The Impact of Financial Mistreatment on Mental Health of Older Americans: The Role of Personality Traits

Background: Financial mistreatment, defined as the improper use of an individual's assets or funds, is a prevalent form of elder mistreatment and poses a significant mental health risk for older adults. Guided by the stress vulnerability model, which posits that stressors interact with individual vulnerabilities to influence mental health outcomes, we examined the association between financial mistreatment and depressive symptoms and the moderating role of personality traits (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) in the association. We hypothesized that financial mistreatment would increase depressive symptoms and that neuroticism would increase the negative mental health impact of financial mistreatment. Given the lack of literature, the assessment of the role of other types of personality traits in the present investigation would be exploratory.

Methods: Using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) Round 3 (n = 2,326, Mean age = 72.4), a series of multivariate regression models were tested to examine how the effect of financial mistreatment on depressive symptoms would differ by older adults’ personality traits by including interaction terms between financial mistreatment and each of the five personality traits. For statistically significant interaction terms, the sample was divided into subgroups based on the modifying personality factor, and the regression coefficients of financial mistreatment in predicting depressive symptoms were compared between the groups.

Results: Approximately 26% of the sample experienced financial mistreatment. Across all models, financial mistreatment had a direct effect on depressive symptoms. All personality traits were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, except for neuroticism (neuroticism: b = .69, p < .001; extraversion: b = -.27, p < .001; openness: b = -.15, p < .01; agreeableness: b = -.12, p < .05; conscientiousness: b = -.34, p < .001). The effect of financial mistreatment on depressive symptoms was found to be moderated by neuroticism (b = .25, p < .05) and agreeableness (b =.24, p < .05). Subgroup analyses of each interaction term revealed that the negative mental health impact of financial mistreatment was pronounced among those with higher levels of neuroticism (b = 1.95, p < .001) and agreeableness (b = 2.03, p < .001).

Conclusions and Implications: This study shows financial mistreatment is prevalent, affecting about 26% of the sample, and directly contributes to depressive symptoms. A key finding of the study is the significant moderating role of personality traits, particularly neuroticism and agreeableness, in the association between financial mistreatment and depressive symptoms. Older adults with higher levels of these traits may be more susceptible to the adverse effects of financial mistreatment on mental health. Notably, while agreeableness is generally associated with lower depressive symptoms, our findings suggest that agreeableness unexpectedly heightens vulnerability to the negative impact of financial mistreatment. These findings underscore the complexity of the relationship between personality traits and their interaction with stressors such as financial mistreatment in influencing mental health outcomes. Understanding these dynamics will help inform the development of targeted strategies to alleviate the harmful effects of financial mistreatment on mental well-being of older adults.