Impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle and financial behaviour: The implications to research in financial vulnerability

Ma, Nan; Siu, Yam Wing; Cheong, Tsun Se; Tung, Brian

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1073017

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, we found that working-age adults with COVID had higher odds of stress due to inflation compared to those without COVID. Such findings could probably, in part, be explained as COVID may have affected financial vulnerability, changing some individuals' economic activities and their financial behaviors [31,32]. COVID affected more females and poor families, which happen to be more vulnerable to stress due to inflation [33].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Due to Inflation: Changes over Time, Correlates, and Coping Strategies among Working-Age Adults in the United States

Mitra,

Shen,

Pinnamraju

et al. 2024

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual US inflation rate increased from 1.2% in July 2020 to 8% in July 2022. It has since declined to 3.4% (December 2023). This study examined the prevalence of stress due to inflation during a period when it declined from 8.2% in September 2022 to 3% in June 2023 and its association with demographic and social determinants of health (SDOH). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the online Household Pulse Survey (HPS), which surveils the experiences of US households. Beginning September 2022, HPS initiated data collection on “stress due to inflation” through a question on how stressful the increase in prices in the last 2 months has been. Participants could respond: very, moderately, a little, or not stressful. We analyzed data on working-age adults (18–64 years) who responded to the above question of stress due to inflation during 14–26 September 2022 (N = 32,579) and 7–19 June 2023 (N = 36,229). We used replicate weights in chi-squared tests and ordinal logistic regression analyses controlling for gender, age, race and ethnicity, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccination, health insurance, and SDOH, including education, lost employment income, poverty status, marital status, food affordability, and region. Results: The prevalence of stress due to inflation (price increases being very or moderately stressful) significantly increased from 76.9% in September 2022 to 78.9% in June 2023. The odds of stress due to inflation were higher for individuals with the following characteristics: female, transgender, having income below 400% of the federal poverty line, having lost employment income, not being able to afford food, had long or acute COVID-19, and did not have a COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusions: More than three quarters of working-age adults in the US experienced stress due to inflation. Despite a declining national inflation rate in recent months, stress due to inflation has significantly increased among working-age adults. Inflation-related stress warrants further research and policy attention.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Due to Inflation: Changes over Time, Correlates, and Coping Strategies among Working-Age Adults in the United States

Mitra,

Shen,

Pinnamraju

et al. 2024

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the present study, we focus on the following four financial behaviours: earning, spending, investment and debt. The above newly identified factors are mapped onto the cause-effect chain of financial vulnerability of Van Aardt et al's model [16] as described in Ma et al [34].…”

Section: Variables For Change In Financial Behavioursmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Characteristics of the Financially Vulnerable Groups Impacted by COVID-19 and Other Factors

et al. 2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Businesses have been exposed to various challenges during the global pandemic. Unfortunately, the financially vulnerable groups in society are disproportionately affected by such a difficult time. Therefore, it is important for businesses to recognise this when creating new business models for sustainable corporate management. This paper attempts to (1) identify the factors that affect individual financial vulnerability, (2) develop survey items to assess financial vulnerability and its factors and (3) provide the characteristics of financially vulnerable groups by presenting a complete set of descriptive statistics. The results can help to create more inclusive business models that are better equipped to address the challenges ahead. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted with collaboration with an NGO that provides a financial counselling service in Hong Kong. In total, 338 valid responses were collected and the data were used to characterise financially vulnerable groups in terms of (1) change in financial conditions due to COVID-19; (2) exposure to digitised financial services and related push marketing; (3) financial management ability; (4) changes in four financial behaviours and (5) financial vulnerability as measured according to the debt/service ratio. Results show that the respondents have a median debt/service ratio of 0.513, which represents an unsustainable level of debt. Around ¼ of surveyed respondents reported that their debt/service ratio was 1 or even higher, indicating obvious difficulties in meeting financial obligations. A total of 36.7% of the respondents reported worsening financial conditions since the outbreak of COVID-19. The results presented provide a solid empirical set of data that will help future research work to examine and/or develop a heuristic financial vulnerability model that incorporates the key factors leading to it. Businesses can refer to them when creating new business models that are sustainable, able to meet corporate social responsibility goals and can achieve several targets/goals of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

show abstract

“…For example, in Germany, the number of people in short-time work increased drastically with the beginning of the pandemic (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2020). Overall, the financial situation of many people worsened during the course of the pandemic (Ma et al, 2022). Considering that the rate of unemployment in Germany in April 2020 increased by 18.6% compared to the previous year, this worry seems to be a comprehensible reaction (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2020).…”

Section: Covid-19-related Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different facets of COVID-19-related stress in relation to emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and sleep quality

Saalwirth

Leipold

2023

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionAs the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, it is of great importance to investigate how people can maintain their mental health during chronically stressful times. This study therefore investigated which facets of COVID-19-related stress (Fear of COVID-19, financial worries, and social isolation) impacted people the most during a third COVID-19 infection wave from March until May 2021 and how these facets relate to well-being (emotional well-being and life satisfaction) and sleep quality.MethodsA study sample of 480 German participants (Mage = 43, SDage = 13.7, 20–69 years, 50.8% female) completed a cross-sectional online questionnaire.ResultsAs predicted, social isolation was reported most often, followed by fear of COVID-19 and financial worries. In accordance with our expectations more social isolation and financial worries predicted lower emotional well-being and sleep quality. In contrast to our hypothesis, fear of COVID-19 only predicted emotional well-being and not sleep quality. Life satisfaction was solely predicted by financial worries and not by social isolation and fear of COVID-19, which only partly confirmed our hypotheses. These associations remained stable after controlling for age, gender, household income, and living alone.DiscussionFinancial worries, although reported the least often, were the strongest and most stable predictor for emotional well-being, sleep quality, and life satisfaction. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

show abstract

Impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle and financial behaviour: The implications to research in financial vulnerability

Cited by 7 publications

References 26 publications

Stress Due to Inflation: Changes over Time, Correlates, and Coping Strategies among Working-Age Adults in the United States

Stress Due to Inflation: Changes over Time, Correlates, and Coping Strategies among Working-Age Adults in the United States

The Characteristics of the Financially Vulnerable Groups Impacted by COVID-19 and Other Factors

Different facets of COVID-19-related stress in relation to emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and sleep quality

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About