Money Attitude Scale

What it measures

A foundational money psychology instrument operationalising the multi-dimensional symbolic and motivational meanings of money in consumer life. The MAS is among the most replicated measures in consumer financial psychology, with applications spanning personal financial planning, compulsive buying, consumer debt, price sensitivity, and negotiation behaviour. The Power–Prestige dimension captures the use of money as a vehicle for social influence, status signalling, and public impression management — it correlates with materialism, luxury consumption, and status-seeking purchase behaviour. Retention–Time reflects prudent financial planning and future-oriented resource management, correlating with savings rates, financial literacy behaviour, and resistance to impulse buying. Distrust captures vigilance and scepticism in price evaluation and interpersonal financial dealings — it is associated with price-quality reasoning, deal-seeking, and resistance to upselling. Anxiety reflects the affective burden of money — compulsive checking, worry about financial adequacy, and money-related obsessional thinking — correlating with financial stress, compulsive buying, and hoarding. The Quality subscale is the shortest (2 items) and assesses use of price as a quality signal, relevant for premium product marketing and price-tier decision-making. The MAS remains the standard reference instrument for multi-dimensional money attitude research and is frequently paired with the Spendthrift–Tightwad Scale and Consumer Attitudes to Debt.

Response format

5-point Likert (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree); items averaged within each subscale; no overall composite recommended

Scale items

Power–Prestige — PP (9 items): use of money as a vehicle for social influence, status display, and impression management. 5-point Likert (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Items averaged.

• I show my power through my use of money.
• I use money to influence others to do things for me.
• I buy things to impress others.
• I spend money on others to make myself look good.
• I feel that money is the ultimate symbol of success.
• Money gives me a sense of power.
• I firmly believe that money can solve all my problems.
• Money represents one's achievement.
• Money is how I compare myself to others.

Retention–Time — RT (9 items): careful, future-oriented money planning, budgeting, and resource management. 5-point Likert. Items averaged.

• I follow a careful financial budget.
• I plan carefully what I do with my money.
• I save money regularly.
• I put money aside on a regular basis.
• I keep track of how I spend my money.
• I hesitate to spend money even on necessities.
• I prepare for my future financial needs.
• I am concerned about my financial future.
• I carefully monitor my financial situation.

Distrust — DT (5 items): suspicion and scepticism toward others in money-related transactions and price offers. 5-point Likert. Items averaged.

• I feel that money is the only thing I can really count on.
• I feel suspicious when someone gives me something for free or at a very low price.
• I am suspicious of people who want to borrow money from me.
• I don't trust others when it comes to money matters.
• When someone offers a bargain, I question their motives.

Anxiety — ANX (4 items): worry, negative affect, and obsessional preoccupation associated with money and financial decisions. 5-point Likert. Items averaged.

• I worry about my financial future.
• I lie awake at night worrying about money.
• Money matters cause me anxiety.
• I am bothered when I think about money issues.

Quality — Q (2 items): use of price as a proxy signal for product quality. 5-point Likert. Note: 2-item subscale; reliability is limited. Items averaged.

• When I buy things, I believe in paying for the best.
• I feel that the higher the price of a product, the better its quality.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

The Quality subscale has only 2 items and falls below conventional reliability standards — treat with caution in isolation; consider supplementing with price-quality inference items from Lichtenstein, Ridgway & Netemeyer (1993). Retention–Time is the dimension most sensitive to financial literacy interventions. Power–Prestige correlates substantially with the MVS Success dimension (Richins & Dawson, 1992; id:487) — establish discriminant validity when both appear in the same model. The MAS was developed on US undergraduate and clinical samples; cross-cultural validity has been examined in Japan (Furnham, 1999), UK, and South Korea with generally supportive but not identical factor structures. An adapted 5-factor Chinese Money Attitude Scale (Tang, 1992) is recommended for East Asian samples. Pair with Consumer Attitudes to Debt (Lea et al., 1995; id:511) and Spendthrift–Tightwad Scale (Rick et al., 2008; id:494) for a comprehensive consumer financial psychology battery.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Yamauchi, K.T., & Templer, D.I. (1982). The development of a money attitude scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 46(5), 522–528.

Keywords