In modern society, money significantly influences individuals' values and lifestyles. For parents of preschool-aged children, monetary attitudes play a critical role in shaping consumer education and value formation. This study examined monetary attitudes among parents of 4- to 6-year-olds and their impact on consumer socialization within households, proposing directions for effective parent education during early childhood.
Monetary attitudes were categorized into seven sub-dimensions: achievement/problem-solving, management, luxury consumption, positive attitude, negative attitude, anxiety, and avoidance. Based on these, parents were classified into three types: low-asset anxious, high-asset anxious, and high-asset stable. This study found partial differences in consumer socialization practices across these types. While 60% of parents reported conducting consumer education and 30% provided allowances, preferences for specific methods varied by type. For instance, low-asset anxious parents tended to fulfill children’s material requests such as buying snacks or toys more frequently than others.
In terms of consumer education content, most topics, including moderation, recycling, and savings, were rated high in importance and performance, while areas such as charitable giving, advertising, and taxes required improvement. High-asset stable parents emphasized the importance of consumer rights and charitable giving more than other groups.
A monetary attitude scale can serve as an effective tool to engage participants' interest in parent education settings. A analytical findings of this study, which provide recommendations for considerations in the consumer socialization process within households by parent type, can be utilized as foundational data for developing parent education programs aimed at consumer education for parents of young children.