No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Money Matters: Recommendations for Financial Stress Research in Occupational Health Psychology: Money matters
... Financial stress has important implications in various domains, from financial decision-making to overall health and well-being (Netemeyer et al., 2018;Porcelli & Delgado, 2009). An individual's financial situation is associated with their sense of happiness, expectations of the future, life satisfaction, occupational outcomes, and numerous mental and physical health impairments (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016;Syrén et al., 2020;Tibesigwa et al., 2016). The impact of financial stress also extends into family life, leading to decreased satisfaction in romantic relationships, relational discord, and relational breakdown (Conger et al., 2010;Santiago et al., 2011;Voydanoff, 1990). ...
... Financial stressors such as perceptions of income inadequacy are subjective constructs, raising the possibility of individual difference influences on financial perceptions. However, the literature examining individual differences in the perception of and reaction to financial stress is sparce (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016;Xu et al., 2015). Prioritizing the study of individual differences is essential for several reasons. ...
... Moreover, while most economic stress research focuses on the present situation, expectations about the future are also a potentially important consideration (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). From a social comparison theory perspective (Festinger, 1954), future expectations may be a critical internal referent with distinct effects from perceptions of one's current situation. ...
Despite financial concerns representing of the most substantial sources of stress, the intersection between individual differences and financial stress has received sparce attention. Emphasizing the cognitive-appraisal process, our study reveals financial stress perceptions partly reflect a dispositional tendency to interpret financial information either more positively or negatively. Across two studies ( N = 441; N = 348), we found that positive and negative affect predict subjective financial perceptions of income adequacy. Further, using Relative Weights Analysis, we demonstrate that in predicting financial stress perceptions, dispositional affect is as important as, or more important than, objective measures of financial stress (i.e., household income and debt). Lastly, using moderated mediation, we found that both current and future perceived income adequacy mediate the relationship between one’s income and their experience of affective financial strain, and dispositional affect moderates this relationship. Our work informs current research and interventions seeking to understand individual differences in financial stress perceptions.
... For example, absolute income measures do not differentiate between individuals with different levels of demands (dependents, debt, etc.) or additional resources. Sinclair & Cheung (2016) discuss several ways that financial deprivation has been measured in work-related scholarship, noting that, aside from research focusing on well-being, there is insufficient evidence to draw strong conclusions regarding the relationship between financial deprivation and many OP/OB outcomes. To date, this largely remains the case despite calls for additional objective and subjective economic stress research and recent advances in theory (e.g., Kish-Gephart et al. 2023, Leana et al. 2012, Martin & Côté 2019. ...
... To date, this largely remains the case despite calls for additional objective and subjective economic stress research and recent advances in theory (e.g., Kish-Gephart et al. 2023, Leana et al. 2012, Martin & Côté 2019. As such, researchers need to be specific about the time frame they are concerned with, conduct more longitudinal research, utilize more socioeconomically diverse populations, and use both direct and multidimensional measures of financial deprivation (Sinclair & Cheung 2016). ...
... Consistent with this idea, research has shown that financial strain mediates the relationship of objective economic stressors with outcomes such as organizational commitment, work-family conflict, and turnover intentions (e.g., Black et al. 2022). Second, Sinclair & Cheung (2016) pointed out that subjective measures may have an absolute standard as a referent or focus on social comparisons. As we discuss below, this observation highlights the important role that comparison to others plays in one's assessment of one's financial situation. ...
Economic sources of stress are some of the most pervasive and significant in adults’ working lives. However, while the link between economic stress and health is well established, some forms of economic stress have received disproportionately less attention than they warrant in organizational psychology and organizational behavior scholarship. In this review, we identify five important domains of economic stress: financial stress, financial deprivation, unemployment, underemployment, and job insecurity. We review each area of literature, focusing on its antecedents, theoretical mechanisms, and consequences. We then highlight an emerging body of research that studies economic stress as a multilevel phenomenon and present a framework for economic stress interventions that discusses primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions at the individual, organizational, and community levels. We conclude by identifying several important directions for future economic stress research.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Volume 11 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
... In work and organizational psychology, money has received relatively little research attention compared to other aspects of precarity such as job insecurity, despite being one of the most salient sources of stress in many workers' lives (American Psychological Association, 2017;Probst et al., 2017). This is striking for several reasons: first, money is arguably the most fundamental resource derived from work, as it ensures access to other resources essential for a safe and decent life (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). Second, economic insecurity is a central characteristic of precarious work (Allan et al., 2021). ...
... Overall, the chapter highlights the importance of individual financial selfsufficiency for a healthy, meaningful, and productive working life. With this review, we hope to contribute to the emerging discussion of the financial side of precarity in work and organizational psychology (Searle & McWha-Hermann, 2020, Chapter 4;Seubert & Seubert, Chapter 14;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016;Smith, 2015). ...
... Subjective indicators can be distinguished along the lines of whether they emphasize cognitive evaluations or affective reactions, absolute standards or relative comparisons to other people, the past or the future, or financial needs and wants (see Sinclair & Cheung, 2016 for a systematic review). In the context of precarity, we define subjective economic vulnerability in terms of financial stress, i.e., workers' perceptions of income insufficiency and worries related to their financial situation (Bjarnason & Sigurdardottir, 2003;Garðarsdóttir & Dittmar, 2012;Sears, 2008;Starrin et al., 2009). ...
Precarity at work is a multifaceted phenomenon, which includes economic vulnerability, job insecurity, few social benefits, and low job quality. There is a substantial amount of work and organizational psychological research on the effects of low job quality and job insecurity, but the effect of economic vulnerability has gained little attention and is rarely included. We define economic vulnerability as risks to workers’ individual financial self-sufficiency and differentiate between objective (e.g., low labor income) and subjective indicators (e.g., perceived financial strain). Based on a conceptual framework of economic vulnerability, we discuss different theoretical perspectives on its psychological impact. We then provide an overview of the state of research on the consequences of economic vulnerability on workers’ health and well-being as well as on (working) life in general. We conclude with recommendations for future research on precarity and economic vulnerability, and a discussion of intervention strategies for organizations and policy makers. Overall, the chapter highlights the relevance of the concept of economic vulnerability within precarity of work research and the crucial importance of individual financial self-sufficiency for a healthy, meaningful, and productive (working) life.
... Indeed, analogous relationships exist between financial stress, financial strain, financial hardship, economic deprivation, economic pressure, and perceived income inadequacy (Kim & Garman, 2003;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). Financial distress, economic stress, and economic strain have also been defined similarly within the literature (e.g., Mills, Grasmick, Morgan, & Wenk, 1992;Voydanoff, 1990). ...
... Previous work in this area includes a conceptual review of negative financial health terms conducted by Sinclair and Cheung (2016) and a conceptual review of financial stress conducted by Davis and Mantler (2004). Sinclair and Cheung focus on providing measurement recommendations and highlighting the need for more research within the field of occupational health psychology. ...
... Keyword literature searches for articles with negative health terminology were inspired by Sinclair and Cheung (2016) and were conducted in the following databases: Google Scholar, JStor, ProQuest, PsycInfo, PubMed, Sage, Science Direct and Wiley Online Library. Keywords used include economic hardship, financial distress, economic deprivation, financial strain, financial stress, financial issues, financial hardship, economic pressure, economic stress, financial pressure, and financial strain. ...
Financial (di)stress is widespread and an important topic for research by a variety of organizations and disciplines. However, different terms are being used in different disciplines in academia, by organizations, and by consumers. This paper illustrates various terms used to describe negative financial health, provides their incidence in several academic databases and Google searches, provides definitions used in studies, identifies scales of measurement, assesses if new scales are being developed and if they have validity, and identifies if measures of negative financial health constructs include objective, subjective, or both measures. The study ends with specific recommendations for researchers from academia and practitioners worldwide. This article reviews financial negative health terminology and constructs, and attempts to shed light on similarities and differences among the terms, to allow for better knowledge translation and integration.
... Although there is a rich body of scholarship on the consequences of financial stress, less is known about how the financial stress process operates and to what extent individual factors impact this process. This limitation is largely due to both conceptual and measurement issues in financial stress research (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). As such, the present study had four aims. ...
... As such, the present study had four aims. First, we created a measure of perceived income adequacy (PIA) that, following suggestions from Sinclair and Cheung (2016), evaluated both needs and wants as well as current and future perceptions. Through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), we identified six distinct aspects of PIA: current wants, current needs, future wants, future needs, current health needs, and current living expenses. ...
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of hardiness in the association between perceived income adequacy (PIA) and financial stress. Hardiness refers to an individual’s ability to find meaning and purpose in stressful events. We utilized a sample of 482 college students who completed questionnaires on hardiness, PIA, financial stress, and various objective financial measures. Relative weights analyses, bivariate correlations, and moderated regression indicated support for our hypotheses that PIA is negatively related to financial stress, hardiness is positively related to PIA, and hardiness moderates the PIA and financial stress relationship. Our study highlights the importance of the financial stress process and the role of hardiness. Future directions and practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
... Accordingly, the objective and subjective assessment of people's economic situation can diverge. The relevance of this differentiation is particularly important in cases of difficult economic situations, as Sinclair and Cheung (2016) show in their overview and Klug, Selenko, and Gerlitz (2021) in their current study for data from Germany. With regard to a UBI, research by Roosma and van Oorschot (2020) finds that unemployment (objective) but also a lower subjective income (subjective) correspond with higher UBI acceptance. ...
... Following evidence by Sinclair and Cheung (2016) and Klug, Selenko, and Gerlitz (2021) as well as a recent meta-analysis by Tan et al. (2020) that support the importance of differentiating between objective and subjective measures of people's economic situation, we included Income (objective) as well as Perceived economic situation (subjective) in our multivariate analysis. Interestingly, we only found Perceived economic situation but not Income to be significantly negatively associated with UBI acceptance. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic plunged economies into recessions and advancements in artificial intelligence create widespread automation of job tasks. A debate around how to address these challenges has moved the introduction of a universal basic income (UBI) center stage. However, existing UBI research mainly focuses on economic aspects and normative arguments but lacks an individual perspective that goes beyond examining the association between socio-demographic characteristics and UBI support. We add to this literature by investigating not only socio-demographic but also psychological predictors of UBI acceptance in a multivariate analysis using a representative sample of the German working population collected in 2020 (N = 1986). Our results indicate that being more supportive of a UBI went along with being comparably younger, of East-German origin, and more in favor of equal living standards, as well as perceiving one’s economic situation to be worse and the threat of the corona-pandemic to be higher.
... mental ill health is that unemployment is associated with a decreased income and thereby an increased risk of financial problems. Money is currently viewed as one of the most important stressors in contemporary working age populations [4] and financial strain is a well-established predictor of psychiatric disorders [5][6][7]. Another theory attributes a substantial part of the increased risk of mental ill health among unemployed people to the deprivation of five mental health-promoting factors of employment, namely, time structure, social contact, collective effort or purpose, social identity or status, and regular activity [8]. ...
... Our a priori expectation was that the risk of developing mental ill health would be lower among fixed-term contract workers than among unemployed [13]. The expectation was based on the presumption that most people are financially more secure in a fixed-term employment position than they are in a state of unemployment, and the assumption that financial insecurity may play an important role in the etiology of mental ill health [4]. Further, the Danish flexicurity system with a high rate of jobopenings may raise the expectations of getting a new job after the end of the present employment. ...
Background
Both perceived job insecurity and unemployment has been associated with an increased risk of developing mental ill health. It has, moreover, been proposed that an insecure employment may be as detrimental as unemployment itself.
Objective
To estimate incidence rate ratios (RRs) of (i) redeemed prescriptions for psychotropic drugs and (ii) psychiatric hospital treatment due to mood, anxiety, or stress-related disease, among fixed-term contract workers (as an operationalization of insecure job) vs. unemployed, in the general population of Denmark.
Methods
Data on baseline employment status were drawn from the Danish Labor Force Surveys in the years 2001–2013. Participants (10,265 fixed-term contract workers and 7926 unemployed) were followed for up to 5 years in national registers (2439 cases of psychotropic drug use, 71,516 person years; 311 cases of psychiatric hospital treatment, 86,790 person years). Adjusted RRs were obtained by Poisson regression. We aspired to minimize health selection effects by (i) exclusion of survey participants who received sickness benefits, social security cash benefits, psychiatric hospital treatment or a prescription for psychotropic drugs, within 1-year prior to baseline ( n = 11,693), (ii) adjustment for age, gender, level of education, calendar year, disposable family income and maternity/paternity benefits within 1-year prior to baseline.
Results
The adjusted RR for fixed-term contract workers vs. unemployed was 0.98 (99.5% CI: 0.87—1.11) for psychotropic drugs and 0.93 (99.5% CI: 0.67—1.30) for psychiatric hospital treatment.
Conclusion
The present study did not find significant differences in the risk of developing mental ill health between fixed-term contract workers and unemployed, and thus suggests that fixed-term contracts may be as detrimental as unemployment.
Trial registration
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR2-10.2196/24392.
... Researchers have argued that money is perhaps the most valued resource that employees derive from work (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016), and the availability of economic resources can reduce distractions and worry among individuals to the extent that they are able to engage fully in their work and non-work roles (Carlson et al., 2011). ...
... In the literature on economic stress, Voydanoff (1990) (Probst, 2005;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016), these resources may mitigate the negative effects of workaholism. Therefore, we will examine the cross-level buffering and magnifying effects of PIA and JS on the daily relationship between workaholism and work and family outcomes. ...
Workaholism is increasingly recognized as a potential threat to occupational health. Although most research has conceptualized workaholism as a trait, some research suggests that it also may fluctuate from day to day. Moreover, the effects of the dynamic properties of workaholism on work and family outcomes may be contingent on one’s economic situation. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to test the interactive effect of workday workaholism and economic resources on nightly work‐family conflict and family engagement. Using experience sampling methodology, we demonstrated that workaholism fluctuates from one day to the next and has detrimental short‐term effects on work‐family conflict. Additionally, our findings indicated that the interaction between workday workaholism and perceived income inadequacy predicted both nighty work‐family conflict and family engagement. While the association between workday workaholism and work‐family conflict was stronger for those who experienced low perceived income adequacy, the relationship between workaholism and family engagement was stronger for those who exhibited high income adequacy. Similarly, job security buffered the effect of workaholism on work‐family conflict. We discuss the theoretical and practice implications of this study as well as recommend future research directions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... In the same way, intervals between ratings might not represent the intervals in the real-scores but, assuming an unsystematic distortion due to a coarse rating scale (see Clason & Dormody, 1994), the mean intervals should. A systematic distortion, such as a bias, on the other hand, could indicate that the real-score is not purely measured by the item, which is in line with several investigations of self-perception (e.g., Furnham et al., 2002;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). The item phrasings were varied in Study 1 to induce a difference in frame of reference, which is known to influence the validity of questionnaires (e.g., Bing et al., 2004;Schmit et al., 1995) and ...
... Messick (1993), for example, argues that the classical definition of validity (dividing it into content, criterion, and construct validity) fails to take several aspects of item scores into account, such as the implications and the meaning of the score. As it has already been shown that perceived income (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016) and perceived body image (Mable, Balance, & Galgan, 1986) are more closely connected with stress than the objective measures, the self-ratings seem to indeed carry important implications and meaning. Taken together: the present findings do not imply that self-ratings are not of value but merely indicate that they may not serve as an unbiased measure for the objective construct even if this construct exists in the physical world. ...
Two studies were conducted to investigate how self-ratings on questionnaire items reflect the underlying real-scores. Participants gave numerical information about personal attributes (the real-scores), such as age, height, and weight, and subsequently rated themselves regarding these attributes. In Study 1, they rated themselves on a five-point Likert-type scale from three different perspectives, a personal, a general, and an outsiders’, inducing three different frames of reference. By regressing these ratings on the real-scores, it was shown that information about means of and differences between the real-scores were not readily reflected by the response scales. The outsiders’ perspective resulted in the most adequate representation of the real-score differences, indicated by the intervals between the categories estimated by the ordinal regression models. In Study 2, neutral item wording with a five-point Likert-type scale and a four-point Likert-type scale was used to rule out the effect of positive wording. This increased the adequacy of the representations just slightly. The findings indicate that, even on average, the investigated rating scales and items reflect the numeric real-scores only limitedly and that self-ratings depend on the item phrasing instead of simply representing a coarse measure of the real-scores. All data and analysis scripts are available at https://osf.io/4pcdb/.
... By combining COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989;Hobfoll et al., 2018) with perspectives on self-regulation, specifically the concept of action crisis , we aim to better understand how financial worries may result in health-related and career self-management outcomes. Specifically, by investigating action crises as a potential mechanism, we advance the limited research on the cognitive − emotional pathways that may explain the health-related and behavioral consequences of financial worries (De Bruijn & Antonides, 2020;Ryu & Fan, 2023;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). At the same time, we enrich the limited literature on the nomological net of action crises (Marion-Jetten et al., 2022), particularly in the context of work, and answer the call for studies on career exploration as career self-management behavior (Jiang et al., 2019). ...
Financial worries, a distressing emotional state prompted by perceived threats to financial resources, are particularly prevalent among employees during economic downturns. This study investigates associations between financial worries and employees’ health and career behaviors, drawing on conservation of resources theory and the self-regulation literature. We propose that financial worries are not only positively related to health complaints, but also positively related to employees’ career exploration as a coping mechanism. In addition, we explore how financial worries are associated with action crises—internal conflicts about whether to leave one’s job—and how these crises may help explain the relationships between worries and employee outcomes. In a two-month time-lagged study with 312 employees, we observed a positive association between financial worries and health complaints, but no significant association with career exploration. Furthermore, the experience of an action crisis mediated the relation between financial worries and health complaints. Action crises were positively related to subsequent career exploration, and we established a significant indirect effect of financial worries on career exploration through action crises. This research contributes to a better understanding of the potential health-related and behavioral outcomes of financial worries by introducing action crisis as a cognitive–emotional mechanism. It also expands the limited research on antecedents and consequences of action crises and responds to calls for research on the predictors of career exploration as a career self-management behavior. We discuss the study’s implications for theory, research, and practice in light of the its limitations.
... Numerous documents highlight the perks of WFH such as the elimination of commute times leading to more productivity and longer sleep durations [33]-factors that boost cortisol levels [34]. Economically, those who typically rely on public transport are saving on travel expenses [35]. Perhaps most significantly, WFH enables individuals to balance their professional and domestic responsibilities more effectively causing higher rating of job satisfaction [36]. ...
The sudden lockdown and social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic substantially affected the physical and psychological aspects of our lives. This study used a sequential explanatory research design to explore how human-animal interactions (HAI) can reduce stress and improve quality of life (QOL) for employees working from home during the period. A total of 770 respondents took part in the quantitative portion of this study, comprised of 385 pet owners and 385 non-pet owners, with ten individuals randomly selected for the qualitative phase. The pet owners group was predominantly female, with 28.57% of the total sample with a mean age of 33.67 and a standard deviation (SD) of 9.46. In contrast, the majority of non-pet owners were male, making up 32.46% of the group with an average age of 29.57 and SD of 6.42. The HAI scale, work stress questionnaire, and the WHOQOL-BREF tests were utilized to evaluate the variables of this research. The results indicated significant differences in stress levels between the two independent groups. However, there were no significant differences in the overall QOL within the groups, except in the social domain. More importantly, our research showed that HAI had a buffering effect on stress and QOL among pet owners. Our research has important implications for understanding the importance of owning pets in enhancing personal welfare. These results are helpful for public health policies and endeavors to aid individuals and communities during periods of crises such as a pandemic.
... For example, job security is considered to be a resource that provides the safety and stability for individuals to pursue growth goals at work (Demerouti et al., 2001). Similarly, sufficient finances are characterized as a resource that enables individuals to gain a variety of other social, symbolic, and material resources (Hobfoll, 1989;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). ...
The present study advances research on the negative consequences of precarious work experiences (PWE), which include perceptions of threats to one’s job and financial security as well as a sense of powerlessness and inability to exercise rights in the workplace. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop, we examine how PWE relate to sickness presenteeism and worry about work-related COVID-19 exposure. In a 12-week, four-wave study of workers working fully in-person, perceptions of powerlessness and job insecurity were associated with presenteeism (e.g., general presenteeism as well as attending work with known or possible COVID-19 infection) and concerns about disease exposure at work. Whereas powerlessness primarily operated at the between-person level of analysis, job insecurity’s effects emerged at both levels of analysis. A sense of powerlessness at work also predicted sending children to school/daycare sick. In sum, the findings suggest that precarity related to being able to keep one’s job and a sense of powerlessness at work contribute to concerns about the risk of COVID-19 exposure at work and, simultaneously, behaviors that may contribute to the health risks faced by others. This research provides added support to the argument that precarious work should be addressed in order to improve both worker well-being and public health.
... Additionally, information on objective family income is limited to a selection of 13 income brackets, from "less than $4999" in yearly household income to "more than $60,000" in annual household income. Participants were also allowed to self-report their family's exact household income, but as is expected in the literature, most participants chose not to disclose their precise household income (Sinclair and Cheung, 2016). Only 78 participants disclosed their exact household income; of those who disclosed, the mean was $65,502, suggesting that the bracketed options were an adequate fit for participant's household income. ...
Finances are a prevalent source of stress. In a sample of 799 nursing home workers measured multiple times over 18 months, we found that higher perceived income inadequacy, the perception that one's expenses exceeds one's incomes, was associated with poorer self-reported mental health indicators and Epstein-Barr Virus antibody titers (a marker of cell-mediated immune function). Perceived income inadequacy predicted outcomes over and above the role of other socioeconomic status variables (objective household income and education). Mental health variables were not related to Epstein-Barr Virus antibody titers. Additionally, we found an interaction between perceived income inadequacy and informal caregiver status on our mental health outcomes; informal caregivers with higher perceived income inadequacy had poorer mental health than non-caregivers with the same perceived income inadequacy. Our findings may add nuance to the reserve capacity model, which states that those at lower socioeconomic levels are at higher risk of adverse health outcomes partly because they have fewer resources to address demands and strain. Perceived income inadequacy may significantly predict mental and physical well-being beyond other socioeconomic status variables, especially among lower-income employees. Caregiving stress and perceived income inadequacy may have synergistic effects on mental health.
... We observed that those with prior documented financial insecurity were less likely to respond to the social factor screening questionnaire. As financial insecurity is a critical determinant of health and an underlying driver of other social risks [33][34][35], this finding indicates a potentially significant difference between respondents and nonrespondents. The history of documented financial insecurity may reflect more acute social needs because a provider thought it warranted documentation. ...
Healthcare organizations increasingly use screening questionnaires to assess patients’ social factors, but non-response may contribute to selection bias. This study assessed differences between respondents and those refusing participation in a social factor screening. We used a cross-sectional approach with logistic regression models to measure the association between subject characteristics and social factor screening questionnaire participation. The study subjects were patients from a mid-western state safety-net hospital’s emergency department. Subjects’ inclusion criteria were: (1) ≥ 18 years old, (2) spoke English or Spanish, and (3) able to complete a self-administered questionnaire. We classified subjects that consented and answered the screening questionnaire in full as respondents. All others were non-respondents. Using natural language processing, we linked all subjects’ participation status to demographic characteristics, clinical data, an area-level deprivation measure, and social risk factors extracted from clinical notes. We found that nearly 6 out of every 10 subjects approached (59.9%), consented, and completed the questionnaire. Subjects with prior documentation of financial insecurity were 22% less likely to respond to the screening questionnaire (marginal effect = -22.40; 95% confidence interval (CI) = -41.16, -3.63; p = 0.019). No other factors were significantly associated with response. This study uniquely contributes to the growing social determinants of health literature by confirming that selection bias may exist within social factor screening practices and research studies.
... Financial issues themselves are an important source of stress for people, regardless of their profession. Thus, Sinclair and Cheung (2016) called money the most important resource received from work and the most important source of stress for modern employees. In addition, monthly income refers to social factors and is a certain assessment of professional activity. ...
The purpose of this paper is to quantify the factors that disrupt the mental health of kindergarten (KG) teachers. For this, the researchers conducted an electronic survey of preschool teachers (n = 587) on a popular educational platform with the Symptom Checklist-90-R and content analysis of interviews in practicing KG teachers (n = 105) with an open discussion of the main stressors during professional activities. Self-reports indicated that depression, interpersonal sensitivity, and anxiety were the main mental health symptoms. ANOVA has revealed that total teaching experience is a statistically significant factor for the mental health of KG teachers: F(2.60) = 5.99. According to respondents, the main stressors included concern for the children’s health, fear of injuries, and difficulties in communicating with parents. The synthesis of results allowed for proposing six specific steps for mental health care in KG teachers. The findings are important for administrators and officials of preschool education. The proposed approach can become a theoretical basis for finding ways of mental health care for practicing teachers in further research.
... Through our study we show that financial vulnerability is directly related to health and well-being. Occupational health literature on economic stressors has generally paid more attention to employment-related stressors than financial stressors (Sinclair and Cheung, 2016). Our findings reinforce the importance of financial stressors for employees' occupational health and highlight the need for scholars to continue to incorporate financial measures in their occupational health research. ...
Job insecurity is a pervasive and impactful global concern, eliciting stress and affecting the health and well-being of employees worldwide. The present study ( N = 679) examined the relationship between job insecurity and health and well-being and the moderating role of economic dependence and job satisfaction. When workers depended on their job as a source of income or when they were highly satisfied with their work, the relationship between job insecurity and health and well-being was exacerbated. The findings shed light on the complexities of individual variability in the relationship between job insecurity and health and well-being.
... It is a source of self-worth and an indicator of personal achievement. 21 Financial stress occurs when resources such as money are unavailable to meet an individual's needs. 22 The sources of financial stress for many college students are multifaceted. ...
Purpose:
The transition from school to work is an important stage in the career development of university students, and precarious employment during this period can significantly impact their early career success. In today's unstable employment environment, this study examines how employment instability during the transition from school to work directly and indirectly affects college students' subjective career success. This contributes to a thorough understanding of this transitional period and provides university students with the necessary resources to cope with a smooth transition from school to work.
Patients and methods:
We recruited senior students at five universities in Harbin, China, from May to July 2022. After obtaining participants' consent, questionnaires were distributed via social media, resulting in 967 valid questionnaires. Based on this sample, we examined the chain mediating effect of financial stress and occupational self-efficacy in the association between precarious employment and career success and the moderating effect of employability.
Results:
The study found that precarious employment hurts career success and can also affect career success by increasing financial stress and decreasing occupational self-efficacy among college students. At the same time, financial stress can also decrease students' self-efficacy. Finally, employability can reduce the adverse effects of precarious employment on career success and occupational self-efficacy.
Conclusion:
The link between employment instability and subjective career success during the transition from school to work has been demonstrated for university students. Employment instability not only increases college students' financial stress but also reduces career self-efficacy, which in turn affects college students' perceptions of early subjective career success. Importantly, employability plays a positive role in the smooth school-to-work transition and subjective career success of university students.
... Netemeyer et al. (2018) conceptualize financial well-being in terms of two interrelated constructs: the stress of managing daily household finances and the sense of security about the household's financial future. In this regard, a number of research studies highlight the negative influence financial stress and lack of financial security can have on individuals, including their physical and psychological health (French & McKillop, 2017;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016;Skinner et al., 2004), their absenteeism from and productivity at work (Kaur et al., 2021;, their life satisfaction (Howell et al., 2013), and the timing of their retirement (Gustman et al., 2010). Financial well-being is therefore a fundamental component of living well in today's society. ...
Purpose
This article describes financial professionals' perceptions of their clients' financial behaviors and the explanatory factors underlying these behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
In this qualitative research, the authors seek to understand financial professionals' experiences in relation to how their clients manage their own finances. The authorse conduct and analyze 26 semi-structured interviews with financial professionals from several industries within the financial sector in Canada.
Findings
The professionals in this study noted that despite their clients' financial knowledge, several other factors can explain these individuals' financial behaviors. They include psychological factors, (such as financial bias, the need for instant gratification, and the lack of awareness regarding the long-term effects of certain types of financial behaviors), financial habits (such as lifestyle, financial planning and lack of discipline) and the financial system's flexibility with respect to debt financing and repayment. These perceptions are categorized according to whether they are related to debt financing or repayment, savings or investments.
Originality/value
By using a qualitative methodology that relies on the perceptions of financial professionals, this study aims to better understand the financial behaviors of individuals and households, and these behaviors' underlying factors. This study's findings could be useful to various stakeholders interested, in one way or another, in financial literacy, such as organizations aiming to strengthen and promote financial literacy, educators, researchers, regulatory bodies of financial institutions and financial advisers.
... Financial distress has been positively correlated with high absenteeism [46]. It has also been negatively associated with work engagement, workplace performance, and organizational commitment [54]. When their employers in mandatory quarantine cannot provide job protection and income replacement, employees are likely to experience a complicated array of negative emotions and stress that may impair their work effort and resources [47]. ...
... • Financial insecurity: A situation in which a person cannot fully meet current and ongoing financial obligations without fear of not having enough money to cover necessary expenses. 39,40 • Unemployment: Individuals who are not working, but eligible to participate in the workforce. This excludes individuals who are students, homemakers, or disabled. ...
Lay Summary
Social factors, such as an individual’s housing, food, employment, and income situations, affect their overall health and well-being. As a result, data on patients’ social factors aid in clinical decision making, planning by hospital administrators and policy-makers, and enrich research studies with data representative of more factors influencing the life of an individual. Data on social factors can be collected at the time of a healthcare visit through screening questionnaires or are often documented in the clinical text as part of the social narrative. This study examines the use of natural language processing—a machine method to identify certain text within a larger document—to identify housing instability, financial insecurity, and unemployment from within the clinical notes. Using a relatively unsophisticated methodology, this study demonstrates strong performance in identifying these social factors, which will enable stakeholders to utilize these details in support of improved clinical care.
... This research finds that employment rates, income, and educational attainment vary considerably across parental income distributions leading children into a cycle of economic stress that often spans generations. Yet economic stress is experienced beyond unemployment and low earnings and its impact on organizations can be substantial (Boyce et al., 2010;Brzozowski & Visano, 2020;Reisel et al., 2010;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). Economic stress scholarship distinguishes between objective and subjective economic stress (Probst, 2005;Voydanoff, 1990) and both unemployment and poverty are considered objective economic stressors. ...
... Individuals with poor health typically do not feel a sense of financial well-being, and people constantly worrying about paying bills or the costs of daily necessities, including food and housing, are often under enormous stress (Shapiro et al., 2013). Stress often leads to anxiety, manifesting in the body as heart issues and high blood pressure (Shapiro et al., 2013;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). ...
... Financial strain is shown to be one of the most detrimental social determinants of health that operates as a risk factor for a wide range of health outcomes [82,[95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103]. Additionally, financial strain impacts the health and well-being of the general population [104] and individuals with chronic disease [85]. ...
Background:
A growing body of research suggests that financial difficulties could weaken the protective effects of socioeconomic status (SES) indicators, including education and income, on the health status of marginalized communities, such as African Americans.
Aim:
We investigated the separate and joint effects of education, income, and financial difficulties on mental, physical, and oral self-rated health (SRH) outcomes in African American middle-aged and older adults.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study enrolled 150 middle-aged and older African Americans residing in South Los Angeles. Data on demographic factors (age and gender), socioeconomic characteristics (education, income, and financial difficulties), and self-rated health (mental, physical, and oral health) were collected. Three linear regression models were used to analyze the data.
Results:
Higher education and income were associated with a lower level of financial strain in a bivariate analysis. However, according to multivariable models, only financial difficulties were associated with poor mental, physical, and oral health. As similar patterns emerged for all three health outcomes, the risk associated with financial difficulties seems robust.
Conclusions:
According to our multivariable models, financial strain is a more salient social determinant of health within African American communities than education and income in economically constrained urban environments such as South Los Angeles. While education and income lose some protective effects, financial strain continues to deteriorate the health of African American communities across domains.
... In response, scholars have made recent calls to better incorporate the influence of financial variables into organizational research (Leana & Meuris, 2015;. Sinclair and Cheung (2016) elaborate that a workers' financial situation can be assessed by a number of variables that capture one's employment and financial situation. Income is typically considered a primary driver of one's financial situation, along with the stability of one's job or income. ...
Connections of workers’ financial situations with their well-being and work-related attitudes have received limited attention in organizational psychology research. Furthermore, the potential impacts of personal debt on workers’ work-related outcomes remain largely unexamined. In two studies, we examined relationships between debt, financial strain, work-family conflicts, and work-related attitudes. Debt was assessed in terms of amount (i.e., monthly amount paid to debt in Study 1; total amount of debt owed in Study 2) and complexity, assessed as the number of sources of debt. In Study 1, 458 workers recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk responded to a survey regarding their financial situation at Time 1 and measures of well-being and work-related attitudes at Time 2 (2 months later). Debt complexity and monthly amount were both positively associated with financial strain and exhibited indirect relationships with several job attitudes and conflict between work and family via financial strain. Complexity exhibited stronger relationships than amount. Study 2 used publicly available data from the Health and Retirement Study to test similar relationships among a working sample over three time points, each separated by 2 years. Total debt amount and debt complexity were positively related to financial strain, but only debt amount exhibited indirect relationships with job-related attitudes and work-family conflict via financial strain. These results suggest that personal debt is meaningful to consider in organizational research, given the potential indirect relationships with outcomes of interest to organizations. Implications of the findings for practical interventions and future directions for research are discussed.
... Financial strain resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected mental health outcomes. In the general population, financial strain is a key risk factor for anxiety and depression [14][15][16]. During the pandemic, many healthcare workers faced financial strain due to unprecedented job losses and financial pressures on some of the US health sectors and healthcare systems [17]. ...
Objectives
Healthcare personnel have faced unprecedented mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study objective is to assess differences in depression, anxiety, and burnout among healthcare personnel with various occupational roles and whether financial and job strain were associated with these mental health outcomes.
Methods
We employed an anonymous survey between July and August 2020 at an urban county hospital in California, USA. We assessed depression, anxiety, and burnout using validated scales, and asked questions on financial strain and job strain. We performed logistic and linear regression analyses.
Results
Nurses (aOR 1.93, 95% CIs 1.12, 3.46), social workers (aOR 2.61, 95% CIs 1.35, 5.17), service workers (aOR 2.55, 95% CIs 1.20, 5.48), and administrative workers (aOR 2.93, 95% CIs 1.57, 5.61) were more likely than physicians to screen positive for depression. The odds of screening positive for anxiety were significantly lower for ancillary workers (aOR 0.32, 95% CIs 0.13–0.72) compared with physicians. Ancillary (aB = -1.77, 95% CIs -1.88, -0.47) and laboratory and pharmacy workers (aB -0.70, 95% CI -1.34, -0.06) reported lower levels of burnout compared with physicians. Financial strain partially accounted for differences in mental health outcomes across job categories. Lack of time to complete tasks and lack of supervisory support were associated with higher odds of screening positive for depression. Less job autonomy was associated with higher odds of screening positive for anxiety and higher burnout levels.
Conclusions
We found significant disparities in mental health outcomes across occupational roles. Policies to mitigate the adverse impact of COVID-19 on health workers’ mental health should include non-clinical staff and address financial support and job characteristics for all occupational roles.
... Financial insecurity has been defined and operationalized in a number of ways (see Sinclair & Cheung, 2016) ranging from objective financial measures (e.g., direct income) to more subjective measures (e.g., needs or wants). In this paper, we define financial insecurity as a global, cognitive assessment that people report about their deprivation in objective and/or subjective financial resources. ...
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic instability, many people are contending with financial insecurity. Guided by Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, American Psychologist 44:513–524, 1989; Hobfoll et al., Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior 5:103–128, 2018), the current research explores the consequences of experiencing financial insecurity during a pandemic, with a focus on individuals who report relatively higher rates of financial insecurity, performance challenges, and stress during such experiences: working parents (American Psychological Association, 2022). This research also examines the role that personal resources, in the form of trait resiliency, play in the relationships between financial insecurity and behavioral and psychological outcomes including worrying, proactive behaviors, and stress. In a study of 636 working parents and their children, we find that financial insecurity heightens worrying, underscoring the threatening nature of the loss or anticipated loss of material resources. Worrying, in turn, promotes proactive behaviors at work—an effect that is more pronounced among high-resiliency individuals. However, worrying is also associated with elevated stress among high-resiliency individuals, providing support for a trait activation perspective (rather than buffering hypotheses) on ongoing, uncontrollable adversities. Taken together, our results help to (1) illuminate the impact of financial insecurity on work and well-being, (2) reveal a mechanism (i.e., worrying) that helps explain the links between financial insecurity and work and personal outcomes, and (3) expand our knowledge of the implications trait resiliency has for both psychological and behavioral reactions to ongoing crises.
... Beyond the aforementioned issues, one of the primary concerns for people from lower social class backgrounds is that they come from families with fewer resources, which may mean that they are disproportionately burdened with debt, caregiving responsibilities, and interpersonal family demands, all of which can impact well-being at work (Chen et al., 2022;Pitesa & Pillutla, 2019;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). Accordingly, preliminary research on work-life benefits has argued that the working class would benefit from the implementation of policies that address financial strain (Warren, 2015) and excessive caretaking responsibilities (Warren et al., 2009). ...
... Annual unadjusted household income was used as a proxy for SES in the current study. Studies that have assessed SES as annual income have found it to be associated with subjective wellbeing, depressive symptoms, and physical activity (Deaton, 2008;Kari et al., 2015;Pereira & Coelho, 2013;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). Annual household income was assessed using categorical responses ranging from "less than 10,000/ year" to "85,000/year or more" for ease of interpretation. ...
Physical activity (PA) plays an integral role in reducing risk for the leading causes of death and has also been shown to buffer stress.Based on the stress-buffering hypothesis, the present study examined whether protective factors (self-efficacy and informal social control) buffered the effects of perceived stress on PA over time. Secondary data analyses of female African American caregivers (N = 143) were conducted using data from the Families Improving Together (FIT) trial. Validated measures of stressors and protective factors were assessed at baseline. Light PA and moderate-to-vigorous PA were assessed using seven-day accelerometry estimates over sixteen weeks. Multilevel growth modeling was used to assess whether protective factors moderated the effects of perceived stress on PA outcomes across 16 weeks. There was a significant two-way interaction between informal social control and time (B = 0.40, SE = 0.17, p = .019) such that higher informal social control was positively associated with MVPA over time. There was a marginal three-way interaction (B = -18.90, SE = 10.31, p = .067) such that stress was associated with greater LPA at baseline under conditions of high but not low self-efficacy. This study provides preliminary support that social factors may be important for maintaining MVPA regardless of stress levels, while cognitive resources may be more important to target for influencing LPA engagement under conditions of high stress.
... Financial well-being is defined as "the perception of being able to sustain [the] current and anticipated desired living standard and financial freedom" (Brüggen et al., 2017, p. 229). Student workers with better financial well-being tend to have better control over their financial needs, an important reason why they choose to work (Butler, 2007), and thus they may fare better in stressful situations (e.g., Probst et al., 2018;Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). ...
Work–school conflict is a major stressor for many college students who have paid jobs while in college. Although work–school conflict experience is dynamic, the extant research has predominantly cast it and its consequences as between-person phenomena from a static perspective, ignoring its inherent temporal nature. As a result, little is known about the intra-individual changes in work–school conflict and their associated consequences as implied by the related theory. Drawing on the stressor–emotion model of counterproductive work behavior, we conducted a longitudinal weekly diary study to examine how work–school conflict change can predict changes in negative emotions and workplace deviance (i.e., the change-to-change effects). We also tested core self-evaluation, time management skill, and financial well-being as moderators of the proposed mediated relationship. Results from latent change score modeling showed that upward work–school conflict change had a positive relationship with upward workplace deviance change via upward changes in negative emotions. Further, time management skill and financial well-being weakened the indirect relationships between upward work–school conflict change and upward workplace deviance change. However, the moderating nature of core self-evaluation on the indirect relationship contrasted with our hypothesis. Implications for theory and future research are discussed along with implications for organizations and college institutions.
... Money is a critically important resource used to acquire other resources necessary for survival and/or desired for comfort and, for many people, is a source of self-worth and indicator of personal accomplishment (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). Thus, money or finances has instrumental as well as symbolic value (Vohs et al., 2008;Zhou et al., 2009). ...
The modern workforce is comprised of an increasing percentage of individuals who are worried about their financial situation because they are afraid that their earnings will not be adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of living. While financial anxiety is acknowledged to be a pervasive stressor, surprisingly little is known about the effects of financial anxiety on prized organizational outcomes, such as performance. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we posit that financial anxiety will be associated with performance, via emotional exhaustion, and that this indirect relationship will be moderated by perceptions of internal employability, evidencing first-stage moderation. Using data collected in three waves from 434 respondents, respondents' supervisor, and a co-worker, we found support for a conditional indirect effect. Specifically, the indirect influence of financial anxiety on performance (task, contextual, and counterproductive) via emotional exhaustion was moderated by perceived internal employability, such that the indirect relationship became progressively weaker at increasing levels of perceived internal employability. We discuss implications for theory, research, and practice.
... Efforts to help offset medical expense-related financial burdens for low GHI parents may decrease their coping vulnerability and assure that parents are able to provide quality care for their children with CHD. It should be noted that even families with high GHI may hold debt or incur other expenses related to a child with CHD, and therefore also struggle with resilience [29]. Future studies should explore financial hardship defined not only by GHI, but also by household debt, or parents' perceptions of financial hardship in relation to resilience. ...
Objective
To examine the resilience of parents of children with congenital heart disease and to investigate socio-demographic factors that may influence parents’ resilience.
Methods
This is a web-based survey study using a cross-sectional design. A purposive sampling method was utilized to recruit 515 parents who care for children with CHD. Resilience was assessed using the Dispositional Resilience Scale-II. Based on expert-interviews, a questionnaire was designed to collect socio-demographic data. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and linear regressions were used to analyze data.
Results
A total of 413 parents completed the survey study. The mean resilience score was 3.75 (SD = 0.61; range = 1.89–4.89) with higher scores indicating higher resilience. The linear regression models demonstrated that parents who had lower education levels and lower gross household income had lower resilience (P < 0.05).
Conclusions
Parents reported resilience that reflected their ability to cope with stressful events and mitigate stressors associated with having and caring for children with congenital heart disease. Lower education levels and lower gross household income are associated with lower resilience. To increase parents’ resilience, nursing practice and nurse-led interventions should target screening and providing support for parents at-risk for lower resilience. As lower education level and financial hardship are factors that are difficult to modify through personal efforts, charitable foundations, federal and state governments should consider programs that would provide financial and health literacy support for parents at-risk for lower resilience.
... Respondents were asked to indicate if they have (1) experienced a loss of employment status within the last year, whether they have (2) experienced a decrease in salary/monthly earnings within the last year and (3) their monthly household income. We purposively selected a wide range of these characteristics to assess as objective indicators of financial stress in this study (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). Given that the three characteristics are not mutually exclusive, this also allowed us to examine possible nuances in the sample. ...
Hope is conceptualized as a cognitive set that has often been studied in the context of adversity. No studies, however, directly examine how locus-of-hope (LOH) influences psychological outcomes among vulnerable populations within collectivist cultural contexts. We address this gap by assessing the relationships between LOH and well-being among Malaysians facing financial struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that LOH will predict well-being but that external LOH will more strongly predict well-being than internal LOH. One-hundred and fifty-two (152) Malaysians (63 men, 89 women, average age 29.69 years old) who have (1) experienced loss of employment status (2) decrease in salary earnings or (3) earn below the lower 40% threshold of national household incomes completed a series of questionnaires assessing their LOH and well-being. Results indicate that controlling for age, perceptions of government efforts and trait optimism, LOH significantly predict well-being. Findings also show that internal LOH and LOH-family were the strongest predictors of well-being. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of these findings.
... After a negative appraisal by individuals, these stressors become an economic stress, hence negatively impacting psychological functioning and increasing mental disorders (Frasquilho et al., 2016;Madianos et al., 2011;Probst et al., 2018). For instance, these stressors were shown to lead to more financial insecurity (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016), more future-related and economic uncertainty (e.g., job insecurity, economic hardship) which, in turn, resulted in poorer mental health (Dohrenwend, 2000;Wright et al., 2016). Given this, it is not surprising that previous research has found a link, in an economic crisis context, between financial stressors and the risk of psychological distress and depression, as shown for the Great Recession of 2008 (e.g., Kiernan, 2019;Zavras et al., 2013;see Frasquilho et al., 2016 for a review). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns negatively impacted the mental health of populations. This impact is not equally distributed and increases existing mental health inequalities. Indeed, government restrictions and the economic consequences of the pandemic affect more the less educated and less wealthy people. However, psychological processes implicated in this increase of mental health inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic remain unexplored. The present study (N=591) tested the role of financial insecurity and attentional control in the relation between socioeconomic status and mental health, along with the influence of trait anxiety. Based on Structural Equation Modelling, findings showed a mediation effect of financial insecurity, but not of attentional control, in the relationship between socioeconomic status and mental health. In addition, exploratory analyses suggested that financial insecurity also mediated the effect of attentional control on mental health. Results of the present research point at the importance of understanding psychological processes implicated in the effect of economic crises on mental health inequalities.
... To advance pandemic-related research and the practical implications offered by Rudolph et al.'s (2021) focal article, industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists should also consider financial stress-cognitive and affective appraisals that one's finances are threatened and/or insufficient for one's needs (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016)-an integral component of understanding and addressing many COVID-19 pandemic effects in the workforce. Pandemics directly affect society's physical health and increase stress about such for many. ...
... Most studies about financial strain and health status have focused on elderly people whereas studies about the working population are scarce (13). Moreover, low personal wages, that are often the focus of studies on the working poor, are only one cause of financial strain, which depends on a household's overall resources and needs, and includes individual factors such as age, immigration status, employment and household characteristics (14). ...
Objectives: Although in-work poverty has been increasing, in Europe policy about poverty and social exclusion tends to focus on labor market participation, independently of the level of remuneration and the quality of work, and studies about financial strain among workers, as well as on its relationship with health status, are still scarce. The objectives of this study were: (1) to compare the prevalence of financial strain among workers among different welfare state typologies, and (2) to examine whether the relationship between financial strain and health status differs by welfare state regime. For both objectives we examined whether there were gender differences.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey of 2015 and selected a subsample of all employees from the EU28 aged 16–64 years (13,156 men and 13,225 women).
Results: There were large differences in the prevalence of financial strain between welfare state typologies, which were not explained by individual factors. Additionally, differences across welfare regimes were greater among women. Nordic countries had the lowest prevalence (12.1% among men and 12.3% among women) whereas Southern European countries had the highest (49.5% among men and 47.9% among women). In both sexes and in all welfare state typologies, financial strain was associated with poor self-perceived health status and poor psychological well-being. Whereas, Southern European countries had the highest prevalence of financial strain, the magnitude of the association with health status was smaller than in other country typologies.
Conclusion: In Europe, policies are needed to address the specific structural factors leading to financial strain as well as its relationship with health status among workers.
... As the relationship between financial well-being and financial stress is still a matter of debate (Brzozowski & Visano, 2020), we included in this review studies investigating financial stress to make our review more exhaustive. Like financial well-being, it is also possible to distinguish an objective and a subjective side of financial stress (Sinclair & Cheung, 2016). If the objective side of financial well-being consists of the economic resources that the individual owns (e.g., house) or earns (e.g., income), the objective side of financial stress consists of the economic resources that the individual spends (e.g., expenses, debt; e.g., Hanratty et al., 2007). ...
Financial well-being is a positive financial condition that has an objective (e.g., income) and a subjective (e.g., financial satisfaction) side. Much research has examined financial well-being using cross-sectional and classic longitudinal designs. More recently, researchers have begun to examine financial well-being using intensive longitudinal designs, collecting data in a repeated (at least five measurements) and intensive (short time interval between measurements) way. The goal of the current study was to systematically review all published research on financial well-being using intensive longitudinal methods, summarize themes from this work, and suggest future research directions. Searching three databases (Scopus, PsycINFO, Econpapers), we found nine articles that respected inclusion and exclusion criteria. From each selected article, we extracted information about (1) research field diffusion, (2) data collection methods, (3) financial well-being’s definition and operationalization, (4) research questions addressed and (5) data analysis. Findings showed that most of the studies adopted an interval-contingent research design, collecting data once a day; that both the objective and subjective sides of the construct were assessed, and that, most of the time, the construct was conceptualized as financial stress (lack of financial well-being). Different kinds of research questions were addressed across studies and these were often analyzed using multilevel analysis. In the discussion section, future research directions are suggested.
... Prawitz et al. (2010) showed a significant positive effect of employee financial distress on high absenteeism. Sinclair and Cheung (2016) study also found that financial insecurity is negatively associated with work engagement, workers' performance at the workplace, and organizational commitment. Given this, financial insecurity and other personal finance-related stress can result in negative outcomes among employees at work. ...
The novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has magnified the issue of financial insecurity. However, its effect on individual-organizational relations and, consequently, on organizational performance remains understudied. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the spillover effect of financial insecurity on the burnout–disengagement relationship during the pandemic. The authors investigate in particular whether the spillover effect influences the performance of moonlighting employees and also explore the mediating effect of disengagement on the relationship between financial insecurity and burnout interaction effect and the performance (i.e., mediated-moderation). This study collected responses from 162 public and private sector employees who are engaged in moonlighting activities in Malaysia. The results from the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) revealed greater levels of financial insecurity and burnout associated with greater levels of work disengagement. The analysis of the interaction-moderation effect showed that when financial insecurity rises, the burnout effect on work disengagement increases among moonlighters. Using the PROCESS macro model, the results displayed burnout as a predictor of extra-role performance via a moderated (financial insecurity) mediation (work disengagement) relationship. Going forward, this study not only opens new avenues for research into the financial consequences of COVID-19 but also calls on managers to take proactive steps to mitigate the negative effect of the pandemic on the performance of moonlighting employees to keep them in the profession.
The study aims in analyzing the role of workplace stressors on occupational stress levels. A descriptive and explanatory research design has been used. A mean scale as a measure of central tendency was used to explain the existing situation. Correlation and multiple regression have been implemented to measure the association of variables and the stress level prediction ability of the constructs. A random sampling technique was used in determining the sample size. Mainly primary data is collected through a structured questionnaire and distributed to people online through Google form. Occupational stresses have shown a strong and significant association with stress constructs. The cumulative prediction ability of the constructs is stronger on the occupational stress level of the organization. Social support and job control are inversely associated with occupational stress levels. However. role ambiguity and role overload have a direct relationship with the magnitude of occupational stress.
Economic dependence is consistently identified as a key factor in understanding gig workers’ experiences (e.g., Kuhn & Maleki, 2017; Schor et al., 2020; Spreitzer et al., 2017), but empirical estimates of the rate of economically dependent gig workers vary considerably across sources (e.g., from 3% to 56%). To obtain a reliable estimate of this rate, this work used an inductive approach and an experimental survey design to investigate the significance and size of (1) methodological (i.e., survey item wording) effects and (2) demographic predictors of whether gig workers endorse economic dependence items. Results are also compared across nonrandom but representative samples from two common types of gig work – crowdwork (N = 447, Study 1) and rideshare driving (N = 919, Study 2). This study offers a conservative estimate that 45% of crowdworkers and 74% of rideshare drivers are economically dependent on their gig. Three predictors of economic dependence were significant across both groups – item wording, marital status, and hours worked on-platform. Four more predictors were significant for one group only – hours worked off-platform for crowdworkers only; and age, sex, and gig tenure for rideshare drivers only. Methodological effects were larger among crowdworkers, and sex and marital status showed opposite effects compared to previous research on financial stress. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed with a focus on better understanding economic dependence and improving gig workers’ experiences.
Mobile phone sensing is increasingly being used in clinical research studies to assess a variety of mental health conditions (e.g., depression, psychosis). However, in-the-wild speech analysis -- beyond conversation detecting -- is a missing component of these mobile sensing platforms and studies. We augment an existing mobile sensing platform with a daily voice diary to assess and predict the severity of auditory verbal hallucinations (i.e., hearing sounds or voices in the absence of any speaker), a condition that affects people with and without psychiatric or neurological diagnoses. We collect 4809 audio diaries from N=384 subjects over a one-month-long study period. We investigate the performance of various deep-learning architectures using different combinations of sensor behavioral streams (e.g., voice, sleep, mobility, phone usage, etc.) and show the discriminative power of solely using audio recordings of speech as well as automatically generated transcripts of the recordings; specifically, our deep learning model achieves a weighted f-1 score of 0.78 solely from daily voice diaries. Our results surprisingly indicate that a simple periodic voice diary combined with deep learning is sufficient enough of a signal to assess complex psychiatric symptoms (e.g., auditory verbal hallucinations) collected from people in the wild as they go about their daily lives.
Since the 2008 economic crisis, research on financial well-being has grown exponentially. Most of the studies have investigated the predictors of financial well-being, but there is still no consensus on the conceptualization of financial well-being itself. As of yet, little is known about the relationship between subjective financial well-being and subjective financial stress. Some scholars believe those two constructs are two sides of the same coin, while others consider them to be two different phenomena. The current study aims to contribute to disentangling the construct of financial well-being from the construct of financial stress. We conducted an intensive longitudinal study, collecting data for 14 consecutive days from 158 emerging adults. Participants had to report their level of financial well-being and financial stress each evening. Findings suggest that the two constructs are not coincident for the following reasons: they exhibit low-to-moderate associations at both the within- and between-level and they were not similarly affected by the same predictors. Furthermore, we showed that subjective financial well-being and subjective financial stress fluctuate considerably from one day to the next. Further research is needed to determine the source of this daily variability.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to validate and report on portability and generalizability of a Natural Language Processing (NLP) method to extract individual social factors from clinical notes, which was originally developed at a different institution.
Materials and methods:
A rule-based deterministic state machine NLP model was developed to extract financial insecurity and housing instability using notes from one institution and was applied on all notes written during 6 months at another institution. 10% of positively-classified notes by NLP and the same number of negatively-classified notes were manually annotated. The NLP model was adjusted to accommodate notes at the new site. Accuracy, positive predictive value, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated.
Results:
More than 6 million notes were processed at the receiving site by the NLP model, which resulted in about 13,000 and 19,000 classified as positive for financial insecurity and housing instability, respectively. The NLP model showed excellent performance on the validation dataset with all measures over 0.87 for both social factors.
Discussion:
Our study illustrated the need to accommodate institution-specific note-writing templates as well as clinical terminology of emergent diseases when applying NLP model for social factors. A state machine is relatively simple to port effectively across institutions. Our study. showed superior performance to similar generalizability studies for extracting social factors.
Conclusion:
Rule-based NLP model to extract social factors from clinical notes showed strong portability and generalizability across organizationally and geographically distinct institutions. With only relatively simple modifications, we obtained promising performance from an NLP-based model.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine if public policy satisfaction is related with perceived financial security. The public policy examined is an emergency income policy in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a questionnaire to interview a random sample of 235 single-parent women who received Emergency Aid (EA) resources in Brazil during the pandemic. The questionnaire included measures of financial security, financial anxiety, financial resilience and profile aspects. The authors applied a multiple regression approach to identify the determinants of financial security during the pandemic.
Findings
Our findings show that factors such as satisfaction with the emerging income policy and financial resilience are positively related to perceived financial security. Financial anxiety, financial fragility and job loss in the pandemic are negatively related with perceived financial security.
Research limitations/implications
While our results correspond to a random probabilistic sample of women residing in southern Brazil, they may not be generalizable to Brazil as a whole.
Practical implications
This study provides evidence of the financial situation in the pandemic for the lives of economically vulnerable women. The research encourages government and financial institutions to understand the unique challenges faced by vulnerable populations during the pandemic and analyzes the direct results of EA. The study contributes to the establishment of policies to support vulnerable populations, encouraging security and financial resilience.
Originality/value
This research is innovative in its analysis of women’s financial situations during the pandemic, taking into consideration both behavioral aspects and profiles. Our focus on a specific case of emergency income policy adds to the understanding of the relation of such policies on vulnerable populations.
Finansman günümüzde hayati önem taşıyan bir gerçektir. Finansal denge bozulduğunda ve düzeltmek için gereken çaba gösterilemediğinde bunun özünü oluşturan para kavramı herkesin hayatında sorun olmaya devam edebilmektedir. Birey ya da aile çabalasa da kimi zaman bu tip problemlerin üstesinden gelmeleri mümkün olmamakta ve destek alınması gereği ortaya çıkmaktadır. Finansal Terapi hem finans ve hem de psikoloji uzmanlarının bir araya gelerek gerekli olan yapılanmayı yeniden inşa ettikleri disiplinlerarası bir müdahale yöntemidir. Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde (ABD) 2000’li yılların başında hayata geçmiştir. Bu çalışmada ilgili terapi ve modellerine dair genel bir fikir verilmeye gayret edilmiştir. Bu bağlamda ABD’de yapılan çalışmalar ve konu ile ilgili alanyazın incelenerek özet bir bilgi çıkartılmıştır.
With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, among other crises (e.g., Russia–Ukraine conflicts and recession projections) threatening organizations’ financial conditions across the globe, supervisors may not only encounter challenges such as job cuts that test their ethical leadership, but also experience financial insecurity themselves. However, our knowledge of why and when supervisors’ ethical leadership behaviors may be affected in such a situation remains quite limited. In this research, we draw on uncertainty management theory (UMT) to examine the potential influence of financial insecurity on ethical leadership. Specifically, we suggest that financial insecurity triggers anxiety in supervisors, which inhibits their demonstration of ethical leadership. We also propose organizational pay fairness as a boundary condition for this process, such that supervisors who perceive their pay as fair are less susceptible to the anxiety resulting from financial insecurity than those who perceive their pay as unfair. Results from two multi-source, multi-wave studies supported our hypothesized model. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.
U.S. wealth inequality has arisen alongside slow economic growth and more economic and financial instability. We consider how these factors are connected in this article. We draw on the existing literature, supplemented with data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. We show that the United States experiences a vicious cycle of continued wealth inequality in the context of unequally distributed economic risks that impede savings by those who already have little wealth to begin with. The result are greater indebtedness and more widespread macroeconomic instability. These factors perpetuate wealth inequality and economic instability. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated these linkages, but we highlight that the underlying trends have existed for decades. Breaking this cycle requires several policy steps to build reduce wealth inequality.
In-work poverty (IWP), a growing problem in the United Kingdom, describes being in employment but having financial resources close to thresholds associated with poverty. IWP is associated with poorer health behaviors. We examined why people experiencing IWP may exhibit poorer health behaviors. Experiences of six individuals with whole-household IWP in North East England, were elicited using inductive reflexive thematic analysis with semi-structured interviews. Three themes were generated, showing that IWP impacted on the adoption of healthy behaviors, resulting in an obesogenic environment, particularly for single parents. IWP is a socioeconomic health disparity requiring further exploration.
While distressing, late life spousal loss is considered a normative life event and most demonstrate resilient recovery from grief. However, for 5–7% of the population spousal loss comes early, before the age of 50, and little is known about the factors that influence adjustment in this population. We used the DPM integrative framework to examine correlates and predictors of mental wellbeing and grief intensity in an international sample of 603 young widows and widowers. Contrary to existing bereavement research, loss-orientated stressors (e.g., expectedness and cause of death) did not predict bereavement outcomes. Employment and financial wellbeing were the only statistically significant restoration-orientated stressors associated with coping, mental wellbeing and grief intensity. We found no significant associations between parental status and coping or bereavement outcomes. Loss-orientated coping, followed by inter and intrapersonal protective factors for resilience and financial wellbeing were the greatest predictors of grief intensity. Loss-orientated coping was highest in early bereavement, the greatest predictor of grief intensity and associated with being unemployed, financial insecurity and decreased protective factors for resilience. Restoration-orientated coping was highest in later bereavement, was a weak predictor of grief intensity and associated with being employed, increased financial wellbeing and protective factors for resilience. Overall, we found the young-widowed population is at heightened risk of poor adjustment. Almost two-thirds reported decreased functioning, probable depression with high rates of psychological distress. Nearly half met diagnostic criteria for prolonged grief disorder. We discuss implications for research and clinical practice.
Recent research on temporary work has suggested that temporary work experiences vary greatly in quality. In light of concerns about diminished quality of some temporary work experiences, we suggest that temporary workers may experience a variety of stressful work situations that could precipitate detrimental outcomes not only for these workers, but also for their co‐workers and organizations. Using a multi‐wave survey of temporary workers, this study examines the relationship between economic, interpersonal, and organizational stressors and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). Specifically, we hypothesize that economic stressors (operationalized as economic hardship and job insecurity), interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints will predict the extent to which temporary workers perform CWB via emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement pathways. Three waves of data show that temporary workers experiencing higher levels of economic hardship, interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints reported greater emotional exhaustion, which was linked to increased frequency of CWBs. Additionally, higher levels of job insecurity and interpersonal conflict were related to higher levels of moral disengagement, which related to increased frequency of CWBs. These findings highlight relationships of different stressors with emotional and cognitive reactions that may trigger CWB in temporary workers.
Congruent with an attempt to better understand the economic instrumentality of work, it was hypothesized and found that (1) pay and life satisfaction are correlated positively; (2) the pay-life satisfaction relationship is moderated by financial requirements; and (3) the pay-life satisfaction relationship is jointly moderated by financial requirements and sex.
Higher income is associated with greater well-being, but do income gains and losses affect well-being differently? Loss aversion, whereby losses loom larger than gains, is typically examined in relation to decisions about anticipated outcomes. Here, using subjective-well-being data from Germany (N = 28,723) and the United Kingdom (N = 20,570), we found that losses in income have a larger effect on well-being than equivalent income gains and that this effect is not explained by diminishing marginal benefits of income to well-being. Our findings show that loss aversion applies to experienced losses, challenging suggestions that loss aversion is only an affective-forecasting error. By failing to account for loss aversion, longitudinal studies of the relationship between income and well-being may have overestimated the positive effect of income on well-being. Moreover, societal well-being might best be served by small and stable income increases, even if such stability impairs long-term income growth.
Proposed as a theory of motivation, the basic tenet of conservation of resources (COR) theory is that humans are motivated to protect their current resources and acquire new resources. Despite its recent popularity in the organizational behavior literature, several criticisms of the theory have emerged, primarily related to the central concept of resources. In this review, we address concerns regarding the conceptualization, conservation, acquisition, fluctuation, and measurement of resources. We highlight gaps in the COR literature that can be addressed by integrating research from other areas of psychology and management. In this manner, we hope to push the COR literature forward by resolving several concerns and providing suggestions for future research that might address other concerns.
Objective:
Financial resources are a potent determinant of health, yet it remains unclear why this is the case. We aimed to identify whether the frequently observed association between absolute levels of monetary resources and health may occur because money acts an indirect proxy for a person's social rank.
Method:
To address this question we examined over 230,000 observations on 40,400 adults drawn from two representative national panel studies; the British Household Panel Survey and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We identified each person's absolute income/wealth and their objective ranked position of income/wealth within a social reference-group. Absolute and rank income/wealth variables were then used to predict a series of self-reported and objectively recorded health outcomes in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.
Results:
As anticipated, those with higher levels of absolute income/wealth were found to have better health than others, after adjustment for age, gender, education, marital status, and labor force status. When evaluated simultaneously the ranked position of income/wealth but not absolute income/wealth predicted all health outcomes examined including: objective measures of allostatic load and obesity, the presence of long-standing illness, and ratings of health, physical functioning, role limitations, and pain. The health benefits of high rank were consistent in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses and did not depend on the reference-group used to rank participants.
Conclusions:
This is the first study to demonstrate that social position rather than material conditions may explain the impact of money on human health.
The working poor are situated in a very powerful context—the nexus of poverty and low-wage work. Our central premise is that this context represents a "strong situation" that powerfully affects work-related outcomes, but it has been largely overlooked by organization science, even as the working poor comprise a sizable segment of the workforce. In this paper we briefly review categorical, compositional, and relational theories of poverty from other disciplines, and we describe three key mediators from organizational research that may explain how the working poor are adversely affected in terms of job attachment, career attainment, and job performance. Our goals are to encourage further thinking about the working poor among organizational scholars, encourage future research in this domain, and call attention to the need for research-based interventions.
The analysis presented in this article is based on two different concepts of poverty; the direct consensual definition developed by Mack and Lansley (1985) and the indirect consensual definition established by Godehart et al. (1977). It is argued that the usefulness of this dividing line can be questioned both at a theoretical and an empirical level. Indirect and direct definitions both suffer from severe shortcomings when it comes to the measurement of poverty. The indirect approach is based on the measurement of economic resources. The indirect definition classifies a substantial part of the population as poor even though they do not show any signs of deprivation. The direct method is based on observation of actual consumption. However, a significant proportion of those classified as poor have an income above the direct poverty line. Thus, high income earners may be defined as poor. The conclusion is that both approaches are more or less inadequate as measures of poverty. It is argued, in the article, that a combination of the direct and the indirect approaches would solve most of the problems. A theoretical coherent and an empirically reliable measure of poverty requires a combination of indirect and direct methods. -from Author
Higher income is associated with greater well-being, but do income gains and losses affect well-being differently? Loss aversion, whereby losses loom larger than gains, is typically examined in relation to decisions about anticipated outcomes. Here, using subjective-well-being data from Germany (N = 28,723) and the United Kingdom (N = 20,570), we found that losses in income have a larger effect on well-being than equivalent income gains and that this effect is not explained by diminishing marginal benefits of income to well-being. Our findings show that loss aversion applies to experienced losses, challenging suggestions that loss aversion is only an affective-forecasting error. By failing to account for loss aversion, longitudinal studies of the relationship between income and well-being may have overestimated the positive effect of income on well-being. Moreover, societal well-being might best be served by small and stable income increases, even if such stability impairs long-term income growth.
Research examining the outcomes of workplace injuries has focused on high costs to the organization. In this study, we utilize conservation of resources theory to develop and test a model that explains how and under what circumstances workplace injuries impact employees' perceptions of how their work interferes with their family. Results from 194 registered nurses (along with 85 of their spouses), using path analytic tests of moderated mediation, provide support for the prediction that the mediated effect of workplace injury severity on work-family conflict (through job and financial insecurity) is weaker when employees perceive high levels of supervisor support. We discuss the implications of these findings for the study of job and financial insecurity and work-family conflict. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
This paper is concerned with the relationship between household income and life-style deprivation, and their combined impact on households' perceptions of economic strain. It takes as a point of departure findings from a number of European countries showing that the relationship between income and deprivation is weaker than widely assumed and that relative income poverty lines may perform poorly in terms of identifying the most deprived households. It proceeds to examine how far these conclusions about income and deprivation can be generalized to the countries included in the first wave of the European Community Household Panel. Results show that five distinct dimensions of deprivation emerge from an overall European analysis and that these are consistent across individual countries. While a good deal of similarity is observed in the income-deprivation relationship, countries differ in the strength of relationship between income and what is termed current lifestyle deprivation' with the relationship being generally weakest in the richer countries. The implications of these findings for the use of relative income poverty lines are developed. Extending this analysis to an assessment of how income and deprivation combine to influence perceptions of economic strain, we show that within-nation reference group processes operating in a uniform manner across countries can account for the bulk of the variation in strain. Cross-national differences can be accounted for by corresponding variation in income and deprivation levels.
Hypotheses regarding behavioral intentions as antecedents of job attitudes were tested longitudinally with a sample of 126 retail salespeople. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that workers' intentions to leave at organizational entry predicted subsequent job satisfaction on 19 of 21 satisfaction scales. In general, these relationships were moderated by perceived choice, construed here as the absence of externally imposed financial requirements or economic pressures to stay on the job. Consistent with cognitive dissonance theory, the intent-to-leave–job-satisfaction relationships were stronger when economic choice was higher (i.e., financial requirements were lower). The practical and theoretical implications of these findings for existing models of organizational behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study describes the development and validation of two scales measuring job security: the Job Security Index (JSI), measuring an individual's cognitive appraisal of the future of his or her job with respect to the perceived level of stability and continuance of that job, and the Job Security Satisfaction (JSS) scale, measuring employee satisfaction with a perceived level of job security. Item response theory and classical test theory analyses indicate that the scales are highly reliable and exhibit good discriminant and criterion-related validity. Future researchers are advised to apply confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to the scales to confirm their factor structures.
The paper surveys over twenty models of delay discounting (also known as temporal discounting, time preference, time discounting), that psychologists and economists have put forward to explain the way people actually trade off time and money. Using little more than the basic algebra of powers and logarithms, we show how the models are derived, what assumptions they are based upon, and how different models relate to each other. Rather than concentrate only on discount functions themselves, we show how discount functions may be manipulated to isolate rate parameters for each model. This approach, consistently applied, helps focus attention on the three main components in any discounting model: subjectively perceived money; subjectively perceived time; and how these elements are combined. We group models by the number of parameters that have to be estimated, which means our exposition follows a trajectory of increasing complexity to the models. However, as the story unfolds it becomes clear that most models fall into a smaller number of families. We also show how new models may be constructed by combining elements of different models. The surveyed models are: Exponential; Hyperbolic; Arithmetic; Hyperboloid (Green & Myerson, Rachlin); Loewenstein and Prelec Generalized Hyperboloid; quasi-Hyperbolic (β-δ); Benhabib et al’s fixed cost; Benhabib et al’s Exponential/Hyperbolic/quasi-Hyperbolic; Read’s discounting fractions; Roelofsma’s exponential time; Scholten and Read’s discounting-by-intervals (DBI); Ebert and Prelec’s constant sensitivity (CS); Bleichrodt et al.’s constant absolute decreasing impatience (CADI); Bleichrodt et al.’s constant relative decreasing impatience (CRDI); Green, Myerson, and Macaux’s hyperboloid over intervals models; Killeen’s additive utility; size-sensitive additive utility; Yi, Reid, and Bickel’s memory trace models; McClure et al.’s two exponentials; Scholten and Read’s trade-off model; and Decision-by-Sampling (DbS). For a convenient overview, a single “cheat sheet” table captures the notation and essential mathematics behind all but one of the models.
This article reviews the underemployment literature, providing a comprehensive integrative overview of underemployment research. Underemployment, which occurs when a worker is employed in a job that is inferior by some standard, is linked to a broad range of negative outcomes for employees. This article builds on Feldman’s 1996 model of underemployment and identifies relevant theoretical perspectives and dimensions of underemployment, as well as reviewing the empirical research on the relationships between underemployment’s antecedents and outcomes. Suggestions for future research are offered, with particular attention on career implications, the effects of underemployment on an employee’s identity, and the importance of “choice” for underemployed employees. Finally, recommendations for improving the methodological rigor of underemployment research are provided.
This paper focuses on financial strain across the life course as a condition underlying health inequalities observed in later life. The analysis is based on data from 1,167 adults 65 years and older collected as part of the 'Aging, Stress and Health Study." Relying on retrospective data about hardship experienced over the life course, we find that long-term financial hardship is reflected in a range of health outcomes at late life, even after controlling for the effects of current financial circumstances. Moreover the sheer persistence of hardship matters more than its episodic occurrence or timing, so that the health effects of early hardship may be obviated if followed by no further hardship. This pattern of findings is consistent with the notion of allostatic load, the cumulative damage done to health and well-being under the but-den of an unrelenting stressor in a critically important life domain.
The relationships between perceived economic stress (current economic hardship and future economic worry) and emotional quality of life (existential well-being, life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of mastery, psychological morbidity) as well as problem behavior (substance abuse and delinquency) were examined in 1519 Chinese adolescents with and without economic disadvantage. Results showed that perceived economic stress was related to emotional quality of life as well as problem behavior in adolescents and the relationships were generally stronger in adolescents with economic disadvantage than in adolescents without economic disadvantage. Adolescents with higher levels of emotional quality of life displayed lower levels of adolescent problem behavior. Finally, adolescents with economic disadvantage displayed higher levels of current economic hardship and future economic worry than did adolescents without economic disadvantage.
In this article, we demonstrate that samples in the industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology literature do not reflect the labor market, overrepresenting core, salaried, managerial, professional, and executive employees while underrepresenting wage earners, low- and medium-skill first-line personnel, and contract workers. We describe how overrepresenting managers, professionals, and executives causes research about these other workers to be suspect. We describe several ways that this underrepresentation reduces the utility of the I-O literature and provide specific examples. We discuss why the I-O literature underrepresents these workers, how it contributes to the academic–practitioner gap, and what researchers can do to remedy the issue.
Measures of material hardship, which identify households that do not consume minimal levels of very basic goods and services such as food, housing, and medical care, provide important information about well-being. The research discussed in this article used nationally representative data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to document the prevalence of material hardship in the U.S. population and in several subgroups in 1995. More than 10 percent of Americans experienced at least one hardship in 1995, and the most common hardships were medical need and food insufficiency. Poor individuals, children, African Americans, Hispanics, and those in single-parent households were particularly vulnerable to hardship. In addition, there is evidence that working households are more vulnerable to hardship - especially medical need - than measures of income-poverty suggest.
Research reviewed in this essay documents a complex process in which macroeconomic and family demographic factors are associated with economic distress among individuals and families. Four components of economic distress—employment instability, employment uncertainty, economic deprivation, and economic strain—are shown to be negatively related to individual adjustment and family relations. Several individual and family coping resources and behaviors mediate relationships between economic distress and individual adjustment and family relations. The review closes with suggestions for future research and theory development.
We examine the overlooked role of time in goal-setting theory and demonstrate how the integration of time into this theory adds to its dynamism and validity in the increasingly complex, constantly changing work environment. Following a brief discussion of developments in the scientific understanding of time, we discuss and illustrate how these new understandings enhance the utility and theoretical soundness of the theory and how time can be integrated into the theory's main components: goal difficulty, goal attainability, and goal specificity.
In the current global environment of unpredictable economic adversity, financial help appears to be all the more important in order for people to make it through hard times. Social support theory expects that debt’s adverse impact on subjective well-being can be moderated by access to financial help within one’s social network. This study tests this hypothesis by extending research attention into social contacts and self-concept as well. Using a national probability sample of Taiwan, we conduct regression-estimation-with-measurement modeling to assess the impact of debt and unrealized loss (UL) in housing price on life situation. Our finding shows that both debt and UL produce direct negative impact on happiness and health behaviors, while they has scant influence on social contacts and self-esteem. Financial assistance from kin somewhat moderates the adverse influences of indebtedness, while financial assistance from friends and banks mostly represents a debt trap that leads to lower levels of life satisfaction and self-concept. We conclude that seeking financial help, in general, is a response to rather than a solution for indebtedness.
This study examines whether national income can have effects on happiness over and above personal income. To assess the incremental effects of national income on happiness, cross-sectional multilevel analysis was conducted on 838,151 individuals across 158 nations. Although personal income was consistently related to higher SWB, we find that national income appears to be a boon to life satisfaction but a bane to daily feelings of well-being; individuals in richer nations experience more worry and anger on average. Moderating effects were found such that national income strengthened the income-happiness relationship. This might be explained by culture-norms, where money is valued more in richer nations. The SWB of more residentially mobile individuals were less affected by national income. Overall our results suggest that wealth of the nation one resides in has consequences for happiness beyond personal income.
Data from an economically and racially diverse sample (N = 258) was used to determine (a) if an association between objectively measured income and perceived income adequacy exists, (b) how well individuals assess the adequacy of their income, and (c) if a bias exists, can these estimates be used to describe a person’s overall level of financial satisfaction? Duesenberry’s (Income, saving, and the theory of consumer behavior. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1949) relative income hypothesis and Kyrk’s (The family in the American economy. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1953) resource deficit hypothesis were adopted for use as the conceptual framework for this study. A positive but modest association between objective and perceived income adequacy was noted. It was also found that individuals do not do a particularly good job of accurately assessing their income adequacy. Finally, perceived income adequacy estimation bias was found to be associated with financial satisfaction. Those who perceived their income to be deficient were less satisfied financially. Policy and practitioner implications from the study are discussed as a means for improving financial satisfaction at the individual and household level.
This paper aims to untangle the relationship between income and subjective well-being. To accomplish this, we investigate how subjective well-being is affected by two financially-related determinants that have not been investigated before or scarcely so. Specifically, we research the impact on subjective well-being of how people are coping with their present income as well as of their borrowing constraints. The results indicate that both variables determine subjective well-being and that they mediate the effects of other variables, namely income, which is not directly related to well-being. Additionally, they signal that income matters to the extent to which it contributes to meeting the desired consumption needs and eases borrowing constraints. Such mediating effects thus contribute to explain how income affects subjective well-being. We also inspect differences in life satisfaction responsiveness to perceived income adequacy and borrowing constraints in certain groups of individuals, and find that the subjective well-being of individuals in a more fragile financial position is particularly responsive to the alleviation of borrowing constraints.
This chapter analyzes daily measures of self-reported well-being (SWB), and how they respond to financial and macroeconomic circumstances. It is organized as follows. Section 10.2 briefly discusses concepts of well-being, including reminders of long-standing concerns about happiness measures in general and, within SWB measures, the differences between hedonic and evaluative measures of well-being. Section 10.3 explains the behavior of life evaluation over the financial crisis and documents the sensitivity of the measure to questionnaire order effects. Section 10.4 shows what happened to life evaluation and hedonic experience over the crisis. Section 10.5 relates that experience to macroeconomic magnitudes such as income, unemployment, and the stock market; and Section 10.6 concludes. A commentary is included at the end of the chapter.
A stress-strain-outcome model of burnout was tested on 91 social workers who completed Maslach's (1981) burnout inventory, the MBI, and scales assessing work-specific stress, social support, and the negative outcomes of dissatisfaction with and intention to quit one's job. Significant relationships of stress with emotional exhaustion (an MBI subscale conceptualized as strain), and exhaustion with negative outcomes provided support for the model: as predicted, there was no direct effect of stress on outcomes. Predicted buffering-type interaction effecls of social support and personal accomplishment (another MBI subscale) moderated the exhaustion→intention to quit relationship. High exhaustion resulted in less inclination to quit among social workers who experienced social support or a sense of personal accomplishment. The results supported a reconceptualization of measured burnout in which emotiona1 exhaustion represents the essence of burnout and personal accomplishment is a separate variable that buffers the impact of exhaustion on negative work consequences. Implications for burnout interventions were discussed.
Financial capability is receiving increasing interest among policy makers, who wish to reduce problem debt and welfare dependency and increase savings and general skills. We examine whether financial capability has impacts on psychological health independent of income and financial resources more generally using a nationally representative survey. Data from the British Household Panel Survey 1991–2006 are used to construct a measure of financial capability, which we relate to respondents’ psychological health using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Estimates from within-group panel data models indicate that financial capability has significant and substantial effects on psychological health over and above those associated with income and material wellbeing more generally. For men, having low financial capability has an effect larger than that associated with being unemployed, while for women it is similar to that of being divorced. Furthermore having low financial capability exacerbates the psychological costs associated with unemployment and divorce, while high financial capability reduces these costs.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to give a state‐of‐the art overview of the Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model
Design/methodology/approach
– The strengths and weaknesses of the demand‐control model and the effort‐reward imbalance model regarding their predictive value for employee well being are discussed. The paper then introduces the more flexible JD‐R model and discusses its basic premises.
Findings
– The paper provides an overview of the studies that have been conducted with the JD‐R model. It discusses evidence for each of the model's main propositions. The JD‐R model can be used as a tool for human resource management. A two‐stage approach can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of individuals, work groups, departments, and organizations at large.
Originality/value
– This paper challenges existing stress models, and focuses on both negative and positive indicators of employee well being. In addition, it outlines how the JD‐R model can be applied to a wide range of occupations, and be used to improve employee well being and performance.
Research on the work–family interface has not often explored the role of structural characteristics such as income in the associations among work stressors, work–family conflict and family stressors. The goal of this study was to examine household income as a moderator of the relations among these variables. Results from a nationally (US) representative sample of 1472 employed individuals who were married with children indicate that the relations between work-to-family interference and family strain were stronger for individuals with lower household incomes than for those with higher household incomes. Furthermore, family strain was more strongly associated with family-to-work interference for individuals in low-income households. Household income did not moderate other relations examined in the study. Potential explanations for these moderating effects are discussed, along with their implications for the generalizability of findings in the work–family literature across contexts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
It has become widely accepted that correlations between variables measured with the same method, usually self-report surveys, are inflated due to the action of common method variance (CMV), despite a number of sources that suggest the problem is overstated. The author argues that the popular position suggesting CMV automatically affects variables measured with the same method is a distortion and oversimplification of the true state of affairs, reaching the status of urban legend. Empirical evidence is discussed casting doubt that the method itself produces systematic variance in observations that inflates correlations to any significant degree. It is suggested that the term common method variance be abandoned in favor of a focus on measurement bias that is the product of the interplay of constructs and methods by which they are assessed. A complex approach to dealing with potential biases involves their identification and control to rule them out as explanations for observed relationships using a variety of design strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).
I talk about how I came to write this paper here: https://managementink.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/truth-or-urban-legend/
This article compares the alternative routes followed by Halleröd (1995) and Callan, Nolan and Whelan (1993) to identify those experiencing exclusion from the life of society due to lack of resources by the application of a combination of income and deprivation criteria. Halleröd's methodology involves a consensual income poverty line and a deprivation index containing all 36 items available to him, weighted to reflect the extent to which each is regarded as a necessity. Our approach employs relative income poverty lines and a subset of indicators relating to 'basic' deprivation. Applying both to a household sample dataset for Ireland, we find very similar numbers, about 16 per cent of the sample, meet the two alternative income/deprivation criteria, with about 70 per cent of these meeting both. Many of those meeting Halleröd's criteria but not ours are elderly single-person households, while families with children with an unemployed or ill/disabled head predominate among those meeting our criteria but not his. While the former group have particular difficulties with poor quality housing and housing-related durables, the latter are more likely to be experiencing generalized deprivation in a situation where housing is subject to very specific life-cycle and State policy factors. The results from both approaches lend support to the case that using both income and deprivation information, rather than income alone, helps in directing attention towards the most important processes producing poverty.
A longitudinal study was conducted among 93 nurses to determine the role of comparing oneÕs performance with that of oneÕs colleagues in the increase versus decrease of perceived relative deprivation at work over a period of one year. Relative deprivation at T2 had in-creased particularly among those high in social comparison orientation (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) who at T1 (1) more frequently engaged in upward comparisons; (2) more frequently de-rived positive as well as negative feelings from such comparisons; and (3) more frequently de-rived negative feelings from downward comparison. Moreover, engaging in downward comparison also led to an increase in perceived relative deprivation at T2. This study is one of the few to find evidence for longitudinal effects of social comparison activity, and the first to find that such effects occur only for those high in social comparison orientation. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Despite much research on the relationship between unemployment and mental health, consideration of the relationship between economic and psychological problems remains remarkedly rare.
Available evidence suggests that income affects psychological well-being indirectly via subjectively appraised financial strain.
This paper presents an analysis of the relationships between measures of household income and resources, subjectively appraised financial strain and psychological distress drawing on a nationally representative sample of 3294 households in the Republic of Ireland.
Our analysis demonstrates that objectively assessed exclusion from customary lifestyles, involving deprivation of socially defined necessities, is associated with increased psychological distress.
Hedonic adaptation refers to a reduction in the affective intensity of favorable and unfavorable circumstances. This chapter discusses the purposes, underlying mechanisms, and most common functional representations of hedonic adaptation. The authors then examine some of the methodological problems that hamper research in this area and review the literature on adaptation in 4 negative domains (noise, imprisonment, bereavement, and disability), and 4 positive domains (foods, erotic images, increases in wealth, and improvements in appearance produced by cosmetic surgery). Following this review, the authors discuss several circumstances that promote or impede hedonic adaptation. They conclude by discussing the dark side of hedonic adaptation—the negative consequences for individuals and society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Poverty can be defined and measured either directly (in terms of consumption) or indirectly (in terms of income). The relative deprivation concept of poverty is a direct concept; poverty is understood as visible poverty, that is, a low standard of consumption. The income poverty line is an indirect measure; poverty is established as low income. It is argued that recent mainstream poverty research combines a direct definition and an indirect measure. This causes there to be no logical line of deduction between definition and measurement and, along with other problems in the approach, renders the statistics produced invalid.
The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between psychological well-being and objective, economic well-being as measured using three different economic theories of consumption behavior. The theories examined are the life cycle income hypothesis, the relative income hypothesis, and a resource deficit hypothesis. The results from analyses of the Wisconsin Basic Needs Study data demonstrate the importance of careful economic variable construction and support the economic presumption that income and life satisfaction are positively related. The relative income hypothesis model accounts for the greatest explained variance and is also superior in that it is easier to specify.
This paper examines the relationship between financial stress and absenteeism. A conceptual model was derived from a Health Promotion Model and empirically tested to investigate relationships among determinants (individual characteristics), stress (financial stress), physical and psychological responses (organizational commitment and health), and absenteeism. Using data from white-collar workers at an insurance company in three mid-western states, this research determined that financial stress was negatively related to organizational commitment and was positively associated with absenteeism. Employers might reduce employee absenteeism and improve organizational commitment by helping employees reduce financial stress through effective workplace financial education programs. © 2003, Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
This paper examines households’ financial fragility by looking at their capacity to come up with $2,000 in 30 days. Using data from the 2009 TNS Global Economic Crisis survey, we document widespread financial weakness in the United States: Approximately one quarter of Americans report that they would certainly not be able to come up with such funds, and an additional 19% would do so by relying at least in part on pawning or selling possessions or taking payday loans. If we consider the respondents who report being certain or probably not able to cope with an ordinary financial shock of this size, we find that nearly half of Americans are financially fragile. While financial fragility is more severe among those with low educational attainment and no financial education, families with children, those who suffered large wealth losses, and those who are unemployed, a sizable fraction of seemingly “middle class” Americans also judge themselves to be financially fragile. We examine the coping methods people use to deal with shocks. While savings is used most often, relying on family and friends, using formal and alternative credit, increasing work hours, and selling items are also used frequently to deal with emergencies, especially for some subgroups. Household finance researchers must look beyond precautionary savings to understand how families cope with risk. We also find evidence of a “pecking order” of coping methods in which savings appears to be first in the ordering. Finally, the paper compares the levels of financial fragility and methods of coping among eight industrialized countries. While there are differences in coping ability across countries, there is general evidence of a consistent ordering of coping methodsInstitutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.
We analyze expectations of the Dutch population of ages 25 and older concerning the future generosity of Dutch state and occupational pensions, the two main pillars of the Dutch pension system. Since the summer of 2006, monthly survey data were collected on the expectations of Dutch households concerning purchasing power of occupational pensions, eligibility and purchasing power of old age social security benefits, and the average retirement age ten or twenty years from now. We investigate how these expectations have changed over time and how they vary with socio-economic characteristics. Exploiting the fact that our data also cover 2008 and the first half of 2009, we also analyze the effect of the recent financial and economic crisis. We find significant differences in expectations of different socio-economic groups, mainly suggesting that groups who are probably better informed were also more pessimistic.
In this article we examine the fundamental premises of our cognitive-relational theory of emotion and coping and assess our progress in examining them through 10 years of programmatic empirical research. Our discussion involves the metatheoretical topics of transaction and relationship, process, and emotion as a system. The person-environment relationship is mediated by two key processess: cognitive appraisal and coping. We evaluate the findings of our research on these processes, their dynamic interplay, their antecedents, and their short-term and long-term outcomes. In the final section we highlight major substantive and methodological issues that need to be addressed. These include issues surrounding the theory and measurement of appraisal, functional and dysfunctional coping, causal inference, microanalytic vs macroanalytic research strategies, objective vs subjective approaches and confounding, and the problem of method variance.
The consequences of pay fairness perceptions are rarely explored, in part because of the lack of a compelling theory which relates pay attitudes directly to distal health and behavioural outcomes. We propose financial need as a potential moderator of the relationship between pay fairness and employees' physical health, psychological health, and work-related behaviours. Differential exacerbating and attenuating effects are predicted for various outcomes. In a longitudinal study of 651 employees of five American mid-western organizations, exacerbation predictions were strongly supported in cross-sectional analyses for life satisfaction, depression, and somatic complaints. Attenuation predictions received support cross-sectionally and longitudinally for job search intent, but were not supported for performance, absenteeism, or voluntary turnover. The importance of these results for understanding pay dynamics and for outlining mid-range theories is highlighted.
The current study examined the relationship between money attitudes, impulsivity, locus of control, life satisfaction, and stress and credit-card debt in 227 college students. Students reported an average credit-card debt of $ 1,518, with over 75% of students holding at least one credit card. Students with credit cards from on-campus solicitation had higher debt-to-income ratios than did those with credit cards from other sources. Personality variables were generally unrelated to level of debt, although they were related to attitudes toward money. Many students requested information about credit and debt, suggesting that knowledge of financial issues may be an important variable for future consideration.