Household Debt and Adult Depressive Symptoms in the United States

Berger, Lawrence M.; Collins, J. Michael; Cuesta, Laura

doi:10.1007/s10834-015-9443-6

Cited by 66 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…It is important to note that there are some dimensions of debt which may have positive rather than negative effects (Berger et a l., 2016). Normal and manageable debt may, in fact, have a beneficial effect on an individual's welfare and health because of increased ability to smooth consumption over time (Clayton et al ., 2015).…”

Section: Household Debt and Socio-economic Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Household debt and depressive symptoms among older adults in three continental European countries

Hiilamo

Grundy

2018

Ageing and Society

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In this comparative study focusing on the population aged 50 and over in three European countries, we investigate the association between household debt and depressive symptoms, and possible country differences in this association, using data from Waves 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of the Surveys of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for Belgium, France and Germany. Multi-level regression models with random intercepts for individuals were used to analyse the association between household debt status and number of depressive symptoms (EURO-D score). Country differences in the household debt–depression nexus were tested using country interaction models. After controlling for other measures of socio-economic position and physical health, low or substantial financial debt was associated with a higher number of depressive symptoms in all countries. Housing debt was strongly linked to depressive symptoms for women while the association was weaker for men. The only country difference was that for both sexes substantial financial debt (more than €5,000) was strongly associated with depressive symptoms in Belgium and Germany, but the association was weak or non-significant in France. Associations between financial debt and depression were also evident in analyses of within-individual changes in depressive symptoms for a longitudinal sub-group, and in analyses using a dichotomised, rather than a continuous, measure of depression. The findings indicate that measures of household indebtedness should be taken into consideration in investigations of social inequalities in depression and suggest a need for mental health services targeted at indebted older people.

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Section: Household Debt and Socio-economic Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Household debt and depressive symptoms among older adults in three continental European countries

Hiilamo

Grundy

2018

Ageing and Society

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“…However, others find debt to be negatively associated with depression 31 and positively associated with self-esteem and mastery 43 . These inconsistencies may reflect methodological differences across studies, as well as heterogeneity by type of debt 39 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Debt and Children’s Socioemotional Well-being

Berger

Houle²

2016

Pediatrics

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Objectives We estimated associations between amount of parental debt and of home mortgage, student loan, automobile, and unsecured debt with children’s socioemotional wellbeing. Methods We used population-based longitudinal data from the NLSY-79 and C-NLSY79. Our analytic sample consisted of 29,318 child-year observations of 9,011 children and their mothers observed annually or biennially from 1986 to 2008. We used the BPI to measure socioemotional wellbeing. We used OLS regressions to estimate between-child associations of amounts and types of parental debt with socioemotional wellbeing, net of a host of control variables, and child-specific fixed effects regressions to estimate within-child associations of changes in parental debt with changes in socioemotional wellbeing, net of all time-constant observed and unobserved confounders. Results Increases in total debt were associated with declines in children’s socioemotional wellbeing. However, this association varied considerably by type of debt. Specifically, higher levels of home mortgage and education debt were associated with greater socioemotional wellbeing for children, whereas higher level of and increases in unsecured (e.g. credit card) debt were associated with lower levels of and declines in child socioemotional wellbeing. Conclusions Debt that allows for investment in homes (and perhaps access to better neighborhoods and schools) and parental education is associated with greater socioemotional wellbeing for children, whereas unsecured debt is negatively associated with socioemotional development, which may reflect limited financial resources to invest in children and/or parental financial stress. This suggests that debt is not universally harmful for children’s wellbeing, particularly if used to invest in a home or education.

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“…Given the number of confounding mediators and moderator factors that are present, it is extremely difficult to classify all the relevant literature into separate pieces that translate income to wealth and health, and health to well-being, either on levels or change of levels. At any rate, some studies have mainly focused on (i) the pure income-wealth-health link [ 9 , 10 , 11 ], (ii) the relation between net wealth (i.e., gross wealth minus debt) and its composition and health [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], and (iii) the impact of over-indebtedness (net wealth burden) and individual health status with regard to emotional states associated with depression, stress, anxiety and mental health [ 15 , 16 ], declining physical health [ 17 ], unhealthy behavior [ 18 , 19 , 20 ] and suicidal tendencies [ 21 , 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Saved by Wealth? Income, Wealth, and Self-Perceived Health in Spain during the Financial Crisis

Casasnovas

Sáez

2020

IJERPH

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We evaluate the association between the variations in income and wealth, (both aggregate and split between real estate and financial wealth), and self-perceived health in Spain using a longitudinal sample of individuals before and after the financial crisis. We estimated generalized linear mixed models, with a binomial response and a logistic link, for four waves of the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (two before and two after the crisis), adjusting for variables at the family and individual levels. We also controlled for familial and individual heterogeneity and for temporal trends. While an increase in wealth greatly increases the probability of younger individuals reporting better health, this is not the case for older individuals. Decreases in gross wealth are associated with decreases in the probability of declaring good/very good health only in families whose reference person is over 44 years old. We conclude that: (i) not just income but net wealth effects impact on the consequences of income fluctuations on consumption and health assessed, (ii) the composition of individuals’ net wealth may also matter, since they are differently affected by the shocks in the economic crisis, (iii) age plays a significant role and, finally, (iv) individual reactions in terms of consumption and savings, given any level of income and wealth, according to the risk aversions for precautionary idiosyncratic motives, may also need to be considered in order to complete the picture.

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Household Debt and Adult Depressive Symptoms in the United States

Cited by 66 publications

References 36 publications

Household debt and depressive symptoms among older adults in three continental European countries

Household debt and depressive symptoms among older adults in three continental European countries

Parental Debt and Children’s Socioemotional Well-being

Saved by Wealth? Income, Wealth, and Self-Perceived Health in Spain during the Financial Crisis

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