Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by female students
BY HUONG HA
57
(first-year students) and sophomores (secondyear students) to carry over US$500 in debt
(Hancock, Jorgensen & Swanson 2012, p.8),
and more financially independent from their
parents (Shim et al. 2010; Hancock, Jorgensen
& Swanson 2012). Generally, senior students
exhibit a more negative1 attitude toward credit
card use than junior students (Wang 2011).
From the above discussion, there is strong
evidence that females are more vulnerable
than males, and senior students exhibit a
more negative attitude toward credit card use
than younger students (Wang 2011). Therefore,
female students at different levels of education
(year of study) should be the target group
for research on credit card use and debt.
Although credit card debt incurred by
58
Explanatory framework
The hypothesis for this research was that
demographic and socioeconomic factors
may affect students credit card usage and
debt, and that there may be differences
between groups of female students in regard
to credit behaviours and financial attitudes.
An explanatory framework (see Figure 1) is
proposed to examine the relationships between
independent determinants and students credit
behaviours and financial attitudes toward
seeking help to settle credit card debt.
Credit
behaviours
Weekly income
Demographic
variables
Level/s of
education
Research methods
This study is descriptive and quantitative.
A four-part questionnaire was designed,
including questions regarding socioeconomic
and demographic information, credit card
possession, credit usage and credit recovery.
The author and a research assistant collected
60
Variable(s)
Marital status
Single
160
62.3
Married/co-habiting/de facto
73
28.4
Others (Divorced/
separated/widow)
24
9.3
Year 1
19
7.4
Year 2
44
17.1
Year 3
87
33.9
107
41.6
Mode of study
Full time
180
70.0
77
30.0
International students
No
204
79.4
Yes
53
20.6
Educational level
$0$199
113
44.0
$200$399
83
32.3
$400$599
30
11.7
31
12.0
12
242
94.2
3 and above
15
5.8
$0$199
148
57.6
$200$399
61
23.7
$400$599
22
8.6
26
10.1
1819
55
21.4
Findings
2021
72
28.0
2223
84
32.7
24 and above
46
17.9
Age
61
Positive (responsible)
credit card usage
Percentage
of variance
Eigenvalue explained
1.568
.874
.783
.739
14.26
Percentage
of variance
Eigenvalue explained
Items (Credit
recovery activities)
Seeking financial
help from parents
and/or relatives
3.615
51.64
1.300
18.57
.798
Seeking financial
help from others
Factor
loading
Factor
loading
Items (Credit
card usage)
Items (Credit
card usage)
.827
.871
.835
Declare bankruptcy
.736
Negative
(irresponsible)
credit card usage
4.232
.722
.722
.755
38.47
62
Significant
difference
between groups
No significant
difference
between groups
Seeking help
from parents
Other groups of
respondents
Other groups of
respondents
Seeking help
from industry
associations
Other groups of
respondents
Seeking help
from consumer
associations or a
non-governmental
agency
Other groups of
respondents
Declaring
bankruptcy
Other groups of
respondents
63
Implications
Understanding the differences in the credit
card usage and behaviours of female students
64
Limitations
65
Conclusion
This study found that there was a negative
relationship between monthly average credit
card debt and weekly income. The female
respondents, especially senior students,
tended to use credit cards in an irresponsible
manner. Junior female students were
Acknowledgement
Notes
2. http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/
finaid/managing/trouble.html
3. http://www.youthcentral.vic.
gov.au/Managing+Money
4. The results of the Bartletts tests and
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) values (KMO =
.798, p = .000 for credit card usage, KMO =
.825, p = .000 for credit recovery activities)
support the use of factor analysis. Varimax
factor rotation method was applied to the
66
References
Abdul-Muhmin, A.G. and Umar, Y.A. 2007, Credit card
ownership and usage behaviour in Saudi Arabia: The
Singapore.
Maines, D., James, R., Johnson, C., Koehler, B., Kroening, J.,
Nobbe, J., Prill, R., Rhein, K., Rolnick, A., Savage, M., Short,
C.J. & Verret, P. 2003, Credit card debt: Helping the consumer
USA.
St Paul.
10.5580/96d.
Tucker, J.A., & Lyons, A.C. 2003, Credit card usage of college
Illinois.
Lyons, A. 2004, A profile of financially at-risk college
students, Journal of Consumer Affairs, v.38, n.1, pp.56-80.
Nellie Mae. 2002, Undergraduate students and credit cards:
An analysis of usage rates and trends, retrieved from, http://
www.nelliemae.com/library/research.html
OLoughlin, D. & Szmigin, I. 2006, Ill always be in
debt: Irish and UK student behaviour in a credit led
environment, Journal of Consumer Marketing, v.23, n.6,
pp.335-43.
67
Xiao, J.J., Tang, C., Serido, J. & Shim, S. 2011, Antecedents and
com.au/national/gender-pay-gap-widens-even-in-
pp.25-43.
sectors-boasting-female-majority-20130902-2t13j.
html#ixzz2kJzdwhnG
Walstad, W.B., Rebeck, K. & MacDonald, R.A. 2010, The
effects of financial education on the financial knowledge of
high school students, Journal of Consumer Affairs, v.44, n.2,
pp.336-57.
Wang, A. 2011, Effects of gender, ethnicity, and work
experience on college students credit card debt:
Implications for wealth advisors, Journal of Wealth
Management, v.14, n.2, pp.85-100.
Worthy, S.L., Jonkman, J. & Blinn-Pike, L. 2010, Sensationseeking, risk-taking, and problematic financial behaviours
v.31, n.2,pp.161-70.
Author
Huong Ha is currently the Academic
October 1 November.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Kruskal-Wallis tests for Positive and negative credit card usage and Educational level
Positive credit card usage
Chi-Square
df
Asymp. Sig.
When I get my credit card bills, I pay off all credit card balances on all cards monthly.
4.065
.255
8.854
.031
8.941
0.030
7.502
0.058
7.782
0.051
When I get my credit card bills, I pay off some cards in full but
make only the minimum payments on others monthly.
8.877
0.031
68
Chi-Square
df
Asymp. Sig.
33.160
.000
26.388
.000
29.889
.000
29.566
.000
Declare bankruptcy
41.779
.000
Appendix 3: Fisher LSD tests for positive and negative credit card usage and credit recovery behaviour
Dependent variable
When I use my credit card, I have
enough money in the bank.
Education
level (A)
Education
level (B)
Mean
Difference
(A B)
Std. Error
Sig.
Year 1
Year 3
.830*
.296
.006
Year 4
.801*
.291
.006
Year 3
.470*
.217
.031
Year 4
.441*
.210
.037
Year 1
-.830*
.296
.006
Year 2
-.470*
.217
.031
Year 1
-.801*
.291
.006
Year 4
Year 2
-.441*
.210
.037
Year 2
Year 4
-.458*
.209
.029
Year 4
Year 2
.458*
.209
.690
Year 2
Year 3
-.355*
.187
.059
Year 3
Year 2
.355*
.187
.059
Year 2
Year 3
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level for (1) and (2) and 0.06 for (3)
Note: Only results which are significant are included in this table.
69
Education
level (A)
Education
level (B)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Sig.
Year 1
Year 3
1.421
.300
.000
Year 4
1.393*
.295
.000
Year 3
.818*
.219
.000
Year 4
.790*
.212
.000
Year 1
-1.421*
.300
.000
Year 2
-.818*
.219
.000
Year 1
-1.393*
.295
.000
Year 4
Year 2
-.790*
.212
.000
Year 1
Year 3
-.978
.267
.000
Year 4
-1.041*
.263
.000
Year 3
-.632*
.195
.001
Year 4
-.696*
.189
.000
Year 1
.978*
.267
.000
Year 2
.632*
.195
.001
Year 1
1.041*
.263
.000
Year 2
.696*
.189
.000
Year 2
-.647
.282
.023
Year 3
-1.027*
.260
.000
Year 4
-1.280*
.256
.000
Year 1
.647*
.282
.023
Year 3
-.380*
.190
.047
Year 4
-.633
.184
.001
Year 1
1.027*
.260
.000
Year 2
.380
.190
.047
Year 1
1.280*
.256
.000
Year 2
.633*
.184
.001
Year 2
Year 3
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Seek help from an industry association
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
70
Dependent variable
Seek help from a consumer association
or a non-government agency
Education
level (A)
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Declare bankruptcy
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Education
level (B)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Sig.
Year 2
-.700*
.283
.014
Year 3
-.942
.261
.000
Year 4
-1.323
.257
.000
Year 1
.700*
.283
.014
Year 3
-.242
.191
.205
Year 4
-.623*
.185
.001
Year 1
.942*
.261
.000
Year 4
-.381*
.149
.011
Year 1
1.323*
.257
.000
Year 2
.623*
.185
.001
Year 3
.381
.149
.011
Year 3
-1.090*
.239
.000
Year 4
-1.287
.235
.000
Year 3
-.582*
.175
.001
Year 4
-.779
.169
.000
Year 1
1.090*
.239
.000
Year 2
.582
.175
.001
Year 1
1.287*
.235
.000
Year 2
.779
.169
.000
*
*
71
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