The Wealth Gap - A Cross-Sectional Quantitative Analysis of Self-Esteem and Monetary Power

摘要

The median wealth of Blacks is lower than that of Whites by 90 percent. The corresponding median income for Blacks is 40 percent below Whites. Additional research has revealed that Blacks tend to invest in low-yielding assets and borrow at high interest rates. The alarming problem is that financial outcomes and behaviors can be associated with race. In this cross-sectional quantitative study, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem and the Money Attitude Scale, both are Likert-type scales, served as survey instruments to collect data from Blacks and Whites about their individual financial behaviors. The purpose of this survey was to explore the relationship between self-esteem and monetary power among Blacks and Whites in the Unites States. T he Behavioral life-cycle hypothesis served as the theoretical framework for the study. The research question for this study was as follows: There is a relationship between self-esteem and monetary power among Blacks and Whites in the United States. Using the IBM SPSS analytics software, the findings of the linear multiple regression analyses indicated that there was a significant predictive relationship between self-esteem and retention time, self-esteem and distrust, and self-esteem and anxiety. There were no correlation findings related to race, there were however, correlations related to gender. Regional investigative studies to gather data about behavioral factors that drive decision making are still necessary. The social change implication as it relates to asset accumulation is that financial services professionals will begin to shift attention away from financial accounting outcome matters toward behavioral lifestyle outcome matters.