College students' financial behavior and credit card debt

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48)The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of financially "at risk"\ud students at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), through their financial\ud behaviors related to credit card usage. It will examine the different demographics and\ud socio-economics related to these students and their at-risk credit card usage. In this\ud research the students financial knowledge and attitudes will be taken into consideration to\ud discuss the relationship of such issues to students' at-risk behaviors toward credit card\ud usage . The study of such issues is important because students' credit card debt might\ud lead to financial instability which would affect students' lives and their families' credit\ud status for a long period of time. In order to know if the above assumptions are relevant, different statistical\ud analyses were conducted to reach conclusions. A descriptive inquiry was made for\ud students' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as their knowledge and\ud attitudes. Students were asked specific survey questions to reach specific results. To test\ud the research hypotheses of the relationship between the students' demographics,\ud socioeconomic status, financial knowledge, and financial attitude to their 'at-risk' credit\ud card usage behavior, a logistic regression was performed. In that regression, four binary\ud dependent variables were used: (maxed-out credit cards, late payments, paid full\ud balances, and overdrawn checking accounts).\ud Four models addressing the four aspects of 'at-risk' behavior were analyzed. Then\ud a factor analysis was employed to understand the factors that form the students' attitude\ud toward their financial issues.\ud With regard to the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the hypothesis\ud was partially supported in regard to gender and marital status. As for the socioeconomic\ud characteristics, working hours, dependent on their parents, having other types of loans,\ud and number of credit cards owned proved to be relevant factors. The hypothesis with\ud regard to the students' financial knowledge and attitudes was also partially supported.\ud Overall, if the students had poor credit management skills, then they were more likely to\ud have such 'at-risk' behaviors. In addition, there was a positive relationship between\ud students' determined attitudes and their 'at-risk' behavior. Finally, as this research study\ud could not confirm a negative correlation between financial knowledge and 'at-risk'\ud behavior, it is suggested that focused and well-prepared financial literacy programs may\ud help in shaping positive attitudes among students