Financial Stress, Self-Efficacy, and Financial Help-SeekingBehavior of College StudentsHanNa Lim1, Stuart J. Heckman2, Jodi C. Letkiewicz3, Catherine P. Montalto4Financial stress and self-efficacy are examined in relationship to college students’ financial help-seeking behaviorutilizing Grable and Joo’s (1999) framework. A cognitive approach is taken by focusing on the moderating role offinancial self-efficacy on the relationship between financial stress and financial help-seeking. Data from the 2010 OhioStudent Financial Wellness Survey are analyzed. Logistic regression results indicate that those who are Black, have hada financial education course, have larger current student loan debt, experience higher levels of financial stress, and havehigh financial self-efficacy tend to seek help from professionals. A moderating role of financial self-efficacy is observed,although the effect is relatively weak. Implications for financial counselors, educators, and practitioners include attentionto strategies for reaching populations that underutilize available services, increased effort to reach populations most inneed of services, and optimizing opportunities for the inclusion of financial information as an antecedent to productiveservice provision.Keywords: college students, financial stress, help-seeking, self-efficacyAccording to the National Center for Education Statistics, theprice of undergraduate tuition, room, and board increased 42%at public institutions and 31% at private institutions betweenthe 2000 and 2010 academic years, after adjusting for inflation(NCES, 2012a). To afford the rising cost of education, studentsturn to borrowing and, as a result, many graduate with debt.Consequently, two-thirds of four-year college students reporthaving completed their degree with some form of debt (NCES,2012b).Recent national surveys show that college students’ debtand other related financial situations are one of the leadingcauses of stress. Finances were ranked as the second largeststressor among college students, following academics, in theNational College Health Assessment (ACHA, 2011). Morethan one-third of the respondents report that finances aretraumatic or very difficult to handle. Additionally, results fromthe 2012 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE,2012) indicate that finances are a significant concern for themajority of college students and that three in five first-yearstudents worry about paying for school and having enoughmoney for regular expenses. Furthermore, in a national surveyof college students and recent college graduates by Inceptia,four of the top five stressors identified by currently enrolledcollege students were related to personal finances, such as theneed to repay loans, the cost of education, borrowing moneyfor college, and the need to find a job after school (Trombitas,2012).Since financial stress has been associated with academicfailure (Joo, Durband, & Grable, 2008; Ross, Cleland,& Macleod, 2006; Trombitas, 2012; Wharton, 2007),adverse health issues (Nelson, Lust, Story, & Ehlinger,2008; Westefeld et al., 2005), and negative financialpractices (Hayhoe, Leach, Turner, Bruin, & Lawrence,2000), identifying the factors affecting college students’coping behaviors is an important component of the effortto improve college students’ well-being. Grable and Joo(1999) summarized the coping strategies related to financialproblems that have been documented in the previous literature,which include reducing expenses, increasing income,improving management skills, borrowing money, employingpsychological means to reduce or avoid stress, and seekinghelp. This study focuses on seeking financial help as a copingstrategy for college students dealing with stress from personalfinances.The purpose of this study is to identify factors related tocollege students’ seeking financial help based on Grable andJoo’s (1999) financial help-seeking behavior framework.In this paper, financial help refers to professional personalfinancial help. Although students may seek financial help fromRetirement Research Center, Samsung Life Insurance, #55, Sejong Street, Junggu, Seoul, Korea, 100-716, (82-2) 772-6309, lim.852@buckeyemail.osu.eduSchool of Family Studies and Human Services, Kansas State University, 319 Justin Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, (785) 532-1371, sheckman@ksu.edu3School of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, 204 Atkinson, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada, (416) 736-2100 ext. 33630, jodilet@yorku.ca4Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State University, 1787 Neil Avenue, #115F, Columbus, OH 43210, (614) 292-4571, montalto.2@osu.edu12148Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning Volume 25, Issue 2, 2014, 148-160. 2014 Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education . All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
other sources (e.g., family members or friends), our focusis on seeking help from personal finance professionals. Inaddition, this study incorporates a cognitive approach into theoriginal framework by positing a moderating role for financialself-efficacy between financial stress and seeking financialhelp. Acknowledging the increasing interest in the role ofpsychological factors in financial behavior (e.g., Hira, 2010;Lown, 2011), this study furthers our understanding of thepsychological influences on college students’ financial helpseeking behavior by combining theoretical frameworks frompersonal finance and psychology.Literature ReviewFinancial Help-Seeking BehaviorHelp-seeking behavior has been studied extensively inmedical, psychological, and sociological research (Grable &Joo, 1999). However, until Grable and Joo (1999) developeda framework applied to financial help, there had been verylimited research on financial help-seeking behavior. Grableand Joo viewed help-seeking behavior as a coping strategyrelated to financial problems and based their approach onhelp-seeking behaviors in health care decision-makingprocesses (see Suchman, 1966). The financial help-seekingprocess consists of five stages: (1) the exhibition of financialbehaviors, (2) the evaluation of own financial behaviors, (3)the identification of the causes of financial behaviors, (4) thedecision to seek help, and (5) the choice among help assistanceoptions. Based on Grable and Joo’s framework, two streams ofresearch are most prevalent: the decision to seek help (stage 4)and from whom or what type of help to seek (stage 5).Grable and Joo’s (1999) empirical analysis examined whetherdemographic and socioeconomic factors, financial knowledge,financial stressors, financial risk tolerance, and financialbehaviors were determinants of help-seeking behavior amongclerical workers. The results from the discriminant analysisshowed that individuals who were younger, did not ownhomes, reported high levels of financial stressors, or reportedpoor financial behaviors were more likely to seek help.Britt et al. (2011) explored factors affecting whether studentsseek on-campus, peer-based financial counseling. Data wereobtained from students who sought free financial counselingfrom an on-campus financial counseling center (the clinicalgroup) and a sample of students who completed the surveyin response to a cash incentive (the non-clinical group). Allrespondents were college students from the same university.The dependent variable was an indicator variable for whetherthe student was in the clinical group (i.e., sought help) orJournal of Financial Counseling and Planning Volume 25, Issue 2, 2014the non-clinical group. The independent variables includedmeasures of demographic characteristics, financial resources,financial attitudes, and mental health status. The results froma Classification and Regression Tree indicated that, in orderof importance, persons with lower perceived net worth,higher mental health distress, higher age, lower perceivedfinancial knowledge, and lower predicted income satisfactionwere more likely to seek on-campus financial counseling.Results from the logistic regression analysis confirmed thatstudents who were older, had less net worth, and less financialknowledge were more likely to be help-seekers (Britt et al.,2011).Several studies have explored the types of help individualsuse for personal finance assistance. Grable and Joo (2001)examined factors associated with the choice of seekinghelp from a financial professional or a non-professional.Those who indicated use of financial planners, financialcounselors, insurance agents, or stockbrokers as their primaryhelp provider were classified as professional help-seekers,while those who indicated use of friends, family, or workcolleagues as their primary help provider were classified asnon-professional help-seekers. Two psycho-social variables,self-esteem and financial satisfaction, were included in theanalysis in addition to the explanatory variables utilized inGrable and Joo’s (1999) original framework. The resultsfrom the discriminant analysis suggested that the decisionto seek professional help is most directly associated withhigher financial risk tolerance, better financial behaviors,homeownership, higher financial satisfaction, and higher age.Joo and Grable (2001) also explored the factors associatedwith seeking professional help when making retirementinvestment decisions. The dependent variable was a dummyvariable indicating whether or not the respondents used theadvice of a financial professional for their recent retirementinvestment decisions. The independent variables includedvarious demographic and socioeconomic variables, andfactors for financial behavior, retirement attitude, and risktolerance. The logistic regression results indicated that malesand those with low income were significantly less likely toseek help from professionals while those who had betterfinancial behaviors, positive retirement attitudes, and higherlevels of risk tolerance were significantly more likely to seekprofessional help for their retirement investment decisions.Financial Stress Among College StudentsThe literature on financial stress among college students has149
focused on the negative effects of financial stress on wellbeing in terms of academic performance, health issues, andfinancial practices. Wharton (2007) explored college students’financial characteristics affecting their academic success,measured by GPA and credit hours earned. Financial stressof college students was measured by self-reports of whetheror not the amount of debt caused them to reduce class loads,consider dropping out of college, or neglect academic work.The students who reported financial stress were found to earnlower grades and enroll for fewer credit hours per quarter. Joo,Durband, and Grable (2008) also approached college students’financial stress from the perspective of academic impacts.The students who experienced academic interruption, such asreducing course loads or dropping out for a semester due tofinancial matters, reported higher stress from their personalfinances.financial practices and positively related with bad financialpractices. Students who were experiencing more financialstress were less likely to save regularly and feel they aredoing a good job managing their finances, and more likelyto pay interest, make minimum payments, write checks withinsufficient funds in the bank, and regret making purchases.In the United Kingdom, Ross, Cleland, and Macleod (2006)investigated debt, stress, and academic performance ofmedical school students. The respondents rated money as thesecond most significant cause of stress following coursework.Students who perceived that worrying about money affectedtheir academic performance were found to have pooreracademic performance, while the level of debt itself showedno direct relationship with academic performance. Morerecent surveys have found that financial concerns interferewith academic performance (NSSE, 2012; Trombitas, 2012). Astudy by Trombitas (2012) found that one third of respondentsreported that financial stressors have had a negative impact ontheir academic performance or progress.Financial Self-EfficacySelf-efficacy, an important construct in social psychology,refers to a feeling of being able to deal with a situationeffectively (Bandura, 1977). High levels of self-efficacyare expected to produce benefits to individual well-being,especially physical and mental health, through its influenceon individuals’ behavioral changes (Bandura, 1977, 1982;Gecas, 1989). In the cognitive theory of stress and coping,self-efficacy operates as a cognitive mediator of stress andstress-related adaptive behaviors (Folkman, 1984; Folkman,Schaefer, & Lazarus, 1979).Researchers have also investigated negative health issuesrelated to financial stress. Nelson, Lust, Story, and Ehlinger(2008) found that credit card debt and perceived stress arerelated to unhealthy behaviors, such as insufficient physicalactivity and binge drinking. Financial stress has also beenassociated with suicide risk among college students. Amongstudents who had attempted suicide, 78% cited financial stressas one of the reasons for the attempt (Westefeld et al., 2005).Hayhoe et al. (2000) explored the relationship betweenfinancial stress and financial practices. They measuredfinancial stress using the number of reported financialstressors, which included (1) not able to purchase clothing,(2) not able to discuss financial matters, (3) not able topay utilities, (4) not able to save for emergencies, (5) havefinancial concerns that affect relationships, (6) no moneyfor medical bills, and (7) not able to keep a car running.They found financial stress was negatively related with good150Lastly, Archuleta, Dale, and Spann (2013) exploredassociations between financial anxiety among collegestudents and measures of financial satisfaction, financial debt,and demographic control variables. Hierarchical multipleregression results indicated that student loan debt wasassociated with a larger increase in financial anxiety than anaggregate measure of total debt. Across all measures of debt,financial satisfaction retained a large and significant effect onlowering financial anxiety.In the personal finance field, financial self-efficacy has beenoperationalized by incorporating financial managementreferences into the general self-efficacy concept. Based on theglobal mastery (self-efficacy) scale first developed by Pearlinand Schooler (1978), Dietz, Carrozza, and Ritchey (2003)used a financial self-efficacy scale to analyze retirement savingstrategies. Three items were chosen to form the scale: (1) Ihave little control over financial things that happen to me,(2) I often feel helpless in dealing with the money problemsof life, and (3) There is little I can do to change many of theimportant money issues in my life. Danes and Haberman(2007) used financial self-efficacy to evaluate the effects of theNational Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) HighSchool Financial Planning Program (HSFPP) curriculum onhigh school students, focusing on gender differences. Twoaspects of financial self-efficacy were employed: (1) I believethe way I manage my money will affect my future, and (2) Ifeel confident about making decisions that deal with money.Lapp (2010) measured financial self-efficacy with three items:(1) I was good at planning for my financial future, (2) I wasJournal of Financial Counseling and Planning Volume 25, Issue 2, 2014
satisfied with my financial situation, and (3) I was able to savemoney. Higher financial self-efficacy was associated withlower debt, fewer financial problems, lower financial stress,and higher savings and financial happiness. In an analysis ofcollege students, Heckman and Grable (2011) used Danesand Haberman’s (2007) construct related to confidence infinancial decisions to measure financial self-efficacy and foundthat college students’ financial knowledge was positivelyassociated with financial self-efficacy.Recently, Lown (2011) developed and assessed the validityof a financial self-efficacy scale. Adapted from the 10-itemGeneral Self-Efficacy scale by Schwarzer and Jerusalem(1995), the following items were used to measure financialself-efficacy: (1) It is hard to stick to my spending plan whenunexpected expenses arise, (2) It is challenging to makeprogress toward my financial goals, (3) When unexpectedexpenses occur I usually have to use credit, (4) When facedwith a financial challenge, I have a hard time figuring out asolution, (5) I lack confidence in my ability to manage myfinances, and (6) I worry about running out of money inretirement. To assess the validity of the scale, the financialself-efficacy scale was compared with the RetirementPersonality Type measure, a self-perception measure ofinvestment sophistication, and financial confidence; the resultssupported the validity of the scale.Conceptual FrameworkTo investigate the factors related to college students’ financialhelp-seeking behavior, this study utilized Grable and Joo’s(1999) financial help-seeking framework. Based on their fivestage framework, this study focused on the fourth stage, thedecision to seek help, and specifically professional financialhelp. Grable and Joo’s (1999) original framework includesfinancial knowledge, financial stressors, financial attitudes,and demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age,gender, marital status, ethnic and racial background, householdincome, education, and number of financial dependents, asthe determinants of financial help-seeking behavior. Thisstudy modified Grable and Joo’s framework. The samplefor this study was college students, therefore class rank andschool type variables were included and age, marital status,education, and number of financial dependents were excluded.Household income was also excluded from the analysis sincethis information is not included in the data set. Financialknowledge (financial education) and financial stressors bothremained in the model. The amount of student loan debtwas included in the model as a financial stressor along witha factor score for financial stress. Financial attitudes alsoJournal of Financial Counseling and Planning Volume 25, Issue 2, 2014remained in the model and were measured with the financialself-efficacy variable.Additionally, this study extended the original framework ofGrable and Joo by taking a cognitive approach. Financial selfefficacy could have a direct effect on financial help-seekingbehavior, but the cognitive approach posits possible mediatingor moderating roles as well. Individuals with higher financialself-efficacy may feel more able to deal with financialsituations effectively and may seek professional financialexpertise resulting in a direct and positive relationshipbetween financial self-efficacy and financial help-seeking.The cognitive theory of stress and coping emphasizes thatself-efficacy can also have a mediating role on the relationshipbetween stress and help-seeking behavior. A mediator isdefined as a variable that accounts for the relationship betweenan independent variable and a dependent variable (Baron& Kenny, 1986). If self-efficacy mediates the relationshipbetween stress and help-seeking, then the impact of stresson help-seeking should be reduced and possibly becomeinsignificant when financial self-efficacy in included in themodel. On the other hand, a moderator is defined as a variablethat affects the direction and/or strength of the relationshipbetween an independent variable and a dependent variable(Baron & Kenny, 1986). If self-efficacy moderates therelationship between stress and help-seeking, then the strengthof the relationship between stress and help-seeking will differbetween individuals with high and low self-efficacy. Guidedby previous research documenting associations between stressand help-seeking and between self-efficacy and help-seeking,the moderating role of financial self-efficacy was adopted.Figure 1 illustrates this framework.HypothesesBased on the theoretical fr
2School of Family Studies and Human Services, Kansas State University, 319 Justin Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, (785) 532-1371, sheckman@ksu.edu 3 School of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, 204 Atkinson, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada, (416) 736-2100 ext. 33630, jodilet@yorku.ca
LAMPIRAN 9 Perhitungan Reliabilitas Angket Uji Coba Self Efficacy. Error! Bookmark not defined. LAMPIRAN 10 Skor Angket Uji Coba Self Efficacy. Error! Bookmark not defined. LAMPIRAN 11 Kisi-kisi Angket Self Efficacy.Error! Bookmark not defined. LAMPIRAN 12 Angket Self Efficacy.Error! Bookmark not defined.
Bandura (1997) stated that self-efficacy refers to an individual's believe in his ability to do something. The influence of role model toward self-efficacy is explained by Douglas & Shepherd, (2002); Krueger et al. (2000) who stated that role model is important in shaping self-efficacy, and will ultimately determine someone's career aspiration.
Self-efficacy according to Ormrod (2008: 20) is a belief that a person is able to perform certain behaviors or achieve certain goals. According to Bandura (2004) Self efficacy is one's belief in their ability to successfully achieve goals bias. Alwisol (2009:287) states that self- efficacy as a self-perception of how well self can function in .
1.4 importance of human resource management 1.5 stress management 1.6 what is stress? 1.7 history of stress 1.8 stressors 1.9 causes of stress 1.10 four major types of stress 1.11 symptoms of stress 1.12 coping with stress at work place 1.13 role of human resource manager with regard to stress management 1.14 stress in the garment sector
achieve at a higher level. People acquire information to appraise self-efficacy from their performances, vicarious (observational) experiences, forms of persuasion, and physiological reactions. One's performances offer reliable guides for assessing self-efficacy. Successes raise efficacy and failures lower it, but once a strong sense of efficacy is
grated to the United States shortly before enrolling in college. For exam-ple, Mena, Padilla, and Maldonado (1987) found that recent immigrants report more stress than either students who immigrated at an early age or the native born. Linking Self-Efficacy and Stress Self-efficacy an
2.1 Konsep Self-Efficacy 2.1.1 Definisi Self-Efficacy Teori self-eficacy merupakan cabang dari Social Cognitive Theory yang dikemukakan oleh Bandura (dikenal dengan Social Learning Theory). Keyakinan seseorang terhadap kemampuan yang dimiliki untuk mengontrol fungsi diri dan lingkungannya dinamakan self efficacy.
1. Stress-Strain Data 10 2. Mohr Coulomb Strength Criteria and 11 Stress Paths 3. Effect of Different Stress Paths 13 4. Stress-Strain Data for Different Stress 1, Paths and the Hyperbolic Stress-Strain Relationship 5. Water Content versus Log Stress 16 6. Review 17 B. CIU Tests 18 1. Stress-Strain Data 18 2.