Socioeconomic Determinants and Health Outcomes of Financial Resilience Patterns: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Financial resilience describes an actionable financial capability to cope with emergencies and adversities. However, little is known about whether financial resilience patterns impact holistic health outcomes.

Methods: This study conducted a 3-step latent profile analysis using an urban community sample (n = 3710) from a nationally representative database in China. A multinomial logistic regression model and multiple linear regression models were estimated to examine the proposed argument guided by social determinants of health and resilience theory.

Results: Three latent subgroups were identified to differentiate population heterogeneity with high, moderate, and low financial resilience. Younger generations with lower employment participation, education, income, and assets were significantly less likely to be in moderate and high financial resilience subgroups. After controlling demographics and conventional socioeconomic covariates, financial resilience patterns were significantly negatively associated with mental illness, while positively associated with physical health, subjective happiness, and life satisfaction.

Conclusion: Financial resilience could be a strength-based and actionable socioeconomic determinant of health. Research and practical implications are provided for addressing health inequalities. A new target in community health and social welfare is to enhance financial resilience among marginalized populations through family asset-building, financial inclusion policy, financial literacy education, and social capital investment.