Consumer Decision-Making:
Lifelong Implications
Lori Hendrickson, Becky Hagen Jokela, Sara Croymans, Jan Gilman, Carrie Olson,  
University of Minnesota Extension Educators
Why is decision-
making so 
important?
Young People 
Need Skills to:
Teaching Decision-Making: 
Does it make a difference?
Each day, we make decisions big and small 
that  influence our lives.  Understanding the 
PROCESS of making decisions,  we make can 
impact the decisions we make. 
In the 2008 Capital One annual back-to-
school survey, 76% of teens say they want 
to learn about the basics of finance now 
because it will help them make better 
financial decisions down the road
In the 2008 Charles Schwab “Parents & 
Money” survey,  71% of parents agree that 
the best way for teens to learn about 
money is from guided, hands-on experience 
or their own example, however, only one in 
five parents (20%) involves their teen to a 
great extent in the family’s budgeting and 
spending decisions. 
•Analyze problems
•Compare/contrast solutions
•Manage resources to meet goals
•Evaluate choice made and 
effectiveness
•Generalize and apply to other 
situations
Source: 
Learningzonexpress.com
Learning and using a decision-making and 
problem-solving process helps youth grow up 
to be independent, responsible and happy 
adults. It has been found that when teens 
make more of the decisions affecting them 
they will learn and grow from their successes 
and their mistakes.  (Welker, E. “Decision 
Making/Problem Solving with Teens.” Ohio 
State University Extension. 1998)
A research project examined the objectives and 
activities of several 4-H Youth Development curricula to 
determine the extent to which workforce-related skills 
and competencies, such as decision making, were 
present. While decision making and problem solving 
skills were found to be present in some way in virtually 
all the materials, they were infrequent in activities 
where youth would have the opportunity to put them 
into practice. Therefore, programs such as Consumer 
Decision Making which intentionally teach decision 
making skills are important.  (Sawi, Gwen and Smith 
M.F. (April 1997). Skills and Competencies in 4-H 
Curriculum Materials.  Journal of Extension [On-line], 
35 (2).  Available at: 
http://www.joe.org/joe/1997april/a1.php 
In MN a survey of 112 youth indicate that youth 
decision-making skills have been enhanced by the 4-H 
Consumer Decision Making program.  They report that 
as a result of participating, they:
•Are more competent in making consumer decisions 
(97%)
•Are more confident in making consumer decisions 
(95%)
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