The Determinants of Subjective Financial Satisfaction and the Moderating Roles of Gender and Marital Status

Abstract

Utilizing a unique question on subjective financial satisfaction from the National Financial Capability Study, the goal of this research was to examine the demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral determinants of financial satisfaction and the moderating roles of gender and marital status in these associations. Results from the ordered logistic regressions indicated that single women and divorcees of both genders reported significantly lower financial satisfaction than married counterparts and that widowed men were generally better off than married men. After documenting large adverse effects of divorce on reports of financial satisfaction, the gaps in financial satisfaction between married and divorced individuals were measured and compared by gender. Results are expected to help individuals, households, and financial professionals understand the perceived financial satisfaction effects of marital decisions.

Household finances and social comparison: Determinants of financial well-being in Indonesia

“…Being female is significantly associated with higher level of FWB. This finding is also in line with studies in other countries: United States (Fan & Babiarz, 2019), Japan (Clark et al, 2020), and India (Chatterjee et al, 2019).…”

“…In line with previous studies (Brown & Gray, 2016;Chatterjee et al, 2019;Fan & Babiarz, 2019), higher level of educational attainment had a positively significant effect on FWB. This is possible due to the increase of financial efficacy.…”

“…The results of all socioeconomic and demographic factors were relatively uniform in all of three FWB measures. Consistent with existing studies (Brown & Gray, 2016;Fan & Babiarz, 2019), the empirical analysis showed that household income is positively associated with FWB. In line with Hsieh (2003) and Vera-Toscano et al (2006), this study found a Ushaped relationship between age and all FWB measures.…”

“…It was also found in those studies that being unemployed is negatively related with lower FWB (Brown & Gray, 2016;Chatterjee et al, 2019;Michael Collins & Urban, 2020). Most authors also found that, compared to being married, being divorced/ separated and being widowed are inversely related to FWB (Brown & Gray, 2016;Fan & Babiarz, 2019;Hsieh, 2003); whilst being single or never married is positively related to FWB (Gutter & Copur, 2011;Mahdzan et al, 2020). Furthermore, the number of people present in the household is found to be inversely related to FWB (Brown & Gray, 2016;Joo & Grable, 2004;Vera-Toscano et al, 2006).…”

Economic Welfare and Subjective Assessments of Financial Situation of European Households

“…Psychologists primarily tried to identify the existing relationship between income and subjective satisfaction and tried to determine the nature of this relationship and the importance of economic prosperity on subjective assessments. The relationship between income levels and household financial satisfaction is also positive (Aboagye and Jung, 2018;Fan and Babiarz, 2019;Hastings, 2019). The critical ability to explain economic variables makes it possible to conclude that economic variables are part of subjective assessments of financial well-being (Diener et al, 1992).…”