Financial Socialization and Money Scripts: The Moderating Effect of Gender—A Preliminary Examination

Financial socialization is the process by which individuals acquire values, knowledge, and beliefs about money. One way to measure attitudes toward money is by using money scripts. There are four distinct money scripts: money avoidance, money worship, money status, and money vigilance. Despite their importance, money attitudes receive limited attention in the literature compared to other financial-socialization outcomes, such as financial knowledge, financial behavior, and financial well-being. The primary goal of the current study, therefore, is to preliminarily examine the association between financial socialization and money scripts. Using proprietary data collected from retirement plan participants, the current study finds that family financial socialization is positively associated with the money vigilance script. Additionally, interaction models examine gender differences in the association between family financial socialization and financial education at schools and money attitudes. The findings from the current study have implications for financial educators and practitioners regarding financial socialization at different places and stages of life (e.g., childhood, high school, college, and in the workplace) as well as the importance of considering gender differences in financial socialization.