Abstract
Financial capability—financial knowledge, skills, and access to financial services—may help smooth transitions to adulthood for youth and is affected by socialization experiences with parents and other family members. Among a sample of youth and their parents enrolled in the YouthSave experiment in Ghana (n = 4,065), this study examined whether physical access to financial services and/or visiting banks with parents or other family members was associated with youth’s perceptions and understanding of financial institutions. We found a statistically significant association between visiting the bank with a parent or other family member and youth’s attitudes (β = 1.45, p < 0.001) and understanding of financial services (β = 2.96, p < 0.001), controlling for other factors like household income and assets. Conversely, physical access (distance, travel time) was not associated with financial services attitudes or understanding. Parents may play an important role in introducing their children to financial services. Practitioners and policy makers should consider ways to include parents in efforts to promote financial capability among youth.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 453-462 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Family and Economic Issues |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Financial access
- Financial services
- Financial social work
- Ghana
- YouthSave
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Economics and Econometrics