Abstract

Financial (di)stress is widespread and an important topic for research by a variety of organizations and disciplines. However, different terms are being used in different disciplines in academia, by organizations, and by consumers. This paper illustrates various terms used to describe negative financial health, provides their incidence in several academic databases and Google searches, provides definitions used in studies, identifies scales of measurement, assesses if new scales are being developed and if they have validity, and identifies if measures of negative financial health constructs include objective, subjective, or both measures. The study ends with specific recommendations for researchers from academia and practitioners worldwide. This article reviews financial negative health terminology and constructs, and attempts to shed light on similarities and differences among the terms, to allow for better knowledge translation and integration.

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