College spending tells on adulthood

How well you manage your money in college may determine when you'll ultimately achieve ‘adult identity’, according to a new study led by the University of Arizona.

Researchers tracked a group of students from their fourth year of college to five years post-graduation, focusing on financial behaviours such as spending, saving, budgeting and borrowing. Those whoshowed marked improvement in their habits over the course of the study, were more likely to see themselves as adults at the end of the study period, when they were 26 to 31 years old.

On the flip side, those whose financial behaviours in college weren't as good, were less likely to see themselves as having reached adulthood five years after college. The research, published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, found that those who practised more responsible financial behaviour reported having fewer symptoms of depression and higher relationship satisfaction, both of which, in turn, seemed to promote the formation of adult identity.