Financial Stress, Family, Marital, and Life Satisfaction of Turkish Families During Covid-19: What Did We Learn?

Abstract

It is well known that the Covid-19 that hit the world caused a global economic crisis. This present study aimed at examining the economic impact of this crisis with respect to families with both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In this study, we intended to demonstrate how families (n=247) met their basic needs, how they coped with financial stress, how financial stress relates to family characteristics and how it affects marital, family, and life satisfaction. The impact of family characteristics on financial stress was examined through regression analysis. The impact of financial stress on marital, family, and life satisfaction was determined through content analysis. The results of the regression analysis showed that the influence of education, debt, minimum wage employment, and fear of being laid off on financial stress was significant. The qualitative results show that individuals' marital, family and life satisfaction were negatively affected due to the financial stress they experienced during the Covid-19.