Are college students at greater risk of credit card abuse? Age, gender, materialism and parental influence on consumer response to credit cards

Psycho-social factors impacting credit acquisition and use by college students

“…Although these variables have all been found to independently impact credit card usage, based on calls for comprehensive research that examines their interrelationships, our study seeks to understand their joint direct and indirect impact as well (Xiao et al, 2011;Harrison, 2012;Limbu et al, 2012). Our two dependent variables are number of credit cards and total credit card debt (Chan et al, 2012), outcome variables that to the best of our knowledge have not been compared and contrasted in comprehensive frameworks.…”

“…In contrast, students whose parents mismanaged credit card debt used credit cards less frequently than those who witnessed positive spending habits. As such, positive and frequent parental involvement in both the pre-and post-acquisition stages is associated with lower credit card balances (Norvilitis and MacLean, 2010;Limbu et al, 2012). Consistent with the CARD Act, students may receive pre-acquisition support from their parents by having them as co-signers.…”

“…Along this line of inquiry, and at a time when rising tuition, fewer grants and reduced state support has contributed to historic levels of student debt, a growing stream of research is investigating factors that impact 'financially risky' credit card usage by college students. For example, recent studies discuss parental involvement (Norvilitis and MacLean, 2010), impulsivity and compulsivity (Pinto and Mansfield, 2006;Wang and Xiao, 2009), financial anxiety (Nga et al, 2011), social status and materialism (Limbu et al, 2012), and locus of control (LOC) (Pirog and Roberts, 2007).…”

“…Despite these concerns, research is needed that investigates the variety of factors affecting students' decisions to acquire and use credit cards (Chudry et al, 2011;Limbu et al, 2012). Lacking are comprehensive and integrative models that examine a range of antecedent factors and psychological processes that may lead to potentially risky credit behaviors of college students (Xiao et al, 2011).…”

“…The purpose of this article is to answer the call for more comprehensive research that frames credit card acquisition and use in terms of personality traits, psychological constructs and social behaviors (Xiao et al, 2011;Chan et al, 2012;Harrison, 2012;Limbu et al, 2012). We develop and test two empirical models to determine the convergence and divergence of these antecedents on how many credit cards people acquire and how much debt they accrue.…”