Financial Strain and Mental Health Among Older Adults During the Great Recession
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wilkinson2016 - p. 746
This study investigates financial strain during the period surrounding the Great Recession and poses two main research questions: Do changes in objective measures of financial well-being influence financial strain among older adults? If so, are changes in objective and subjective measures of financial well-being each consequential to the mental health of older adults?
wilkinson2016 - p. 746
Guiding the present study is cumulative inequality theory—a theory that draws on cumulative disadvantage, life course, and stress-process theories and emphasizes positions of advantage and disadvantage in the accumulation of inequality over the life course (Ferraro, Shippee, & Schafer, 2009). Cumulative inequality theory is germane because it gives attention to both the structural determinants of life course inequality and the interpretive processes individuals use to respond to stressors.
wilkinson2016 - p. 746
First, cumulative inequality theory highlights the importance of perceptions for life course inequality. A second axiom of cumulative inequality theory argues that exposure to disadvantage (e.g., loss of income or assets), oftentimes, leads to further disadvantage
wilkinson2016 - p. 746
In particular, the theory refers to domain diffusion—the notion that inequality in one life domain may spill over into other domains of life.
wilkinson2016 - p. 748
The present study draws on data from the HRS to examine the effect of financial strain on the mental health of older adults. The HRS is the largest, nationally representative longitudinal study (1992 and ongoing) of adults aged 51 and older living in the United States, with oversamples of Black and Hispanic Americans.
wilkinson2016 - p. 748
Anxiety is measured using five items from the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Respondents were asked to reflect on the past week and read the following five statements: (a) “I had fear of the worst happening”; (b) “I was nervous”; (c) “I felt my hands trembling”; (d) “I had fear of dying”; and (e) “I felt faint.” Response categories ranged from 1 “never” to 4 “most of the time.”
wilkinson2016 - p. 748
Depressive symptoms are measured using an abbreviated 8-item index from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale.
wilkinson2016 - p. 748
There are four sets of objective indicators used to examine financial well-being: (a) labor force participation, (b) household income, (c) financial wealth, and (d) net home equity. Labor force participation is measured using a series of binary variables and distinguishes between being employed, unemployed, retired, and nonemployed (reference group; not in the labor force).
wilkinson2016 - p. 748
Financial strain is measured using a 2-item scale. These items are part of the Psychosocial and Lifestyle Questionnaire introduced to the study in 2006. The first item is a measure of difficulty meeting monthly payments, with response categories ranging from 1 “not at all difficult” to 5 “completely difficult.” The second item is a measure of satisfaction with one’s present financial situation, with response categories ranging from 1 “not at all satisfied” to 5 “completely satisfied” (reverse-coded).
wilkinson2016 - p. 749
First, I regressed change in financial strain between 2006 and 2010 on objective indicators of financial wellbeing—first separately, and then simultaneously—using linear fixed effects models to demonstrate the extent to which change in each of these indicators contributes to change in financial strain over the period of the Great Recession.
wilkinson2016 - p. 749
Second, I used change in objective financial resources and financial strain between 2006 and 2010 to predict change in anxiety and depressive symptoms separately over the 4-year period. Each analysis draws on linear fixed effects models, using the same equation from above. This time, however, change in anxiety and depressive symptoms each represent ∆yi, and change in the objective and subjective evaluations of financial well-being are included in the vector of time-varying variables (β∆xi).
wilkinson2016 - p. 749
I used respondent-level survey weights that adjust for differential probability of selection into the subsample of data and differential nonresponse in estimating the univariate descriptive statistics.