The Factors Influencing the Consumer Skills and Independence Levels of Japanese University Students

Abstract

This study aims to examine the challenges in consumer education by confirming independence level of university students’ consumer skills and classifying them into groups. An online survey was conducted on students through door to society and independence check. The results found that students have high independence levels barring two items on contract. Exploratory factor analysis identified five factors of independence, namely, independent living skills, economic and social interests, social nature, consumer credit understanding, planning ability and thoughtfulness. Clustering led to four groups of young consumers, namely, cash utilization−oriented type, family−dependent type, credit utilization type, and independent type. Among the surveyed subjects, the most common types are “ cash utilization−oriented “ and “family−dependent “ constituting approximately 30%.