Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of the It’s Your Reality (IYR) simulation program on financial knowledge and behaviors.
- The study used an interrupted time series design to compare college students' financial knowledge and behaviors before and after participation in the IYR simulation program. Using pre- and post-tests, the authors compared the outcomes of participants before and after they participated in the simulation.
- The study found a significant relationship between participation in the IYR simulation and increased financial knowledge and behaviors.
- This study receives a low evidence rating. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the It’s Your Reality (IYR) simulation; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
It’s Your Reality (IYR)
Features of the Intervention
Developed by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, the It's Your Reality (IYR) program was modeled after a similar program designed to assist youth populations in understanding the importance of staying in school, avoiding teen pregnancy, and introducing basic financial skills.
In this study, the IYR was a simulation-based educational program offered to undergraduate college students between the ages of 18 and 22. In the simulation, participants received a monthly salary amount according to the average reported salary for each participant's major. Participants were able to choose family structure prior to participating in approximately 25 current and future financial decisions such as selecting insurance, housing options, credit card repayments, student loan repayments, supplemental income possibilities, and unplanned financial burdens/chances.
Features of the Study
The study used an interrupted time series design to compare the understanding of financial decision-making practices before and after participation in the IYR simulation program. The study occurred on one college campus over the span of three days in 2013 and included 970 undergraduate students. The study sample was primarily female (64%), the largest proportion were freshman (39%), less than half reported student loan debt (44%), and 14% reported credit card debt. The study used a retrospective pre-test and a post-test that consisted of eight items measuring financial knowledge and six items measuring intended behavior change. The authors used statistical models to compare differences in outcomes.
Findings
Knowledge and skills for financial decision making
- The study found a positive, significant relationship between the IYR simulation and outcomes related to understanding the costs to maintain a household, costs to raise a child, how the amount of money influences lifestyles, the link between career choice and lifestyle, how to make wise financial choices, the impact of student loan debt on the participant’s future, and the impact of credit card debt on the participant’s future.
Knowledge and skills for money management
- The study found a positive, significant relationship between the IYR simulation and outcomes related to understanding how to budget.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The authors compared the outcomes of participants before and after they participated in the IYR simulation. For these types of designs, the authors must observe outcomes for multiple periods before the intervention to rule out the possibility that participants had increasing or decreasing trends in the outcomes examined before enrollment in the simulation. That is, if participants who had an increasing understanding of financial decision-making behaviors tended to enroll in the program, we would anticipate further increases over time, even if they did not participate in the program. Without knowing the trends before program enrollment, we cannot rule this out. Therefore, the study receives a low causal evidence rating.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not account for trends in outcomes before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the It’s Your Reality (IYR) simulation; other factors are likely to have contributed.