The wheel is turning (and you can't slow down): Financial hardships as gendered experiences and financial insecurity trajectories

Abstract

We propose that Conservation of Resources theory can be applied through a gendered lens to understand how individual and socio-structural forces explain experiences of workers' financial hardships over a six-month period (N = 455). Using latent growth curve analysis, we analyzed how energy resources (income), personal resources (money management skills), gender, and the community's gender inequality predicted workers' financial insecurity during a financial hardship. We also analyzed how the change trajectories of financial insecurity related to change trajectories in their health, work-family balance, and job attitudes over time. Results demonstrated that one's income, money management skills, and gender predicted the initial perceptions of financial insecurity. Furthermore, participants living in communities with greater gender inequality in earnings and full-time employment had higher initial levels of financial insecurity than individuals living in communities with greater gender equality. Finally, changes in financial insecurity levels predicted changes in worker health, work-family balance, and job attitudes over time. This work provides a test of Corollary 1 and Corollary 2 of Conservation of Resources theory, advancing the theory to specifically integrate gender at both individual and community levels.