Health
Student Debt and Its Impact on Young Adults Today
Sizable debt is associated with poorer mental health and delays in marriage.
Posted March 25, 2022 Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster
Key points
- Today, student loan in the U.S. collectively amounts to 1.75 trillion dollars.
- Student debt is associated with poorer mental health.
- Having sizable student debt brings to the forefront economic considerations when choosing a major or job.
Over the past few decades, student debt has increased significantly. Today, student loan in the U.S. collectively amounts to 1.75 trillion dollars.1
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. federal government enacted a freeze in student loan repayments since March 2020.2 This freeze is set to expire in May 2022.2 As a result, there are growing concerns about the impact of growing student loans on the wellbeing of young adults.
What does the social science literature say about the impact of student debt on the health and wellbeing of young adults?
Having a sizable student debt may be hurting the mental health of young adults. Students with high debt tended to have poorer psychological functioning than those with little financial concerns.3 They were more likely than students with low financial concerns to report that they were tense, anxious, or nervous. They were also more likely than students with low financial concerns to have greater difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep.4
Student debts also resulted in significant delays in young adults' ability to achieve other milestones signaling their transition into adulthood. For example, young women with sizable debts experienced significant delays in marriage, partly because they cohabited with their partners for prolonged periods as they paid down their debts and until they met the economic bar for marriages.5 Similarly, student debt, particularly very high debt, is also associated with significant delays in fertility timing.6
Having a sizable student debt also brought economic considerations to the forefront of young adults' educational and occupational choices. A recent study showed that students with higher tended to pick college majors conducive to jobs with higher earnings. The same was also true for medical students and their choice of medical specialties.7
According to experts, how can society help students manage the ballooning student debt?
Some experts highlight the importance of educational programs that teach financial literature from a young age. They claim that many college students acquire student debt when they are too young to fully understand the long-term consequences of having a sizable debt.8
Others highlight the need for more practical classes that enhance college students' ability to obtain jobs immediately after graduation.
Yet a third group claims that the government and lenders should develop flexible payment programs that consider the fact that a sizable portion of young adults today, particularly those graduating during the recession, may take longer to secure year-round, full-time employment with relatively high earnings.
These may be some of the long-term solutions proposed to provide relief to adults from recent cohorts with sizable student debt.
References
3. Walsemann, K. Gee, G. and Gentile, D. 2015. Sick of our loans: Student borrowing and the mental health of young adults in the United States, Social Science & Medicine 124: Pages 85-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.027.
4. Tran, A. G. T. T., Mintert, J. S., Llamas, J. D., & Lam, C. K. (2018). At what costs? Student loan debt, debt stress, and racially/ethnically diverse college students’ perceived health. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24(4), 459–469. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000207
5. Addo, F.R., Houle, J.N. & Sassler, S. 2019. The Changing Nature of the Association Between Student Loan Debt and Marital Behavior in Young Adulthood. Journal of Family Economic Issues 40, 86–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-018-9591-6.
6. Nau, M., Dwyer, R. E., & Hodson, R. (2015). Can't afford a baby? Debt and young Americans. Research in social stratification and mobility 42, 114–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2015.05.003.
7. Pisaniello MS, Asahina AT, Bacchi S, et al. 2019. Effect of medical student debt on mental health, academic performance and specialty choice: a systematic review. BMJ Open 9:e029980. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2019-029980
