This study aims to derive demands for financial education based on an in-depth understanding of the characteristics and financial socialization experiences of low-income youth as financial consumers, develop customized financial education programs, an ...
This study aims to derive demands for financial education based on an in-depth understanding of the characteristics and financial socialization experiences of low-income youth as financial consumers, develop customized financial education programs, and apply them to mentoring education to seek ways to spread education. In the first year's study, through narrative inquiry, the lives of low-income youth as financial consumers and the process of financial socialization were understood in-depth, and implications for financial education were derived through this. A total of seven in-depth interviews of five study participants revealed that low-income adolescents' characteristics as financial consumers, such as "money worship beliefs and anxiety," "sensitiveness and guilt about prices," and "lack of basic financial knowledge," were significant risk factors. In the second year's study, based on the results of the first year's study, a financial health program for low-income youth was developed, and its effectiveness was measured through action research. The program consisted of five sessions, focusing on resolving the problem of their lack of financial understanding, dealing with psychological problems such as financial trauma, money worship belief, and anxiety, and fostering confidence and self-efficacy in the social support system. As a result of implementing the program for 11 low-income teenagers, it was found that financial knowledge and pocket money management behavior improved significantly after education, and financial psychological factors were partially significant. In the third year's study, the goal was to present the possibility of spreading youth financial education programs by verifying the effectiveness of using gatekeepers. Mentoring training was conducted by selecting college student mentors as gatekeepers, with four to five mentors using Zoom's online video conferencing platform. As a result, most financial literacy and psychological factors changed positively after the program was performed, showing a significant difference between the experimental and control groups. In addition, through qualitative analysis, mentees showed that various positive changes occurred in consumption behavior, beliefs and attitudes, knowledge, and human relationships. This is significant because it has proven the positive effect of program execution through mentoring relationships that enable learner-centered education and receive personal and practical help in financial education for adolescents who require more changes in behavior through practical learning than knowledge acquisition.