Consumption and Spending
Measures of consumption and spending capture how one generally uses financial resources.
Measure
Source: Mandell L, Klein LS. The impact of financial literacy education on subsequent financial behavior. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning. 2009;20(1): 15-24.
Psychometric properties: Not reported.
Some people tend to be very thrifty, saving money whenever they have the chance, while others are very spending-oriented, buying whenever they can and even borrowing to consume more. How would you classify yourself?
- Very thrifty, saving money whenever I can
- Somewhat thrifty, often saving money
- Neither thrifty nor spending oriented
- Somewhat spending oriented, seldom saving money
- Very spending oriented, hardly ever saving money
Measure
Source: Faber RJ, O’Guinn TC. A clinical screener for compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Research. 1992;19(3):459-469.
Psychometric properties: Five items from the seven-item Compulsive Buying Scale (Faber and O’Guinn, 1992), with the full scale reporting Cronbach’s alpha = .95
If I have any money left at the end of the pay period, I just have to spend it.
- Strongly agree
- Agree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Disagree
- Strongly disagree
Please indicate how often you have done each of the following things:
| Very often | Often | Sometimes | Rarely | Never | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bought things even though I couldn’t afford them | o | o | o | o | o |
| Bought myself something in order to make myself feel better | o | o | o | o | o |
| Feel anxious or nervous on days I didn’t go shopping | o | o | o | o | o |
| Made only the minimum payments on my credit cards | o | o | o | o | o |