Money Attitudes as Predictors of Spending Behavior among College Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68354/742112Keywords:
money attitude, spending behavior, college students, power-prestige, retention-time, distrust, anxiety, ordinal logistic regressionAbstract
Introduction: Money attitude is an important factor in understanding how individuals approach spending, saving, and financial decision-making. However, limited evidence examines how specific dimensions of money attitude are associated with the spending behavior of college students.
Objective: This study examined the association between five dimensions of money attitude—power-prestige, retention-time, distrust, quality, and anxiety—and the spending behavior of college students at Makilala Institute of Science and Technology.
Methods: A cross-sectional research design was employed involving 362 college students. Data were collected using an adapted structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression. The proportional-odds assumption was assessed to determine the appropriateness of the ordinal regression model.
Results: The ordinal logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ²(5) = 97.90, p < .001, with a Nagelkerke R² of .064. The proportional-odds assumption was not rejected, χ²(14) = 21.20, p = .098. Retention-time (OR = 2.82, p < .001), anxiety (OR = 2.03, p < .001), and distrust (OR = 1.49, p = .020) were significant predictors of the spending-behavior outcome, whereas power-prestige (p = .788) and quality (p = .372) were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Retention-time, anxiety, and distrust were significantly associated with higher categories of the study’s spending-behavior outcome, although the model explained a modest proportion of its variation. Given the cross-sectional and self-reported nature of the data, the findings do not establish causal relationships. Future research may examine additional factors associated with college students’ spending behavior.
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