IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v91y2013icp94-100.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The high price of debt: Household financial debt and its impact on mental and physical health

Author

Listed:
  • Sweet, Elizabeth
  • Nandi, Arijit
  • Adam, Emma K.
  • McDade, Thomas W.

Abstract

Household financial debt in America has risen dramatically in recent years. While there is evidence that debt is associated with adverse psychological health, its relationship with other health outcomes is relatively unknown. We investigate the associations of multiple indices of financial debt with psychological and general health outcomes among 8400 young adult respondents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Our findings show that reporting high financial debt relative to available assets is associated with higher perceived stress and depression, worse self-reported general health, and higher diastolic blood pressure. These associations remain significant when controlling for prior socioeconomic status, psychological and physical health, and other demographic factors. The results suggest that debt is an important socioeconomic determinant of health that should be explored further in social epidemiology research.

Suggested Citation

  • Sweet, Elizabeth & Nandi, Arijit & Adam, Emma K. & McDade, Thomas W., 2013. "The high price of debt: Household financial debt and its impact on mental and physical health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 94-100.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:91:y:2013:i:c:p:94-100
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.05.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613002839
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.05.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Sarah & Taylor, Karl & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 2005. "Debt and distress: Evaluating the psychological cost of credit," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 642-663, October.
    2. Bridges, Sarah & Disney, Richard, 2010. "Debt and depression," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 388-403, May.
    3. Selenko, Eva & Batinic, Bernad, 2011. "Beyond debt. A moderator analysis of the relationship between perceived financial strain and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(12), pages 1725-1732.
    4. Pollack, C.E. & Lynch, J., 2009. "Health status of people undergoing foreclosure in the Philadelphia region," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(10), pages 1833-1839.
    5. Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francisco & Van Long, Ngo, 2011. "The relative income hypothesis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1489-1501, September.
    6. Jon Wisman, 2009. "Household Saving, Class Identity, and Conspicuous Consumption," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 89-114.
    7. Thomas Palley, 2010. "The Relative Permanent Income Theory of Consumption: A Synthetic Keynes-Duesenberry-Friedman Model," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 41-56.
    8. Reading, Richard & Reynolds, Shirley, 2001. "Debt, social disadvantage and maternal depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 441-453, August.
    9. Milton Friedman, 1957. "A Theory of the Consumption Function," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie57-1, June.
    10. Rodrigo Alfaro & Natalia Gallardo, 2012. "The Determinants of Household Debt Default," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 27(1), pages 55-70, April.
    11. Drentea, Patricia & Lavrakas, Paul J., 2000. "Over the limit: the association among health, race and debt," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 517-529, February.
    12. Sweet, E., 2011. "Symbolic capital, consumption, and health inequality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(2), pages 260-264.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cesar Leandro, Julio & Botelho, Delane, 2022. "Consumer over-indebtedness: A review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 535-551.
    2. Yunchao Cai & Selamah Abdullah Yusof & Ruzita Bt Mohd Amin & Mohd Nahar Mohd Arshad, 2021. "The Multi-dimensional Effect of Household Debt on Urban Individual Well-Being in Klang Valley Malaysia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 23-44, November.
    3. Declan French, 2018. "Financial strain in the United Kingdom," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 163-182.
    4. Ibrahim, Fatma & McHugh, Neil & Biosca, Olga & Baker, Rachel & Laxton, Tim & Donaldson, Cam, 2021. "Microcredit as a public health initiative? Exploring mechanisms and pathways to health and wellbeing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    5. Lawrence M. Berger & Jason N. Houle, 2019. "Rising Household Debt and Children’s Socioemotional Well-being Trajectories," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1273-1301, August.
    6. Daniel Hojman & Alvaro Miranda & Jaime Ruiz-Tagle, 2013. "Over Indebtedness and Depression: Sad Debt or Sad Debtors?," Working Papers wp385, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    7. French, Declan & Vigne, Samuel, 2019. "The causes and consequences of household financial strain: A systematic review," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 150-156.
    8. Piotr Bialowolski & Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska & Eileen McNeely, 2021. "The Role of Financial Fragility and Financial Control for Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 1137-1157, June.
    9. Hojman, Daniel A. & Miranda, Álvaro & Ruiz-Tagle, Jaime, 2016. "Debt trajectories and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 54-62.
    10. Piotr Białowolski, 2018. "Hard Times! How do Households Cope with Financial Difficulties? Evidence from the Swiss Household Panel," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 147-161, August.
    11. Soomin Ryu & Lu Fan, 2023. "The Relationship Between Financial Worries and Psychological Distress Among U.S. Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 16-33, March.
    12. Piotr Bialowolski & Dorota Weziak‐Bialowolska, 2021. "Good credit, bad credit: The differential role of the sources of debt in life satisfaction," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 967-994, September.
    13. Schulz, Jan & Mayerhoffer, Daniel M., 2021. "A network approach to consumption," BERG Working Paper Series 173, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    14. Piotr Białowolski & Dorota Węziak-Białowolska, 2017. "What Does a Swiss Franc Mortgage Cost? The Tale of Polish Trust for Foreign Currency Denominated Mortgages: Implications for Well-Being and Health," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 285-301, August.
    15. Yeshambel T Nigatu & Tara Elton-Marshall & Hayley A Hamilton, 2023. "Changes in household debt due to COVID-19 and mental health concerns among adults in Ontario, Canada," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(3), pages 774-783, May.
    16. Selenko, Eva & Batinic, Bernad, 2011. "Beyond debt. A moderator analysis of the relationship between perceived financial strain and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(12), pages 1725-1732.
    17. Daniel Gray, 2014. "Financial Concerns and Overall Life Satisfaction: A Joint Modelling Approach," Working Papers 2014008, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    18. Blázquez, Maite & Budría, Santiago & Moro-Egido, Ana I., 2020. "Over-indebtedness and age: The effects on individual health," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    19. Stefan Angel, 2016. "The Effect of Over-Indebtedness on Health: Comparative Analyses for Europe," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(2), pages 208-227, May.
    20. Clayton, Maya & Liñares-Zegarra, José & Wilson, John O.S., 2015. "Does debt affect health? Cross country evidence on the debt-health nexus," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 51-58.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:91:y:2013:i:c:p:94-100. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.