17. Attitude to Money as a Factor of Life Satisfaction of the Northern Indigenous Peoples

This research continues the studies of the economic behaviors and minds of the Northern indigenous peoples in the context of global changes. The complex of socio-economic problems associated with the future of the indigenous peoples in Arctic makes it necessary to transform their economic mind and behavior, connected with the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, and acquire a new socio-cultural identity, including professional one. In order to find the solution of this issue, it is important to identify the features of economic mind of the representatives of these peoples today, including the attitude to money, and the impact of these features to the level of their subjective well-being. The main research method is Money Beliefs and Behavior Scale (Furnham in Personality Individ Differ 5:95–103, 1984) adapted by (Deyneka in Economic Psychology: Socio-Political Problems, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, 1999). To study the level of life satisfaction, the Life Satisfaction Scale by Diener (adapted by Osin and Leontiev (Osin and Leont’ev in Testing Russian-language versions of two scales of rapid assessment of subjective well-being, Institute of Sociology RAS, Russian Society of Sociologists, Moscow, 2008)) is used. The study involved 213 people aged 15–73 years (59% women and 41% men), the representatives of the Northern indigenous small-numbered peoples from the Russian Arctic zone. Factor analysis allowed us to identify three factors that characterize the respondents’ attitudes to money. The results of the structural equation modeling show that two of three factors contribute to the satisfaction with life of the Northern indigenous peoples. ‘Obsession’ with money, dependence on its availability reduces the level of life satisfaction (R = − 0.33), and attentive, thrifty, rational attitude to money and the ability to make savings increases the level of life satisfaction of the respondents significantly (R = 0.48). The results show that attitude to money is really a factor affecting the satisfaction with life of the Northern peoples. It is necessary to maintain the component of a rational, attentive attitude to money of these peoples, their ability to create savings, to increase their financial literacy. It is important to carry out preventive measures to reduce financial deprivation of the northern peoples by demonstrating the correlation between ‘obsession’ with money and reducing life satisfaction.