Key Topics in Consumer Behavior

106 Pages·2022·4.797 MB·English

by  Springer Behavioral & Health Sciences

Key Topics in Behavioral Sciences
Key Topics in
Consumer Behavior
Key Topics in Behavioral Sciences
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Springer Behavioral & Health Sciences

Key Topics in Consumer
Behavior
Springer Behavioral & Health Sciences
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ISSN 2731-9067
Key Topics in Behavioral Sciences
ISBN 978-3-031-19909-7

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v
Contents
Foreword................................................................................................................................ v
Financial Stress and the Relative Income Hypothesis
Among Black College Students .............................................................................................. 1
K. J. White Jr: Contemporary Family Therapy 2020, 2020: 42:25–32
(1, January 2020) DOI 10.1007/s10591-019-09531-8

Luxury Consumption Tendency: Conceptualization, Scale Development
and Validation ......................................................................................................................... 9
V. Dogan, B. Y. Ozkara, and M. Dogan: Current Psychology 2018, 2020:
39:934–952 (20 February 2018) DOI 10.1007/s12144-018-9813-y

Does Socioeconomic Status Matter? Materialism and Self-Esteem:
Longitudinal Evidence from China ..................................................................................... 29
R. Wang, H. Liu, and J. Jiang: Current Psychology 2020, 2022: 41:1559–1568
(14, March 2020) DOI 10.1007/s12144-020-00695-3

Specific Virtues as Predictors of Smartphone Addiction among
Chinese Undergraduates ...................................................................................................... 39
L. Lian and X. You: Curr Psychol 2017, 2017: 36:376–384 (15 May 2017)
DOI 10.1007/s12144-017-9612-x

Investigating the factors that trigger airline industry purchase intention ...................... 49
M. E. Tarkang, U. V. Alola, R. Y. Nange, and A. Ozturen: Current Psychology 2020,
2022: 41:1716–1727 (29, May 2020) DOI 10.1007/s12144-020-00815-z

The Ways of Altruism .......................................................................................................... 61
G. Piccinini and A. W. Schulz: Evolutionary Psychological Science 2018,
2019: 5:58–70 (4, August 2018) DOI 10.1007/s40806-018-0167-3

A Tale of Two Sample Sources: Do Results from Online Panel Data
and Conventional Data Converge? ..................................................................................... 75
S. L. Walter, S. E. Seibert, D. Goering, and E. H. O’Boyle Jr: Journal of Business
and Psychology 2018, 2019: 34:425–452 (21, July 2018)
DOI 10.1007/s10869-018-9552-y

vii
Contemporary Family Therapy (2020) 42:25–32
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-019-09531-8
ORIGINAL PAPER
Financial Stress and the Relative Income Hypothesis Among Black
College Students
Kenneth J. White Jr.1
Published online: 1 January 2020
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
The majority of college students experience financial stress, but not all experience it with the same frequency or intensity.
Research suggests Black students experience a greater intensity of financial stress than their White peers do. This study
revealed a link between perception of relative consumption and financial stress among 965 Black students at 52 predomi-
nantly White colleges and universities in the United States. The relative income hypothesis (RIH) literature offers potential
mediators of financial stress. The findings have implications for families, college students, therapists, financial educators,
and school administrators.
Keywords Financial stress · Relative income hypothesis · College students · African American
Introduction
or predictability is the stressor, and stress is the reaction to
the stressor (Koolhaas et al. 2011). Two potential stressors
Given mounting higher education costs, many college stu- leading to financial stress are: (1) comparing one’s financial
dents experience financial stress. Greater than 70% of all situation to the perceived financial situation of others, and
college students express feeling stress from their current (2) comparing one’s current financial situation to their own
financial situation; and financial stress is likely to be more past financial status.
intense for Black students (Grable and Joo 2006; Heckman To understand the relationship between “keeping up with
et al. 2014; Montalto et al. 2016; Williams et al. 1997). the Joneses” and financial stress, this study used the frame-
These findings are contrary to the broader psychological work of Duesenberry’s (1949) relative income hypothesis
stress literature, which concludes that Blacks experience (RIH). Duesenberry’s RIH states that financial satisfaction is
stress at equal or lower levels than Whites (Thoits 2010). based on: (1) buying power compared to peer group, and (2)
As a source of stress, financial matters affect Blacks greater current purchasing power compared to past peak consump-
than does other stressors. tion levels (Duesenberry 1949; Friedman 1957; McBride
Stress is less about cause and effect and more about 2001). Developing and maintaining networks of peers that
one’s perception of their ability to handle circumstances provide emotional support can be a beneficial protection
they encounter. Kasl (1984) defined stress as a perceived against stressors (Krycak et al. 2012), but individuals that
imbalance between a demand and the capability to handle compare their current situations to others and to their own
the demand, particularly where failure to meet the demand pasts may actually be creating stressors through these two
has important perceived consequences. The basis of stress comparisons.
then is an individual’s perception of lacking control and/or This study gauged financial stress through the lens of the
predictability in a given situation (Britt et al. 2016; Koolhaas RIH among Black students at 52 predominantly White col-
et al. 2011). The stimulus or event that threatens control and/ leges and universities in the United States (US). Specifi-
cally, does the RIH contribute to reported financial stress of
Black college students? The hypothesis is that comparing
*
Kenneth J. White Jr.
consumption to peers and past levels of consumption will
[email protected]
increase financial stress among Black college students.
1 Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer This study adds to financial stress knowledge by: (1)
Economics, University of Georgia, Dawson Hall, Athens, by considering how key stressors in Montalto et al. (2016)
GA 30602, USA
Chapter 1 was originally published as White Jr., K. J. Contemporary Family Therapy (2020) 42: 25–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-019-09531-8.
Reprinted from the journal 1 1 3
Contemporary Family Therapy (2020) 42:25–32
specifically impact Black students in the data, and (2) financial attitudes, practices, knowledge, and overall finan-
extending the dependent and independent variables in Mon- cial wellness. There were 965 students with a recorded racial
talto et al. (2016) to more comprehensive indices rather status of Black.
than single item variables. Montalto et al. (2016) found
racial differences persist in perceived relative consumption Measures
where Black students are more likely to self-report not hav-
ing enough money to do the same activities as their peers.
The dependent variable was an index created from the
However, they considered the entire population of students
mean of the following three questions. Respondents
and did not relate racial differences in perceived relative
answered using a 4-point scale, from 1 = strongly disagree to
consumption specifically to financial stress among Black
4 = strongly agree. The single item questions were consistent
students.
with those used to measure financial stress in past research
This connection is important to identify not only because
(Montalto et al. 2016; Prawitz et al. 2006; Thoits 2010).
of the impact of stress on overall wellbeing (Kasl 1984;
McEwen 2000; Vauclair et al. 2014) and academic achieve-
• “I feel stressed about my personal finances in general,”
ment (Fosnacht and Calderone 2017; Letkiewicz et al. 2014),
• “I worry about being able to pay my current monthly
but also because of the importance of cultural competence
expenses,”
when clinicians and financial educators work with clients
• “I worry about having enough money to pay for school.”
from diverse backgrounds. Thus, focusing on Black students
is appropriate for many reasons. First, Black students tend
The independent variable of interest was an index created
to accumulate higher levels of student loan debt and have
from the mean of the following two questions operational-
lower levels of savings and wealth (Addo et al. 2016; Britt
ized as proxies of the RIH. Respondents answered using
et al. 2016; Jackson and Reynolds 2013; Scott-Clayton and
a 4-point scale, from 1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly
Li 2016). Second, Black young adults from all socioeco-
agree.
nomic backgrounds face challenges with the labor market,
mobility and economic security (Addo et al. 2016). Finally,
• “I have enough money to participate in most of the same
Pew Center Research (2019) concludes that Blacks have dif-
activities as my peers do,”
ferent perceptions and views of advantage, disadvantage and
• “I have enough money to participant in most activities
equity in society (Horowitz et al. 2019). Black Americans
that I enjoy.”
are more likely to feel disadvantaged due to racism, multi-
generational oppression, implicit bias and discrimination,
The covariates were age (coded “1” if traditional col-
which may manifest as financial stress (Range et al. 2018;
lege age’18–23 years’ and “0” otherwise), gender, student’s
Wilkins et al. 2013).
employment status, mother’s college degree, father’s college
degree, parents’ annual income, expected time until gradua-
Purpose tion, GPA, and school type.
Analysis
This study’s purpose was twofold. First, to explore the rela-
tionship between financial stress and the RIH among Black
college students. Second, to discuss solutions from the Prior to performing more complicated analyses, Spearman
RIH literature that may mitigate financial stress for Black correlations were calculated to evaluate the relationships of
students. the independent variables to the dependent variables. Spear-
man correlations are between − 1 and 1; the closer to − 1 or
1, the stronger the relationship between the two variables.
Methodology
The multivariate analyses were done using a general linear
model, with both continuous and categorical independent
Data variables, and assumes normality of the outcome. The resid-
uals of the financial stress index were approximately bell-
This study analyzed data from the 2014 National Student shaped and symmetric; therefore, quite close to a normal
Financial Wellness Study (NSFWS), collected at The Ohio distribution. The skewness (− 0.369, SE = 0.091) and kur-
State University. Undergraduate students (N = 18,795) tosis (0.233, SE = 0.181) were within the acceptable ranges
came from 52 participating 2-year public, 4-year public, (skewness is between − 1 and 1; kurtosis is between − 2
and 4-year private, predominantly White, US colleges and and 2) for the assumption of normality (George and Mallery
universities. Participants took an online survey examining 2010). Thus, based on visual examinations of the residuals
1 3 2 Reprinted from the journal
Contemporary Family Therapy (2020) 42:25–32
and rules of thumb for skewness and kurtosis, the residuals
Table 2 Distributions of demographics (N = 965)
were acceptable normal.
To examine homogeneity, the data were broken down into N %
10 equal groups according to the percentiles of the predicted
Having enough money to do activities with peers
values. An observation of the standard deviations and vari-
 Strongly disagree 143 14.9
ances across the different groups showed that the ratio of the
 Disagree 323 33.8
largest variance (0.7023) to the smallest variance (0.3138)
 Agree 367 38.3
was less than 3 which meets acceptable criteria for homo-
 Strongly agree 124 13.0
geneity (Dean et al. 1999). The general linear model was
Having enough money to do activities one enjoys
appropriate based on acceptable normality and homogeneity.
 Strongly disagree 125 13.1
 Disagree 263 27.5
 Agree 433 45.3
Results
 Strongly agree 134 14.0
General stress
The mean RIH index (2.55) for Black students was slightly
 Strongly disagree 72 7.5
greater than the median with 51% having enough money
 Disagree 184 19.1
to do the same activities as peers and 59% having enough
 Agree 370 38.4
money to do activities they enjoy (Tables 1 and 2). The mean
 Strongly agree 337 35.0
stress index for Black students was 2.86 with greater than
Worry paying monthly expenses
70% feeling stress from finances in general and 60% worry-
 Strongly disagree 104 10.8
ing about paying for monthly expenses and school (Tables 1
 Disagree 275 28.6
and 2). Noteworthy was the expected time to complete
 Agree 332 34.5
degree with 40% needing extra time versus 6% expecting to
 Strongly agree 250 26.0
finish early (Table 2).
Worry paying for school
From Table 3, the correlations of the stress to money
 Strongly disagree 117 12.2
variables among Black students were moderate to large (all
 Disagree 247 25.7
between − 0.3 and − 0.5). The strongest correlation was
 Agree 290 30.1
between students worrying about paying monthly expenses
 Strongly agree 308 32.0
and the overall RIH index (ρ = − 0.498). The weakest cor-
Traditional age (18–23 years) 583 62.6
relation was between students worrying about paying for
Male 236 24.6
school and their ability to consume relative to their peer
Employment status
group (ρ = − 0.388). All of the correlations were negative
 Full-time 232 24.1
and highly statistically significant (p < 0.001). This suggests
 Part-time 462 48.0
as Black students perceive that their current financial status
 Not employed 269 27.9
compares favorably to their peer group and past level of con-
Mother has college education 273 28.4
sumption, the less stressed they are, and vice versa.
Father has college education 248 25.9
From Table 4, for each one-point increase on the RIH
Parents’ annual income
index, the stress index decreased by 0.462 points. The four
 < $40,000 272 28.5
significant categorical variables were age, gender, employ-
 $40,000 to < $100,000 234 24.5
ment status, and expected time to graduation. Black students
 $100,000 + 81 8.5
of traditional college age had a stress index score 0.168
 Don’t know or prefer not to answer 378 38.5
Expected time to degree completion
 On time 436 49.5
Table 1 Descriptive statistics
 Extra time 355 40.3
Mean SD Min Max Reliability  Early 51 5.8
 Other type of degree 38 4.3
RIH index 2.55 0.848 1 4 0.878
GPA
Activities as peers 2.49 0.899 1 4
 0.00 to 0.99 2 0.2
Activities I enjoy 2.60 0.885 1 4
 1.00 to 1.99 14 1.7
Stress index 2.86 0.838 1 4 0.847
 2.00 to 2.99 332 39.3
General stress 3.01 0.917 1 4
 3.00 to 3.99 467 55.3
Pay monthly expenses 2.76 0.960 1 4
 4.00 30 3.6
Pay for school 2.82 1.016 1 4
Reprinted from the journal 3 1 3