The Sharp Spikes of Poverty: Financial Scarcity Is Related to Higher Levels of Distress Intensity in Daily Life

Although income is an important predictor of life satisfaction, the precise forces that drive this relationship remain unclear. We propose financial resources afford individuals a path to reducing distressing impact everyday hassles, thereby increasing one’s satisfaction. More specifically, we hypothesize scarcity associated with greater distress intensity in life. Furthermore, lower perceived control helps explain why predicts higher and provide evidence for these hypotheses 30-day daily diary study (522 participants, 13,733 observations). A second ( N = 376) further suggests that, although everyone relies on social support ease stress, shrinks sense one can use economic reduce adverse hassles. money may not necessarily buy happiness, it reduces stressors experienced life—and increases