Financial Strain and Psychological Distress Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Moderated Mediation Model

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the association between financial strain and psychological distress among middle-aged and older adults, exploring how this association is mediated by sleep problems and moderated by marital status. A subsample of 12,095 adults aged 50 and older was selected from the 2018 National Health Interview Survey. Results showed that financial strain was associated with higher psychological distress, and sleep problems partially mediated this association. Marital status moderated the association between sleep problems and psychological distress, and between financial strain and psychological distress, but not between financial strain and sleep problems. These findings partially support the stress-buffering role of marriage. The study offers valuable insights into the complex relationship between financial strain, sleep problems, marital status, and psychological distress among middle-aged and older adults in the United States, highlighting the need for interventions targeting financial stressors and sleep problems, especially for unmarried individuals, to improve mental health outcomes in this population.

KEYWORDS:

• Financial strain
• psychological distress
• sleep problems
• marital status

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Ethical statement

The present study uses a public microdata file of the 2018 National Health Interview Survey. Thus, this study does not need ethics board approval from my institution.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2023.2207611

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.