Financial scarcity, or having insufficient financial resources to meet needs, directly impairs multiple aspects of executive function (EF). Financial scarcity is also stressful and stress impairs EF, however, whether stress mediates the effect of scarcity on EF, and whether these associations vary by either the aspect of EF being measured, or self-reported developmental history of poverty, is not known. Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of 249 female Amazon Mechanical Turk workers who self-reported their stress using Cohen's perceived stress scale and their EF using the 75-item Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. They also reported their history of poverty during childhood at ages 0–6, 6–12, and 12–18 years. We measured current financial scarcity using questions that assess five aspects of perceived inability to meet one's basic needs. We used path analysis to test our primary hypothesis that higher financial scarcity is associated with higher stress and more challenges with components of EF overall. Specifically, we tested whether there are indirect effects from scarcity to three specific aspects of EF (behavioral regulation, emotion regulation, and meta-cognition) through stress. Second, we tested whether the model fit and magnitude of direct effects varied by childhood poverty history. Results supported hypotheses that stress would be negatively associated with multiple EF aspects (behavioral regulation and emotional regulation); and associations were stronger for women reporting early poverty-related experiences. Interventions designed to alleviate financial scarcity, and address stress management, may be considered as potential ways to support EF for people with scarce financial resources.

中文翻译：

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财务匮乏通过压力与执行功能的多个方面间接相关，而联想的强度取决于儿童时期的贫困

财务短缺或财务资源不足以满足需求，会直接损害执行功能 (EF) 的多个方面。金融稀缺也有压力，压力会损害 EF，然而，压力是否介导了稀缺对 EF 的影响，以及这些关联是否因测量的 EF 方面或自我报告的贫困发展史而异，尚不清楚。数据来自 249 名女性亚马逊土耳其机械工人的横断面样本，她们使用 Cohen 的感知压力量表自我报告他们的压力，使用 75 项的执行功能行为评级量表自我报告他们的 EF。他们还报告了他们在 0-6 岁、6-12 岁和 12-18 岁时的童年贫困史。我们使用评估认为无法满足基本需求的五个方面的问题来衡量当前的财务短缺。我们使用路径分析来测试我们的主要假设，即更高的金融稀缺性与更高的压力和整体 EF 组成部分的更多挑战相关。具体而言，我们通过压力测试了稀缺性对 EF 的三个特定方面（行为调节、情绪调节和元认知）是否存在间接影响。其次，我们测试了模型拟合和直接影响的大小是否因儿童贫困历史而异。结果支持压力与多个 EF 方面（行为调节和情绪调节）呈负相关的假设；报告早期贫困相关经历的妇女的协会更强大。