BROOKINGS, SD (KELO-AM) Financial stress has a negative impact on women's health, but having a supportive spouse can help mitigate its impact, according to assistant professor SunWoo Kang of the South Dakota State University Counseling and Human Development Department.
SunWoo Kang She and assistant professors Soo Hyun Cho and JeongHee Yeo of consumer sciences will gauge how financial stress affects a married woman's physical heath and analyze the extent to which the quality of her marriage can buffer this.The research is supported by a one-year, $2,000 award from Women and Giving through the SDSU Foundation. The group of female SDSU philanthropists supports research that impacts women's lives. Soo Hyun Cho The researchers hope to recruit 40 married women, age 25 and older, from the Brookings area. Each respondent will receive $20 for participating in the survey, which takes anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to complete.Those interested can contact Kang via email at sunwoo.kang@sdstate.edu or phone at 605-217-8552.Kang anticipates that even women who are under financial stress will have better overall health if they have good support from their spouses than those who are not facing money worries. JeongHee Yeo "Research has shown that money can break the family," Kang said. "Often, it's not about how much you earn, but how you handle that money."However, if the couple accepts the challenge and works together, "it can lead to an even closer relationship as they join forces to fight a common enemy," she added. "That's the best-case scenario."For those who are not so lucky, Kang and her team will use the data to suggest ways to cope with financial distress and improve women's health. The results will allow the researchers to apply for funding from the National Institutes of Health.