Economic Socialization: German Parents' Perceptions and Implementation of Allowances to Educate Children

In: European psychologist, Volume 5, Issue 3, p. 202-215

Abstract

This descriptive study was concerned with parents beliefs and behaviors with respect to their children's pocket-money allowance ("Taschengeld") in order to investigate their attempts to socialize their children into the economic world. Some 238 German parents completed a questionnaire looking at attitude toward, beliefs about, and uses of allowances to educate their children. Nearly all (99.6%) believed children over 5 years should receive pocket money on a weekly basis, but that the pocket money should not be dependent on their doing household chores. Parents were in favor of their children saving, though strongly against their borrowing and lending money. A factor analysis of a 15-item attitudinal scale yielded five clear interpretable factors. Regressional analyses showed that parental gender and income/salary were the best predictors of beliefs and attitude toward allowances. Comparison between this data and the British data of Furnham (1999) shows both similarities and differences, albeit mainly in degree. The results are discussed in terms of parental theories about how to economically educate their children.