Attitudes towards hedonic indebtedness in Chilean high school students

Abstract

Introduction: Consumer spending has established itself as a means of social interaction, generating high levels of indebtedness among the Chilean population. Adolescents have been especially sensitive to this situation, since through consumption they have access to symbolic elements associated with the construction of identity. The objective of this research is to determine the existence of relationships between material values, influence of peers, and attitudes towards money with regard to attitudes towards hedonic indebtedness in Chilean high school students. Method: Of a sample of 1297 Chilean high school students, 46% are men and 54% are women, corresponding to the cities of La Serena, Coquimbo, Santiago and Temuco. The scales of Attitudes towards Indebtedness, Materialism for Adolescents, Scale of Susceptibility to the Influence of Peers and the Scale of Attitudes towards Money were applied. The data were analyzed through a hierarchical multiple linear regression. Results: The results indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between sex, material values, peer effect and attitudes towards money with respect to hedonic indebtedness. Conclusion: The results obtained in this study provide clues when approaching financial education in adolescents, where it must be considered that the materialistic culture of the neoliberal economic model impacts on the attitudes, values and propensity to indebtedness of adolescents and later adults.