Impact of financial debt on borrower’s health based on gender

This study investigated whether self-reported impact of financial debt on health is different for women as compared with men. We found that female respondents are more likely to report that debt has affected their health. The results persisted when the analysis was performed on subsamples of employed individuals, married households and those with underwater mortgage (i.e., outstanding balance on mortgage is higher than the current value of the home). Prior studies have found that for a given level of debt, females are more likely to perceive higher levels of stress. When we controlled for stress perception, the health impact of debt was not higher for females. Some types of debt like credit card debt, student debt and loans from friends and family are known to result in higher levels of stress. Our findings persisted when we limited our sample to top users of credit card debt, to those with student debt or to those with loan(s) from friends and family. Prior studies have shown that mortgage debt is associated with lower levels of stress as compared with other types of debt. We found that in households with underwater mortgage, health impact of debt was higher for females even after we accounted for gender differential in stress perception. Our findings suggest that women’s tendency to experience higher levels of stress for a given level of debt mediates the increased likelihood of women reporting that debt has affected their health. However, there exists a possibility that some types of debt in some situations impact health of women more than men for reasons other than debt-related stress.