Attitudes toward credit, money beliefs and behavior, and imagined conversations with parents about credit and debt were found to differ between students with credit cards and those without. Credit attitudes, the money attitudes of independence, power, and 本文来自辣.文~论-文·网原文请找腾讯32491，14 . All three credit attitudes and the money attitudes of obsession and retention distinguished between students with four or more credit cards and students with one through three credit cards. Nine variables were significant: the affective and behavioral credit attitudes, the retention money attitude, the frequency of imagined interactions, age, ethnicity, having had instruction in personal finance, year in college, and whether they had a student loan.论文网http://www.751com.cn/
Keywords: credit card usage, attitudes, imagined interactions, college students
Introduction
The use of credit cards among college students has received much attention in recent years from members of the financial community and policy makers. Credit card companies aggressively target college students because college students are expected to have higher than average earning power and are seen by the credit card companies as a desirable market. However, policy makers are concerned about such aggressive marketing. Credit has been linked to multiple problems in the college student population such as anxiety, dropping out of school, filing for bankruptcy and even suicide. Students do not fully understand the financial implications of having a large number of credit cards and/or carrying a large amount of credit card debt. The more credit cards, the more likely they are to spend more. Kidwell and Turrisi noted that if students were embarrassed to borrow money and/or did not have enough money in their checking account to use cash, write a check, or use a debit card, they were more likely to acquire a new credit card. In addition, increased spending has been associated with increased debt. The average college undergraduate credit card debt was $2,327 in 2001 and 47% of students had four or more credit cards. While the average credit card debt decreased from $2,748 in 2000, the median credit card debt increased from $1,236 to $1,770 and the percentage with balances between $3,000 and $7,000 increased from 13% to 21%. The number of students with balances in excess of $7,000 decreased from 9% in 2000 to 6% in 2001. When combined with their student loan debt, the average debt level for freshman was $3,150 ($1,533 in credit card debt and $1,617 in student loan debt). For seniors, the average combined debt was $20,402 ($3,262 in credit card debt and $17,140 in student loan debt. Forty-two percent of former undergraduate students who participated in the 2002 本文来自辣.文~论-文·网原文请找腾讯3249，114 often listed as sources of conflict within the family. Given the salience of credit cards both as an easily accessible financial tool and as a potential problem for college students and their families, it is suggested in this study that students will have imagined interactions, expending mental time and effort, with their parents about their credit card use and their spending habits.2446