The effect of financial anxiety on financial decisions from a behavioral finance perspective

This study examines the effect of financial anxiety on financial decision-making from a behavioral finance perspective. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of a demographic information form, the Behavioral Finance Tendency Measurement and Evaluation Scale in Investments, and the Financial Anxiety Scale. The sample comprised 330 teachers working at secondary education institutions affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Erzincan during the 2024–2025 academic year. The study was conducted using a quantitative research method, and the data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0. Descriptive statistics, validity and reliability analyses, the independent samples t-tes The findings indicated that financial anxiety significantly affects financial decision-making and that increasing financial anxiety leads individuals to make more emotional, risk-averse, and uncertainty-driven decisions. Loss aversion and emotional reaction were identified as the most prominent behavioral finance tendencies, indicating that participants were sensitive to potential losses in their investment decisions. In addition, higher age, education level, and professional experience were associated with more rational and information-based decision-making, whereas younger and less experienced teachers exhibited higher levels of financial anxiety. The findings show that teachers’ financial decision-making can be explained by the behavioral finance approach and contribute to the literature.t, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey’s post-hoc test were employed.