Is a nation of humans exempt from these stresses? What do social psychologists
think? Is Greece an example of overshoot of debt p/capita?
Steve
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/130815_debt
High debt may harm your health, study finds
Aug. 15, 2013
Courtesy of Northwestern University
and World Science staff
People who are drowning in debt may suffer higher blood pressure and
poorer health, researchers warn.
A study has found that high debt is associated with higher diastolic
blood pressure and poorer self-reported general and mental health in young
adults. Diastolic blood pressure, the “bottom” number in a blood
pressure reading, is the pressure in the arteries when the heart rests
between beats.
“We now live in a debt-fueled economy,” said Elizabeth Sweet, lead author
of the study at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
in Evanston, Ill. “Since the 1980s American household debt has tripled.
It’s important to understand the health consequences associated with
debt.”
The study is published in the August issue of the journal Social Science
and Medicine. The researchers used data from a U.S. survey known as the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to explore the
debt-health link in 8,400 young adults, ages 24 to 32. Previous studies have
linked debt to poorer psychological health, but this is the first to look
at physical health, the investigators said.
People with higher debt were found to have a 1.3 percent higher than
average diastolic blood pressure. That may seem small, but a mere
two-point increase is associated with a 17 percent higher risk of
hypertension and a 15 percent higher risk of stroke, the scientists
noted.
“You wouldn’t necessarily expect to see associations between debt and
physical health in people who are so young,” Sweet said. “We need to be
aware of this association and understand it better. Our study is just a
first peek at how debt may impact physical health.”
Twenty percent of participants reported that they would still be in debt
if they liquidated all of their assets (high debt-to-asset-ratio),
according to the findings. Higher debt-to-asset ratio was associated
with higher perceived stress and depression.
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