Gilbert, AaronLegaspi, Evan2026-02-112026-02-112025http://hdl.handle.net/10292/20618Households are increasingly indebted, with the financial pressure being associated with stress and depression, worsening physical and mental health, suicide, and divorce. Compounding this is a taboo regarding talking about money, with many individuals concealing their financial problems, avoiding addressing their financial difficulties, and withdrawing and isolating themselves. With all the spiralling negative effects of financial stress and debt on an individual’s well-being, it is critical that we understand financial shame. This research aims to explore the factors that amplify and buffer financial shame. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, 704 Kiwis were asked to answer questions on psychosocial processes, lifetime factors, contextual conditions, and personal resources, identified through prior research on general shame. These factors included role-based identity proxied with household financial responsibilities, group membership based on ethnic and religious affiliations, financial literacy and self-efficacy, and the importance of social comparisons. This research probed the individual’s past financial journey, including childhood socio-economic upbringing and family financial socialization, financial hardship and material deprivation in later life, and explored their current financial circumstances. The univariate analyses showed that most of the investigated factors significantly influenced financial shame. Lack of control over household finances, low self-efficacy, collectivist orientations, and weak ethnic belonging were associated with higher shame, whilst financial literacy and confidence acted as strong buffers. Social comparison emerged as a central amplifier, with financial hardship – both in childhood and adulthood – as a consistent predictor. Subjective financial well-being protected more strongly against shame than objective measures, highlighting the psychological nature of financial distress. Regression results confirmed that self-efficacy (negatively) and social comparison (positively) had the strongest correlations with financial shame, while current financial circumstances is likely a critical trigger towards feeling financial shame, with past hardship likely serving as a key source of shame-proneness. Cluster analysis further reinforced these dynamics, revealing six distinct financial shame personas that differed based on respondents’ agency regarding financial decisions, confidence, cultural orientation, social comparisons, and financial stability. The shame components were also used to establish unique groupings that can be used to understand how background, beliefs and resources shape the emotional experiences of money. Across all models, age consistently moderated the experience of shame – both buffering and amplifying its effects, depending on life stage – demonstrating that financial shame is multi-dimensional, context-dependent, and deeply rooted in both one’s financial trajectory and sense of identity. The research findings reinforce that financial shame is not simply about money, but reflects a deeper judgement of the self, with the meaning people attach to money, such as competence, responsibility, independence, and success, as the core driver. This research presents some opportunities to build financial shame resilience, and contributes to what is currently a very limited literature on a critical issue. Opening up these discussions on financial shame enables developing effective interventions that remove these money and debt taboos, and help those who need help the most, with urgency and purpose.enThesisOpenAccess