References - Financial Stress
“Am I going to be happy and financially stable?”: How American women feel when they think about financial security, Talya Miron-Shatz, Princeton University
Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4, no. 1, February 2009, pp. 102-112
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Primary and secondary control strategies for managing health and financial stress across adulthood., Wrosch C, Heckhausen J, Lachman ME, Psychol Aging. 2000 Sep;15(3):387-99
[Abstract]
Personality, Culture, and Subjective Well-Being: Emotional and Cognitive Evaluations of Life, Ed Diener, Shigehiro Oishi, and Richard E. Lucas
Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 54: 403-425 (Volume publication date February 2003) First published online as a Review in Advance on August 6, 2002
[Abstract]
Psychological resilience, positive emotions, and successful adaptation to stress in later life. Ong AD, Bergeman CS, Bisconti TL, Wallace KA. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2006 Oct;91(4):730-49.
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On the trail of the gold standard for subjective well-being, Cummins, R.A. (1995). Social Indicators Research, 35, 179–200.
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Income and happiness: Toward a unified theory, Easterlin, R. A. (2001).. Economic Journal, 111, 465–484.
Feeding the illusion of growth and happiness: A reply to Hagerty & Veenhoven Easterlin, R.A. (2005). Social Indicators Research, 74, 429–443.
Life cycle happiness and its sources: Intersections of psychology, economics, and demography, Easterlin, R.A. (2006). Journal of Economic Psychology, 27, 463–482.
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Cross-cultural variations in predictors of life satisfaction: Perspectives from needs and values, Oishi, S., Diener, E.F., Lucas, R.E., & Suh, E.M. (1999).. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 980–990.
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Appraisals and strategies associated with rumination and worry, Watkins, E. (2004). Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 679–694.
[Abstract]
Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of psychological wealth. Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2008). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.
Personality and subjective well-being. Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (1999). In N. Schwartz, D. Kahneman, & E. Diener (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 213–229). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
The quality of American life: Perceptions, evaluations, and satisfactions., Campbell, A., Converse, P.E., & Rodgers, W.L. (1976). New York: Russell Sage Foundation
Luxury fever: Money and happiness in an era of excess, Frank, R. (1999).. New York: Free Press. Why Money Fails to Satisfy In An Era of Excess
The great risk shift: The assault on American jobs, families, health care, and retirement, and how you can fight back, Hacker, J. S. (2006).. New York: Oxford University Press.
Objective happiness, Kahneman, D. (1999).. In: N. Schwarz, D. Kahneman & E. Diener (Eds.). Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. pp. 3–25. New York: Russell Sage Foundation
Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness, Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008).. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Study: Financial security key to happiness
Financial Advisors Say Living Beyond Means, Not Saving Enough and Fear Are Biggest Roadblocks to Financial Security
- Take Charge of Your Debts (Information from the Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs)
- Debts out of control? An interesting article from Yahoo Finance
Abstract
Before the recent recession evoked general dismay and uncertainty, this study examined the relative contribution of income and the concern over financial security to life satisfaction. The degree to which such concerns permeate people’s daily lives could be part of the broader concept of wealth, often measured through income and debt, and could help evaluate fiscal instruments promoting financial security. Study 1 (N = 267) used econometric methods to demonstrate that the consideration of financial security was as important to participants’ life satisfaction as their monetary assets. Further, outlook on financial security adds to the prediction of life satisfaction above the contribution of income. Content analysis revealed that nearly half the participants (N = 651, Study 2) mentioned financial concerns — retirement, college tuition, making ends meet, etc. — when asked to think about “the future” in an open-ended manner. These participants reported lower life satisfaction compared with women who did not raise such concerns. The link between concerns over financial security and life satisfaction, which cannot be fully accounted for by income alone, could guide policy decisions on whether to directly allocate resources toward increasing income or to focus on creating a social and financial safety net.
Abstract
The study examined the relation among three types of control strategies (persistence, positive reappraisals, lowering aspirations) and subjective well-being across adulthood (N = 3,490). Specifically, the authors investigated whether age-adapted endorsement of control strategies is conducive to subjective well-being if individuals experience health or financial stress. The results reveal an overall enhanced reliance on control strategies in older as compared with younger adults. In addition, persistence showed a stronger positive relation to subjective well-being in young adulthood as compared with old age. In midlife and old age, positive reappraisals had a stronger positive relation to subjective well-being than persistence. Lowering aspirations was negatively related to subjective well-being, independent of age. Age differences in the relation of control strategies to subjective well-being were particularly salient in individuals who faced either health or financial stress.
Subjective well-being (SWB), people's emotional and cognitive evaluations of their lives, includes what lay people call happiness, peace, fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Personality dispositions such as extraversion, neuroticism, and self-esteem can markedly influence levels of SWB. Although personality can explain a significant amount of the variability in SWB, life circumstances also influence long-term levels. Cultural variables explain differences in mean levels of SWB and appear to be due to objective factors such as wealth, to norms dictating appropriate feelings and how important SWB is considered to be, and to the relative approach versus avoidance tendencies of societies. Culture can also moderate which variables most influence SWB. Although it is challenging to assess SWB across societies, the measures have some degree of cross-cultural validity. Although nations can be evaluated by their levels of SWB, there are still many open questions in this area.
Abstract
In 3 studies, the authors investigated the functional role of psychological resilience and positive emotions in the stress process. Studies 1a and 1b explored naturally occurring daily stressors. Study 2 examined data from a sample of recently bereaved widows. Across studies, multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses revealed that the occurrence of daily positive emotions serves to moderate stress reactivity and mediate stress recovery. Findings also indicated that differences in psychological resilience accounted for meaningful variation in daily emotional responses to stress. Higher levels of trait resilience predicted a weaker association between positive and negative emotions, particularly on days characterized by heightened stress. Finally, findings indicated that over time, the experience of positive emotions functions to assist high-resilient individuals in their ability to recover effectively from daily stress. Implications for research into protective factors that serve to inhibit the scope, severity, and diffusion of daily stressors in later adulthood are discussed. 2006 APA, all rights reserved
PRINCETON, N.J., March 18 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher found a powerful link between financial security concerns and satisfaction with one's life.
Talya Miron-Shatz, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, said that in a study involving women, those who concentrated much of their thinking on financial matters were much less likely to be happy with their lives.
Contrary to expectations, many of those with such worries had plenty of money by conventional standards, suggesting that there is more at play in obtaining peace of mind than simply having cash, Miron-Shatz said.
"Even if you are making a hundred grand a year, if you are constantly worried that you are going to get fired, that you are going to lose your health insurance or that you are simply not sure you are going to 'make it,' you are not going to be happy," Miron-Shatz said.
These concerns, affected a wide variety of women at all income levels, Miron-Shatz said.
Conversely, those who didn't fixate on finances like retirement savings, tuition for college or simply making ends meet, reported being the happiest of the group.
The study was published in the journal Judgment and Decision Making.
