ACCI Conference 2026

Although the U.S. unemployment rate decreased from 14.7% in April 2020 to 4% in January 2025, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), the consumer confidence index has not yet fully recovered (The Conference Board, 2025). One possible explanation is that COVID-19 served as a stressor (Kelley et al., 2022), leading families to closely monitor their finances and subsequently experience increased financial anxiety (Kim, 2021). Thus, to address the ongoing financial uncertainty, it is necessary to understand the roles of economic hardship and financial resilience in the context of post-financial distress. Adapting from the financial resilience framework (Salignac et al., 2019), the current research aims to navigate (1) the extent to which economic hardship and each financial resilience factor are associated with both financial stress and financial anxiety in the post-pandemic period and examine (2) differences in the effect of financial resilience on financial stress and financial anxiety. Financial resilience has two parts. The first is to utilize internal capabilities. The second is to examine the external supports available and appropriate when facing economic hardship (Salignac et al., 2019). The financial resilience framework consists of four domains: economic resources, financial resources, financial knowledge, and social capital.

Author(s): Hanna Yu, Virginia Zuiker