Optimism, Lifetime Financial Stressors, and Mental Health Among Racially, Sexually, and Gender Minoritized Emerging Adults.

BACKGROUND

Although racially, sexually, and gender minoritized (RSGM) persons experience chronic and sometimes severe financial life stressors that increase their risk of mental health problems across the life course, no studies in this population have examined psychological resilience factors, such as optimism, that may mitigate these negative effects.

PURPOSE: To investigate how exposure to financial stressors is associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization, and whether optimism moderates these associations.

METHOD: Two hundred and eighty-five RSGM emerging adults (Mage = 25.18, SD = 1.94) completed the Stress and Adversity Inventory and Brief Symptom Inventory online. Participants were Black (22.1%), Latinx (57.9%), and biracial Black-Latinx (20%), and they primarily identified as male (94.7%) and gay (74.2%).

RESULTS

As hypothesized, multiple regression analyses with interaction terms indicated that more frequent and severe acute and chronic lifetime financial stressors were related to greater anxious, depressive, and somatic symptoms. Moreover, greater optimism was associated with fewer mental health symptoms. Additionally, greater optimism was associated with fewer somatic symptoms than lower optimism when exposed to more financial stressors. Similarly, greater optimism attenuated the negative effects of greater financial stressors' severity on depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Financial stressors are related to worse mental health among RSGM emerging adults, and optimism may mitigate these effects. Screening for lifetime financial stressors and bolstering optimism may help reduce mental health disparities related to financial stressors in this population.