How Parents Influence Children's Financial Behavior: What the Research Shows

Parents appear to be a major influence on how children handle money, according to observational research. In a 2010 survey of 2,098 first-year college students, Shim and colleagues found that parents' role in students' financial learning, attitudes and behavior was substantially greater than work experience and high school financial education combined. A 2025 meta-analysis of 39 studies, led by LeBaron-Black, found that parents' financial socialization was positively associated with young adults' financial attitudes, behavior, knowledge and wellbeing.

These studies describe averages across many families, and the individual ones we read sample young adults, mostly in the US. They say nothing about any one household. What they offer is a picture of where this learning happens and what seems to go with it.

School as one more place money gets talked about

This research puts parents first, which leaves school as one more place where money gets talked about, alongside home. Our curriculum is standards-aligned and available in English and Spanish, and it includes a simulated $10,000 portfolio and project-based modules.

Rapunzl has grown from a single Chicago high school in 2018 to schools across the country. 81% of students identify as students of color, and 83% of partner schools are in LMI (low- and moderate-income) communities. The studies in this post did not test a school program, so we can't say what one adds to what families already do. How much a school program adds is a question for future research.

How closely are parents' money habits linked to their children's?

In Shim's survey, parents' role was substantially larger than work and high school financial education combined. The abstract does not describe what kind of high school financial education those students had, or how good it was, so it can't tell us what a well-designed school program might add. It was also a cross-sectional study, meaning one survey at one point in time.

The 2025 meta-analysis widens the view. It pooled 39 studies presented in 36 articles on parent financial socialization during childhood and adolescence and financial outcomes in emerging adulthood. The table sets the main studies side by side.

The meta-analysis abstract does not report effect sizes, and we could not open the full text, so we won't put a number on the size of the link. It does report positive associations across attitudes, behavior, knowledge and wellbeing. Financial capabilities, a separate outcome the abstract does not define, did not show a link.

How might parents' habits connect to their children's?

Tang linked the financial behavior of 2,520 young adults back to their parents' behavior during adolescence and to their own self-control skills. Parents' financial behavior was linked to their children's directly, and also indirectly through the development of general self-control. The data are observational, so the paper's wording that parents' behavior "affects" their children's is best read as "is linked to."

Tang's abstract says the link varied with the parent-child relationship but not how, so we won't guess. What it shows is that parents' financial behavior and their children's were linked, partly through the child's self-control.

Sorgente's team tracked a college cohort across three waves. Most paths in the family-socialization model held up in emerging adulthood, but parents' influence on young adults' financial behavior and wellbeing did not run through students taking on their parents' beliefs and values. The abstract does not say why. Taken with the rest, it suggests that parents' influence is present but its route may be less straightforward than "kids absorb what parents believe."

What do the parenting studies leave open?

Other influences count too, and the research does not claim otherwise. Shim's team put work and high school financial education in the same model, and parents came out larger. The studies are observational, and "influence" here means a statistical link.

The meta-analysis found that the link depended on study location, parental income, parental education and overall socioeconomic status. The authors suggest parent financial socialization may be especially important for lower-SES children. For children whose parents have limited education, the abstract says only that parent financial socialization may not be as effective, hedges it, and gives no reason, so we draw no conclusion about any family from it. The authors' own conclusion is that practitioners and policymakers should support parents in giving high-quality financial socialization to their children.

None of the four studies tested a school program, and most cover young adults: first-year college students, emerging adults, and people followed into young adulthood. How this plays out for a nine-year-old is inferred, not measured here.

Ways to talk about money at home

The studies did not test any specific parenting move, and households differ in time, money and history, so treat these as options.

• Say your reasoning out loud. When you choose the cheaper brand, put a repair off or pay a bill, one sentence about why gives your child something to hear. The studies link children's financial behavior to what parents do, so parents' own habits may matter.
• Share the awkward parts too. A mistake you recovered from is useful information for a teenager. You don't need to share amounts or details you'd rather keep private.
• Mind the tone. In Tang's data the link varied with the parent-child relationship, so how a conversation feels may count as much as what is said. That reading is ours.
• Let your child teach you. If you never had a class in this yourself, ask your teen to explain what they learned in school about interest or investing, and look up the confusing parts together.
• Ask what the school offers. Whether it is a semester course or a unit inside another class, find out what students do and whether there is a way for you to see their work. For ideas at home, see our posts on how to teach teenagers about money and getting your kids excited about money.

Once the money conversations at home are going, see how Rapunzl works for families and give your teen a place to practice.

By Myles Gage, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Rapunzl.