Beyond debt. A moderator analysis of the relationship between perceived financial strain and mental health
Thoughts
Connects with: @selenko2011 @sinclair2010
Annotations
selenko2011 - p. 1727
It should be noted that although debt counselling is free of charge and available to anyone in Austria, it is seen as a last resort and is mostly approached by those filing for bankruptcy.
selenko2011 - p. 1727
Perceived financial strain. In close cooperation with employees of the debt-counselling agency participating in this research, six different items were developed, requiring participants to rate their agreement with each on a scale of 1e7. Two statements were general (“My current financial situation is a serious strain” and “I often think about my current financial situation”). Four statements were designed to measure how much the respondents felt restricted in their daily life (“Due to my financial situation, I have difficulties paying for my apartment and utilities”; “Due to my financial situation, I have to save considerably on food”; “Due to my financial situation, I have to save considerably on clothes”; and “Due to my financial situation, I am restricted in my leisure activities”).
selenko2011 - p. 1727
Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a one-factor solution with an eigenvalue above 1, accounting for 66.63% of the variance. The internal consistency of the scale was also good (Cronbach’s alpha 1⁄4 .88).
selenko2011 - p. 1727
Mental health was measured with the German translation (Linden et al., 1996) of the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire, a widely used screening instrument for identifying people likely to have psychological problems
selenko2011 - p. 1727
Participants had to indicate how often they experienced the respective symptom on a Likert scale from 1 to 4, with higher values indicating worse mental health. Internal reliability for this scale was good, Cronbach’s alpha 1⁄4 .93.
selenko2011 - p. 1728
Latent benefits of work were measured with the Access to Categories of Experience scale by Evans (1986). In this scale, each latent benefit is measured with three items to which respondents can indicate their agreement on a scale of 1 to 7.
selenko2011 - p. 1728
Self-efficacy was measured with the 10-item General SelfEfficacy scale by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995), in a German translation by the authors (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1999).
selenko2011 - p. 1730
This is in line with previous research (e.g., Drentea & Lavrakas, 2000; Reading & Reynolds, 2001) and emphasizes the distinction between objective and subjective economic stress when it comes to debt.
selenko2011 - p. 1730
The moderating effect of social contacts was different than expected, although findings regarding the role of social support as a moderator of the relationship between perceived financial strain and distress have been inconsistent (Sinclair et al., 2010). Good access to social contacts in the present study did not moderate the relationship between perceived financial strain and mental health in the expected direction, it was related to better mental health only if financial strain was low. The latent benefit social contact indicates the scope of the social network to which a person belongs outside the private family (Jahoda, 1982), which does not necessarily mean more or better social support.
selenko2011 - p. 1730
It has been argued that the beneficial function of a social network might depend on the person’s financial situation, as more financially deprived individuals do not have the means to participate in social activities. Hence, they might benefit less from a wider social network (see Creed & Watson, 2003, p. 96).