ABSTRACT

This descriptive comparative study focuses on the spending habits of junior and senior high school
students of Alicia National high school during the pandemic using the maturity and consumer theory.
These theories helped this study guide the researchers to find out who the mature one is when it comes
to managing their money, how junior and senior high school students spend their money, and how often
they spend money. 60 respondents permitted their answers in the survey to contribute to the goal of
this study. This study aims to show the comparison between junior high school and senior high school
students in terms of spending habits and the possible significant differences. As interpreted from the
answers of the respondents, the junior high school students are the ones who are likely to spend more
money during the pandemic, and the senior high students are the ones who are more likely to spend
less and save money. The results revealed that there is a significant difference between the spending
habits of junior high school and senior high school students during the pandemic. The findings of this
study may help students to be aware of their spending habits, and to be wise when it comes to spending
their money.

INTODUCTION

Many people have different ways of how they spend their money; it can be spent on important things,
essential things that we need, especially now that we are in a pandemic situation, on unnecessary things
that we find cute or attractive, for collection, and many more reasons to spend it more often that may
lead to people’s spending habits. Spending habits are behavior pattern that is followed regularly that is
almost involuntary. Spending money whenever you have money and every moment you get paid is a
habit. It is a habit that many people don’t realize or noticed to their selves. According to Money
Habitudes (2020), it is often contextual. You spend the same way with the same set of conditions.
Because it’s a habit, it may be so natural and involuntary that you don’t even realize it. Examples of it
are you consistently spend a lot of money right after you get paid, which might mean taking your family
out to dinner every payday; You always giving to charity at the end of the year; You have a habit of
spending on souvenir T-shirts on vacation, and You always wait until the last minute to buy a plane
ticket.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, many online business platforms became popular and recognized by
many people. As staying at home is kind of boring to others, especially the youth, social media became
their entertainment including online shopping. Many people continue their work by selling online as
they became unemployed due to the closing of many businesses, malls, and works during the lockdown.
At the same time, many people spent their time buying things online. Many online businesses increased
as people, especially students can’t go outside to buy the things they need for their face-to-face classes,
so they use online platforms to buy necessary and unnecessary things they want to buy. During the
pandemic, it became the spending habit of many people, buying things online as much as they have
money and as much they see things that they want/need to buy. The researchers came up with this
topic to further know if there is a significant difference between the spending habits of junior High
School and senior high school Students. This will contribute to future studies in the field of education
related to students’ decision making especially the ones who are not wise about spending their money.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The goal of this study is to show the comparison between junior High School and senior high svhool
Students in terms of Spending Habits during the Pandemic.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The purpose of this study will help us understand and show the comparison between junior and senior
high school students in terms of Spending Habits. How they manage their money as online business
platforms became popular in this Covid-19 Pandemic situation. Argyris’ (2016) Maturity Theory,
introduced Personality and Organization, which is one of the theories that attempt to understand
human existence and behavior. According to his principle, a person's progression is tracked through a
continuous transition from immaturity to maturity. Active, autonomous, self-assured, and self-
controlled are characteristics of a mature individual. An immature person, on the other hand, is passive,
dependent, lacks motivation, and thinks he or she needs to be controlled by others. As stated in
Consumer Theory, describes how people make decisions based on their financial resources and the cost
of goods and services. It shows how individuals make choices to spend their money and build a better
understanding of individuals' tastes. Consumer theory isn't perfect and it relies on a lot of conclusions
regarding human nature since people are unfamiliar with the goods, certain choices are difficult to make
for them.