A Systematic Review of Financial Debt in Adolescents and Young Adults: Prevalence, Correlates and Associations with Crime

Abstract

Financial debt in young people has increased in recent years. Because debt may have severe consequences, and it may enhance criminal behavior, insight into the prevalence and determinants of debt and its association with crime is important. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 36 manuscripts to examine the prevalence of financial debt (k = 23), correlates and risk factors of debt (k = 16), and associations between debt and criminal behavior in adolescents and young adults (k = 8). Findings revealed that the prevalence of debt is substantial among young people; on average, 49% reported to have at least some debt, 22% had financial problems. Older participants and ethnic minorities were found to have higher levels of debt than younger and indigenous counterparts. Females had more financial problems and higher student loans. Low self-esteem, a pro-debt attitude (of young people and their parents), lack of perceived control towards financial management, poor social functioning, financial stress and external locus of control were found to have the strongest associations with debt. Studies reported strong associations between debt and crime. Particularly, strong associations were found between serious and persistent crime in young people and later (young adult) debt or financial problems.

The Unique Role of Parents and Romantic Partners on College Students' Financial Attitudes and Behaviors

“…College students are an important segment of the young adult population, but their financial practices and the influences exerted by their parents and romantic partners may not be representative of other young adults. Because studies regarding borrowing behavior among young people have thus far focused primarily on college and university students (Hoeve et al, ), whether young adults not attending college behave differently has not been determined. Although the research suggests that many predictors of financial management practices are the same, there are likely some differences.…”

Over-Indebtedness and Problem Gambling in a General Population Sample of Online Gamblers

“…(4,47)]. While some previous data indicated a protective role of higher education vis-à -vis debts (48), studies examining associations between the level of education and debts have presented somewhat ambiguous results (49). In the present study, it cannot be excluded that the surprising finding of a positive association between higher education and problem gambling may be due to characteristics r e l a t e d t o t h e p r e s e n t p o p u l a t i o n b e i n g o n l i n e gamblers, specifically.…”

Debt Problems and Crime*

“…Although no studies so far have used the same measurements that we use, the closest parallel is the study by Hoeve, Stams, et al. (), who used three waves of panel data from the Netherlands to analyze the reciprocal association between debt and crime among individuals 12–24 years of age. Their measure of debt builds on a survey question tapping into experiences of financial problems or large debts and whether these experiences had negative impacts on the individuals’ lives.…”

“…Although studies examining debt problems and crime have been relatively scarce, the best evidence suggests that debt problems increase the likelihood of crime (Hoeve, Stams, et al., ). The problem with this conclusion, however, is that most existing studies have introduced only limited controls for selection bias.…”

“…However, the role of debt defaults—or “debt problems,” to use a more general term—in crime causation has not been thoroughly analyzed in the criminological literature. A recent systematic review (Hoeve, Stams, et al., ) identified only eight studies that have examined associations between debt problems and crime, noting a particular lack of longitudinal studies that could introduce proper controls for unobserved heterogeneity. Although these studies generally have shown a strong association between debt problems and crime, without strong controls for selection bias, such results might instead reflect unmeasured factors such as low self‐control, which has been shown to be associated with both financial problems and crime (Moffitt et al., ).…”