models, based on 784 participants, suggest that financial self-confidence and social comparison impact the respondents' habits surrounding credit card use and, more largely, influence financial well-being. Although social comparison is more strongly predictive of credit card use among Brazilian women, credit card use behavior has a greater impact on the well-being of American women.