An Exploration of the Role of Risk Tolerance in the Financial Empowerment of Black Women

Gary Clement; John E. Grable

doi:10.2478/fprj-2025-0010

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An Exploration of the Role of Risk Tolerance in the Financial Empowerment of Black Women

Financial Planning Research Journal

Volume 12 (2026): Issue 2 (June 2026)

By: Gary Clement and John E. Grable

Open Access

|Jan 2026

Figures & Tables

Irwin and Millstein’s (1986) Biopsychosocial Risk-Taking Framework as Adapted for this Study.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics for Variables of Interest in the Study

	Black Female	Wealth	Risk Tolerance	Gender Role Attitude	Education 2008	Education 2010
M	0.30	4.86	0.00	0.00	13.30	13.34
Mdn	0.00	5.02	0.04	0.23	12.00	12.00
SD	0.46	0.88	1.00	1.00	2.56	2.59
Min	0.00	0.00	−1.57	−1.26	2.00	2.00
Max	1.00	6.56	2.50	3.41	20.00	20.00

Table 2.

Correlation Coefficient Estimates Across the Variables of Interest in the Study

	Black Female	Wealth	Risk Tolerance	Gender Role Attitude	Education 2008	Education 2010
Kendall’s Tau-b Correlations
Black Female	1.000
Wealth	−.322^**	1.000
Risk Tolerance	.038^**	.075^**	1.000
Gender Role Attitude	.032^*	−.087^**	−.029^*	1.000
Education 2008	−.122^**	.304^**	.092^**	−.146^**	1.000
Education 2010	−.114^**	.300^**	.092^**	−.142^**	.864^**	1.000
Spearman’s Correlations
Black Female	1.000
Wealth	−.395^**	1.000
Risk Tolerance	.046^**	.106^**	1.000
Gender Role Attitude	.036^*	−.119^**	−.039^*	1.000
Education 2008	−.137^**	.413^**	.125^**	−.186^**	1.000
Education 2010	−.129^**	.409^**	.124^**	−.179^**	.917^**	1.000

Note:

* p < .05,

** p < .01

Table 3.

Estimates of the Relationship between being a Black Female and Risk Tolerance

	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
	B	Std. Error	Beta	t	Sig.
(Constant)	−.991	.162		−6.118	.000
Black Female	.175	.049	.089	3.596	.000
Wealth	.104	.029	.096	3.588	.000
Education	.031	.010	.081	3.235	.001
Gender Role Attitude	−.053	.022	−.056	−2.415	.016

[i] Note: Dependent Variable: Risk Tolerance.

Table 4.

Mediation Tests of Risk Tolerance as a Function of Being Black Female

Model	Independent Variable	Dependent Variable	Coefficients	Sig.
Wealth
1	Black Female	Risk Tolerance	.118	.001
2	Black Female	Wealth	−.697	.001
3	Wealth	Risk Tolerance	.086	.001
4	Black Female	Risk Tolerance	.185	.001
	Wealth		.157	.001
Education
1	Black Female	Risk Tolerance	.118	.001
2	Black Female	Education	−.662	.001
3	Education	Risk Tolerance	.037	.001
4	Black Female	Risk Tolerance	.163	.001
	Education		.048	.001
Gender Role Attitude
1	Black Female	Risk Tolerance	.118	.001
2	Black Female	Gender Role Attitude	.059	.107
3	Gender Role Attitude	Risk Tolerance	−.030	.080
4	Black Female	Risk Tolerance	.108	.004
	Gender Role Attitude		−.039	.032

Table 5.

Coefficients in the Path Model

			Estimate	Standardized Estimate	S.E.	p
Wealth	<---	Black Female	−.716	−.373	.038	.001
Education	<---	Black Female	−.773	−.138	.096	.001
Gender-Role Attitude	<---	Black Female	.081	.037	.039	.037
Risk Tolerance	<---	Wealth	.092	.081	.024	.001
Risk Tolerance	<---	Education	.034	.088	.006	.001
Risk Tolerance	<---	Gender-Role Attitude	−.012	−.013	.017	.459
Risk Tolerance	<---	Black Female	.228	.105	.044	.001

Table 6.

Standardized Total Effects

	Black Female	Gender-Role Attitude	Education	Wealth
Gender-Role Attitude	.037	.000	.000	.000
Education	−.138	.000	.000	.000
Wealth	−.373	.000	.000	.000
Risk Tolerance	.062	−.013	.088	.081

Table 7.

Standardized Direct Effects

	Black Female	Gender-Role Attitude	Education	Wealth
Gender-Role Attitude	.037	.000	.000	.000
Education	−.138	.000	.000	.000
Wealth	−.373	.000	.000	.000
Risk Tolerance	.105	−.013	.088	.081

Table 8.

Standardized Indirect Effects

	Black Female	Gender-Role Attitude	Education	Wealth
Gender Role Attitude	.000	.000	.000	.000
Education	.000	.000	.000	.000
Wealth	.000	.000	.000	.000
Risk Tolerance	−.043	.000	.000	.000

Table 9.

Estimates of the Relationship between being a Black Female and Wealth, Moderated by Risk Tolerance

	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
	B	Std. Error	Beta	t	Sig.
(Constant)	3.544	.102		34.732	.000
Black Female (BF)	−.600	.036	−.332	−16.545	.000
Education	.115	.007	.327	15.932	.000
Gender-Role Attitude	−.027	.018	−.032	−1.569	.117
Risk Tolerance	.112	.024	.122	4.585	.000
BF x Risk Tolerance	−.106	.037	−.075	−2.854	.004

Table 10.

Correlation Coefficient Estimates between Driving Risk Tolerance and the Variables of Interest in the Study

	Driving Risk Tolerance	Black Female	Wealth	Risk Tolerance	Gender Role Attitude	Education
Driving Risk Tolerance	1.000
Black Female	−.016	1.000
Wealth	.020	−.322^**	1.000
Risk Tolerance	.281^**	.038^**	.075^**	1.000
Gender-Role Attitude	−.018	.032^*	−.087^**	−.029^*	1.000
Education	.065^**	−.122^**	.304^**	.092^**	−.146^**	1.000

Notes:

* p < .05,

** p < .01.

Table 11.

Two-stage Least Squares Analysis Robustness Check of the Moderation Model

	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
	B	Std. Error	Beta	t	Sig.
(Constant)	3.547	.102		34.683	.000
Black Female (BF)	−.595	.036	−.330	−16.370	.000
Education	.115	.007	.327	15.872	.000
Gender-Role Attitude	−.027	.018	−.032	−1.563	.118
Driving Risk Tolerance	.111	.024	.121	4.561	.000
BF x Driving Risk Tolerance	−.109	.037	−.077	−2.926	.003

[i] Note: Dependent Variable: Risk Tolerance.

Partial Regression Plot Showing the Wealth Status of Black Women and non-Black Women.

Partial Regression Plot Showing the Interaction Effect of Risk Tolerance and Black Female on Wealth Status.

Interaction Effect of Risk Tolerance and Black Female on Wealth Status.

Illustration of Wealth Gap Closing as Risk Tolerance Increases.

Circular Relationship Between and Among Wealth and Education Attributes, Risk Tolerance, and the Observed Wealth Gap between Black Women and Non-Black Women.

The Association Between Categories of Risk Tolerance and Wealth Status.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fprj-2025-0010 | Journal eISSN: 2206-1355 | Journal ISSN: 2206-1347

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Language: English

Published on: Jan 23, 2026

Published by: Financial Advice Association of Australia

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

Keywords:

Wealth,

Education,

Gender Role Attitude,

Risk Tolerance,

Gender,

Black Women,

Wealth Gap

Related subjects:

Business and economics,

Political economics,

Economic theory, systems and structures,

Business management,

Business management, other,

Industries,

Banks, financial service provider, insurers

© 2026 Gary Clement, John E. Grable, published by Financial Advice Association of Australia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 12 (2026): Issue 2 (June 2026)

An Exploration of the Role of Risk Tolerance in the Financial Empowerment of Black Women

Figures & Tables

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Table 1.

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Table 8.

Table 9.

Table 10.

Table 11.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Figure 6.

Figure 7.

Figure 8.

Figure 9.

Paradigm

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