Digital Financial Stress and Financial Well-Being among Generation Z: The Roles of Financial Self-Control and Financial Coping Behavior

This study examined the association between digital financial stress and financial well-being among Generation Z and assessed financial self-control and adaptive financial coping behavior as parallel and sequential mediators. A quantitative cross-sectional survey dataset of 300 digital financial service users was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling in SmartPLS 4. Digital financial stress was negatively associated with financial self-control (β = −0.403, p = 0.001), financial coping behavior (β = −0.167, p = 0.003), and financial well-being (β = −0.256, p = 0.001). Financial self-control was positively associated with coping behavior (β = 0.350, p = 0.001) and well-being (β = 0.285, p = 0.001), while coping behavior was positively associated with well-being (β = 0.353, p = 0.001). The reported specific indirect effects through self-control (β = −0.115), coping behavior (β = −0.059), and their sequential pathway (β = −0.050) were statistically significant. The predictors jointly accounted for 47.0% of the variance in financial well-being. These findings indicate that psychological regulation and constructive financial responses are relevant to the association between digital financial stress and perceived financial security. Because the data are cross-sectional, the reported mediation patterns are statistical associations rather than evidence of a temporal causal process.