Written By: Ivan F. Beutler and Clinton G. Gudmunson
The development of two new money-attitude scales measuring entitlement and conscientiousness in adolescents are described. The scales were developed through student and focus group input and from a review of literature on entitlement and conscientiousness as a new adolescent financial education curriculum was being developed. The findings from 265 high school students resulted in a 6-item measure of entitlement, ? = .76, and a 4-item measure of conscientiousness, ? = .82. There was strong evidence for consistency of items for each scale load- ing well on single factors and maintaining reliability across a variety of demographic subgroups. The scales are distinct from, and yet complement existing money-attitude scales, such as conspicuous consumption, power-pres- tige, and financial prudence, and thus offer new tools for research on adolescent economic socialization.