Financial Safety Nets or Rescue Fantasies? A Moderating View of the Relationship between Usage of Alternative Financial Services and Financial Anxiety among College Students

Guided by the knowledge-behavior-opportunity approach to financial capability (Xiao et al., 2022), our study explored whether financial dependence on parents and/or the belief that parents will rescue them from debt moderated the relationship between usage of alternative financial services and financial anxiety among emerging adults, primarily college students. Data came from responses from 209 students taking a financial assessment survey pre- and post-test as part of a Consumer Economics course taught at a public university in the Southeastern United States. We found that both financial dependence and beliefs of parental rescue were related negatively to financial anxiety in separate models. Beliefs of parental rescue also moderated this relationship. However, when combined in the same model, only beliefs of parental rescue remained negatively related to financial anxiety. Implications are discussed.