Household income, economic pressure, and depressive mood among unmarried women in midlife: the moderating effects of locus of control, financial instrumental support received from parents, and race

Abstract

This investigation uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women to replicate studies identifying the associations among household income, economic pressure, and depressive mood in an economically diverse, national sample of white and black unmarried (never married, divorced, separated, and widowed) women in midlife. The study also examines the effects of locus of control and financial instrumental support received from parents on the associations among these economic and psychological measures and explores how these relationships might vary as a function of women's race. Because women's physical health in midlife is associated strongly with depressive mood, the study examines these relationships net of the effects of women's self-rated physical health. Results of structural equation modeling suggest that economic pressure fully mediated the negative association between household income and women's depressive mood. However, no moderating effects were observed. For both white and black women, the effects of economic pressure on depressive mood did not vary according to women's locus of control or receipt of financial instrumental support from their parents. Additionally, women's locus of control was not associated with higher-order moderation of the effects of receiving financial instrumental support from parents