Date of Award

8-1-1975

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Economics & Finance

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: The problem of this study was to measure selected personal finance knowledges possessed by members of the National Secretaries Association and to determine the relationship of selected socioeconomic variables to personal finance knowledges.

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of selected variables to the personal finance knowledges possessed by members of the National Secretaries Association. An analysis of the variables identified the factors which contributed most toward a better understanding of personal money management concepts.

Procedures: The subjects for this study were selected from the national membership lists of the National Secretaries Association. Eleven variables were chosen for inclusion in this study: marital status, occupation of husbands, level of education, husbands educational level, completion of personal finance course, current occupation, income level of the respondent and of the husbands, rural-urban residency, age, and performance of money management activities.

The revised Test of Money Management by Herbert M. Jelley was used as the test instrument for this study. This instrument was constructed as a multiple choice test consisting of four parts: Money Management, Credit, Insurance, and Savings and Investment. A questionnaire was developed by the researcher and was used to collect the socioeconomic data.

The completed tests and questionnaires were returned by 346 NSA members; 31 of these were not usable, thus, 315 members returned usable information.

The TESTAT Program was used to analyze each test item. Information for numbers of responses and means was obtained through the TALLY Program. The STWMULT Program was utilized for analyzing the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Correlations were obtained through the MSDCC Program for selected hypotheses. Using the statistical technique known as Setwise Regression Analysis, the relationship between the variables and the test scores was determined.

Findings and Conclusions: 1. The variable showing the most significant positive relationship with the test score was Age.

2. NSA members who were married scored highest and those who were single scored lowest on The Test of Money Management. The divorced women scored highest on three of the four parts.

3. There was a relationship between occupation of the husband and the scores achieved by NSA members. The highest positive correlation was indicated for those members whose husbands were employed in clerical and sales occupations. The highest negative correlation (significant at .001) was for members whose husbands were employed in professional occupations.

4. There was not a significant relationship between the scores achieved on the test and the educational level of the respondents or of the respondents' husbands.

5. There was no difference between scores achieved by NSA members who had completed a course in personal finance and those who had not.

6. Those NSA members employed in the managerial and secretarial occupations scored consistently higher on the total test than those employed in the clerical and bookkeeping occupations.

7. There was no significant relationship between the income levels of NSA members and their husbands with the scores achieved on the total test.

8. There was not a significant difference between scores achieved by NSA members who lived in rural areas and those from urban areas.

9. There was not a significant difference in test scores between those respondents who managed their own finances and those NSA members who were not primarily responsible for managing income.

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