Monetary sources, spending practices, and cost perceptions of young adults

The purpose of this study was to examine the monetary sources, spending practices, and cost perceptions of young adults. The survey explored the demographic variables of monetary sources, spending practices, cost perceptions, hours worked, level of self-support, family structure, gender, and age.

Since the review of literature and a search of instruments did not reveal an appropriate instrument, an original questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire was distributed to 324 students attending a major university in the North Central Texas area. Of the 324 surveys distributed and returned, 291 students in the appropriate age range of 18 to 25 responded for an 89.9% return of useable data for the purpose of this study.

The hours worked differed by monetary sources. There was a negative correlation between hours worked and discretionary spending. There was a difference in monetary sources by self-support. There was a positive correlation between self-support and required spending and a negative correlation between self-support and discretionary spending. There was a difference in age by monetary sources. There was a positive correlation between age and required spending and a negative correlation between age and saving. Monetary sources differed by family structure, but spending practices did not. Spending practices differed by gender, but monetary sources did not.

Some notable conclusions were in the area of age and number of hours worked. The older the participants were and the more hours they worked, the more they saw themselves as self-supporting and spending their money on required items. The younger the participant and the fewer hours they worked, the more they indicated they were still dependent on their parents. They also saw themselves as spending the majority of their money on discretionary items. Very little money was allocated to saving or giving by any of the participants.