Principal component analysis.

The current study investigated the association between psychological factors and financial behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in older people. Older people were chosen compared to other age groups because of the relatively greater impact in this age group of suboptimal financial decisions on future financial wellbeing. We hypothesised that the psychological factors facilitating general wellbeing during the COVID-I9 pandemic, i.e., positive mental wellbeing, hope, and positive coping, will have positive effects on financial behaviour. Based on telephone interviews, 1501 older Australians (Men = 750 and Women = 751; 55-64y = 630; > 65y = 871) completed an omnibus questionnaire examining coping, hope, mental wellbeing, and financial behaviour. Data was analysed using logistic regression and an ordinary and two-stage least square frameworks. Analyses revealed that the psychological factors identified as facilitating general wellbeing during the COVID-I9 pandemic also facilitated positive financial behaviour with hope and mental wellbeing emerging as significant determinants. Based on weightings from principal component analysis, one item each from the hope and mental wellbeing scale with eigenvalues > 1 were found to be robust predictors of positive financial behaviours. In conclusion, the findings support the assumption that the psychological factors associated with general wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic are also associated with positive financial behaviour. They further raise the possibility that single hope and positive mental well-being items can also be used to monitor psychological health and predict financial behaviour in older people and, in particular, at times of crisis. The latter may be useful measures for government to monitor psychological and financial wellbeing and inform policy for supporting older people at times of crisis.本研究探讨了新冠疫情期间老年人群的心理因素与金融行为之间的关联。相较于其他年龄群体，选择老年人群作为研究对象的原因在于，该群体做出的次优金融决策对未来财务福祉的负面影响相对更为显著。我们提出研究假设：在新冠疫情期间助力个体整体福祉的心理因素，即积极心理福祉、希望感与积极应对方式，将对金融行为产生积极影响。本研究通过电话访谈，共收集到1501名澳大利亚老年人的有效数据（男性750名，女性751名；其中55-64岁群体630名，65岁以上群体871名），所有受访者均完成了涵盖应对方式、希望感、心理福祉及金融行为的综合问卷。研究采用逻辑回归、普通最小二乘法以及两阶段最小二乘法框架对数据进行分析。分析结果显示，在新冠疫情期间助力整体福祉的心理因素，同样对积极金融行为具有促进作用，其中希望感与心理福祉被证实为关键影响因素。基于主成分分析的权重结果，希望感量表与心理福祉量表中各有1个特征值大于1的条目，被发现可作为积极金融行为的稳健预测因子。综上，本研究结果支持如下假设：新冠疫情期间与个体整体福祉相关的心理因素，同样与积极金融行为存在关联。本研究进一步提示，单一的希望感与积极心理福祉条目，可用于监测老年人群的心理健康状况并预测其金融行为，尤其在危机时期。这一发现可为政府监测民众心理与财务福祉、制定危机时期支持老年群体的政策提供有效参考依据。