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Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health

While research now consistently links consumer financial debt with adverse emotional health outcomes, specific forms of debt and their impact on measures of physical health are underexplored. This gap in knowledge is significant because different forms of loans and debt may have different experienti...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sweet, Elizabeth, Kuzawa, Christopher W., McDade, Thomas W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6005810/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29922711
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.05.009
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author Sweet, Elizabeth
Kuzawa, Christopher W.
McDade, Thomas W.
author_facet Sweet, Elizabeth
Kuzawa, Christopher W.
McDade, Thomas W.
author_sort Sweet, Elizabeth
collection PubMed
description While research now consistently links consumer financial debt with adverse emotional health outcomes, specific forms of debt and their impact on measures of physical health are underexplored. This gap in knowledge is significant because different forms of loans and debt may have different experiential qualities. In this paper, we focus on a type of unsecured debt - short-term/payday loan borrowing – that has risen dramatically in recent decades in the United States and is characterized by predatory, discriminatory, and poorly regulated lending practices. Using data from a study of debt and health among adults in Boston, MA (n=286), we test whether short-term borrowing is associated with a range of emotional and physical health indicators. We find that short-term loans are associated with higher body mass index, waist circumference, C-reactive protein levels, and self-reported symptoms of physical health, sexual health, and anxiety, after controlling for several socio-demographic covariates. We discuss these findings within the contexts of regulatory shortcomings, psychosocial stress, and racial and economic credit disparities. We suggest that within the broader context of financial debt and health, short-term loans should be considered a specific risk to population health.
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spelling pubmed-60058102018-06-19 Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health Sweet, Elizabeth Kuzawa, Christopher W. McDade, Thomas W. SSM Popul Health Article While research now consistently links consumer financial debt with adverse emotional health outcomes, specific forms of debt and their impact on measures of physical health are underexplored. This gap in knowledge is significant because different forms of loans and debt may have different experiential qualities. In this paper, we focus on a type of unsecured debt - short-term/payday loan borrowing – that has risen dramatically in recent decades in the United States and is characterized by predatory, discriminatory, and poorly regulated lending practices. Using data from a study of debt and health among adults in Boston, MA (n=286), we test whether short-term borrowing is associated with a range of emotional and physical health indicators. We find that short-term loans are associated with higher body mass index, waist circumference, C-reactive protein levels, and self-reported symptoms of physical health, sexual health, and anxiety, after controlling for several socio-demographic covariates. We discuss these findings within the contexts of regulatory shortcomings, psychosocial stress, and racial and economic credit disparities. We suggest that within the broader context of financial debt and health, short-term loans should be considered a specific risk to population health. Elsevier 2018-06-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6005810/ /pubmed/29922711 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.05.009 Text en © 2018 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sweet, Elizabeth
Kuzawa, Christopher W.
McDade, Thomas W.
Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health
title Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health
title_full Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health
title_fullStr Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health
title_full_unstemmed Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health
title_short Short-term lending: Payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health
title_sort short-term lending: payday loans as risk factors for anxiety, inflammation and poor health
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6005810/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29922711
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.05.009
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