Research

Managing your money is good for your health

The links between our ability to manage money and our psychological wellbeing are the subject of recent research by Dr Mark Taylor from the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER).

Dr Taylor’s report, Financial capability and wellbeing, has been produced for the Financial Service Authority (FSA), the independent body that regulates the financial services industry in the UK.

Dr Mark Taylor

The report’s findings suggest that younger people (under 35) - particularly those who may have dependent children, are divorced or separated, and/or living in rented accommodation for example - are more likely to be financially ‘incapable’. But the research also finds a clear link between this and higher mental stress, lower reported life satisfaction, and associated health problems.

The findings show that moving from low to average levels of financial capability increase an individual’s psychological wellbeing by 5.6 per cent, their life satisfaction by 2.4 per cent, and decreased anxiety and depression by 15 per cent.

Dr Taylor said: ‘The report indicates clearly that an ability to manage finances well leads to an improvement in psychological well-being. The flip side of that is that there is a clear link between poor financial management and stress, lower life satisfaction and health problems like anxiety or depression.’

The report is feeding into a programme of research being undertaken by the FSA, which is working to produce a range of information programmes and literature to help people manage their money and finances more generally more effectively.

Chris Pond, the FSA’s director of financial capability: ‘The research contributes towards a deeper understanding of how financial capability affects individuals, helping the FSA’s financial capability work to be targeted appropriately.’

Dr Taylor, has now been commissioned to undertake some follow up research for the FSA into what determines financial capability and on savings behaviour and financial capability.

Research could have global impact on software development

Scientists at the University have developed new technology with the potential to revolutionise the practice of software development and maintenance.

Their Two-Tier Programming (TTP) Toolkit could have a major impact on the commercial sector as it has the potential to be used by up to 50 per cent of the programmers globally, including Java C++ and C# programmers.

When a team from the Department of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering carried out a controlled experiment using a prototype of the Toolkit, they were amazed at the results.

Lecturer Dr Amnon Eden said the programmers who used the TTP Toolkit after minimal training performed 76 per cent faster in maintenance tasks.

Considering thw major expense that businesses face with software maintenance, the Toolkit could have a significant impact on the commercial sector.

The tests also found the TTP Toolkit significantly improved accuracy levels.

Dr Eden said the beauty of the TTP Toolkit was the way it took a different approach to finding a software problem:’ Software needs simplification and that is what the tool does,’ he explained.

The team is now investigating how best to develop their new technology further.

Bookshelf

The Stata Survival Manual

David Pevalin and Karen Robson
Open University Press

Help is at hand for students and professionals who are using Stata statistical software, thanks to two academics with links to the University.

The Stata Survival Manual gives a step-by-step introduction to the basics of the software, before helping the reader develop a more sophisticated understanding of Stata and its capabilities. The book gives guidance through the research process and offers further reading where more complex decisions need to be made.

Its authors - David Pevalin, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Human Sciences, and Karen Robson - did their Masters together in Calgary, Canada. They then went on to both get their PhDs whilst working as research officers at the University’s Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER).
Although Karen is now back in Canada, at York University in Toronto, she still teaches at the Essex Summer School.

Also in the printed June edition of Wyvern:

• Equality project for ISER director
• Research grant for education project
• Democracy experts