A Study of Urban Housewives Financial Stress, Coping Strategies and Their Economic Well-Being

도시주부의 재정 스트레스, 대처행동 및 경제복지감 연구

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding about urban housewives' stress in family financial management, their coping strategies, and their sense of economic well-being, which will eventually provide some baseline data for policy development. The findings of this study are summarized in the following. First, the mean score of the level of financial management-related stress among urban housewives was 2.61 when the maximum level was set at 5. In order to overcome the stress from financial management, housewives utilized various strategies, such as purchasing management, financial planning, financial information gathering, getting a loan, and delaying payments. The average level of economic well-being among urban housewives was 2.82 when the maximum level was 5. Second, among socio-demographic factors, the family's monthly income and the husband's job satisfaction were the two most significant factors that affected the level of financial management stress among housewives. Third, there was a difference in employing coping strategies according to the level of stress. The group with a higher level of financial stress employed more coping strategies than the group with, a lower level of stress. Fourth, there were differences in the level of economic well-being, depending on the types of coping strategies employed. Fifth, the results from regression analyses, which were conducted to determine the relative explanatory power of different independent variable groups including subjective factors, financial management stress, and coping strategies, showed that socio-demographic and objective economic factors significantly affected economic well-being.