The role of financial socialisation process on healthy financial behaviour: An application in Samsun province

Financial socialisation is defined as the process of shaping people's financial behaviours, attitudes, skills and knowledge through various means such as media, school, religion, friends, family, etc. This process usually starts with the family at an early age. Financial experiences acquired at an early age continue throughout life. Therefore, it is important for individuals to undergo a healthy financial socialisation process in terms of healthy financial behaviour and financial attitudes. In line with this scope, the aim of our research is to determine the effects of financial socialisation processes and financial information on healthy financial behaviour in high school students on the path to healthy financial behaviour. In addition, there are also sub-objectives such as determining the effects of participants' sociodemographic characteristics on healthy financial behaviour and parental financial role modelling. The sample of the study consists of high school students studying in the 11th and 12th grades of vocational high schools, Anatolian high schools, imamhatip high schools and science high schools in Samsun province. Random sampling method was used. The questionnaire was applied to 721 high school students face to face. Of the respondents, 322 were male and 399 were female. Two types of analyses were conducted in our research. In the first analysis, independent sample T test and One Way ANOVA (one-way analysis of variance) tests were used to test demographic characteristics. In the second analysis, the structural relationships between the scales used in the research were tested with structural equation modelling (SEM). According to the results of the structural equation model, it was seen that the influence of families on students' healthy financial behaviour was significantly high. On the other hand, the effect of the measured demographic characteristics of the students on taking their families as role models in financial matters and exhibiting healthy financial behaviour was examined and significant results were obtained. There is a significant difference between girls and boys in terms of exhibiting healthy financial behaviour. Again, significant differences were found between the educational level of the parents and the type of high school attended and parental financial role modelling and healthy financial behaviour. In another result, there was a significant difference between the income range of the family and parental financial role modelling. Bonferonni and Tukey tests were conducted to measure the groups from which the significant differences originated. Keywords: Financial Socialization, Financial Literacy, Financial Socialization Process, Financial Behavior, Financial Education