A multiple mediation model is used to explore the role of financial knowledge and financial confidence as mediators between gender and positive financial behaviors in a sample of 2015 NFCS respondents who indicated that they were the only adult in the household. Results suggest that gender differences in financial behaviors exist, but they can be eliminated with increased attention to the financial knowledge and confidence of women. Financial planners, therapists, and educators can use these results to target financial education programs toward women with an emphasis on not just delivering financial knowledge to women, but also encouraging them to seek out financial education and cultivating their confidence to apply it when given the opportunity to do so.
Author(s): Somer G. Anderson, Camila Haselwood, Martin C. Seay