Mediating Effect of Self-Resilience on the Relationship between Financial Anxiety and Psychological Distress among University Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role that self-resilience plays as a mediator in the relationship between financial anxiety and psychological distress experienced by university students. In total, one hundred twenty undergraduate university students were sent an online invitation to take part in the research as survey respondents, and the survey instruments used were pre-tested to ensure their reliability. When the scores for respondents' financial anxiety, self-resilience, and psychological distress were compared with the characteristics of the respondents, the statistics suggest that there was no statistically significant difference. The primary finding reveals that self-resilience statistically and significantly mediated the association between financial anxiety and psychological distress, even though the effect size was relatively small. This is even though all variables were shown to have statistically significant correlations with one another. This study suggests that self-resilience can operate as a buffer against the potentially harmful impact that financial concern can have on psychological well-being. It is recommended that the university, in addition to providing continuous financial-related support to the students, provide a variety of programs on campus and off campus aimed at improving students' self-resilience. This will assist students in better managing their financial-related psychological distress.