Student Debt, Attitudes towards Debt, Impulsive Buying, and Financial Management
Student Debt, Attitudes towards Debt, Impulsive Buying, and Financial Management
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学生债务、对债务的态度、冲动购买和财务管理
DOI：
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发表时间：
1999
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
S. Kemp
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
L. Boddington;S. Kemp
比较了本科生和原心理学专业学生的债务水平以及他们对债务的态度、冲动购买的倾向以及减少或限制债务的方法的使用。部分负债学生的比例和总负债水平随着大学学习水平的提高而增加。对债务的容忍度也遵循同样的模式。冲动购买与整体债务水平无关，这表明冲动购买不是学生债务的主要原因。可以用来减少或限制债务的方法被债务水平较高的国家广泛使用。总的来说，几乎没有迹象表明学生债务可以归因于财务上的鲁莽。近年来，关于人们为什么负债的研究很多(例如，Bertud&Kempson，1992；Lea，Webley&Levine，1993；Lea，Webley和Walker，1995；Livingstone&Lund1992；Tokunaga，1993)。参见Lea，在新闻中，了解概览)。这个话题显然既有经济方面的，也有心理学方面的，从广义上讲，对人们为什么负债的描述往往要么源于经济理论，强调人们负债的合理原因，要么强调债务人的个人特征所起的作用。例如，关于储蓄的生命周期描述(如Modigliani&Brumberg，1954)预测，人们会在生活中的不同时刻存钱和不存钱，并可能在不同的时间产生债务。Lea等人。(1993)提出，至少可以将一些债务视为对贫困条件的理性反应。另一方面，利文斯顿和伦特(1992)发现，债务和问题债务在收入相当高的人中相当普遍，这表明个人特征可能也很重要。最近，无论是在新西兰(如Ashby，Roberts&Parata，1996)还是海外(如Davies&Lea，1995；Lea，Webley，&Bellamy，1995)，学生贷款都引起了相当大的兴趣。新西兰大专学生目前面临着比以前更高的教育费用，在许多情况下，学生为了支付这些费用而负债累累。这一现象引发了许多问题。首先，就生命周期账户而言，这种倾向能否被认为是普遍理性的，甚至可能是对一个人未来的投资，或者负债累累的学生在财务上容易表现出非理性的行为？其次，人们可能会问，这么多年轻人背负巨额债务的长期影响可能是什么。Davies和Lea(1995)发现，负债较多的英国大学生比那些负债较少或根本没有负债的大学生更能容忍债务。此外，对债务的容忍度随着在大学的时间增加而增加，而且似乎落后于债务水平的增加。这一结果表明，他们债务状况的变化可能因果地影响了他们对债务的态度，而不是相反。在本研究中，我们考虑了学生债务的几个方面。其中包括债务水平和参与者对债务的看法之间的关系，来自Davies的观点，以及Lea(1995)对债务规模的态度。这一量表表明了一个人对负债的接受或反对程度。在Davies和Lea的结果之后，我们预计，随着债务水平的上升，人们对债务的态度可能会变得更加积极。戴维斯和莉亚没有调查他们发现的对债务的容忍度在学生离开大学后是否仍然存在。因此，本研究包括了以前的学生样本。债务水平也可能受到个人特征和财务管理技能的影响。由于新西兰学生有权借钱(至少从政府那里借)，而且借钱相对容易，有人担心(例如，Betts，1998)，学生可能借钱来支付不必要的奢侈品(如海外度假)。因此，债务水平可能在一定程度上反映了可以被视为鲁莽、不必要的支出。…
The debt levels of current and ex-psychology students were compared with their attitudes towards debt, tendency towards impulsive buying, and their use of methods to reduce or limit debt. The percentage of students with some debt and their total debt levels increased with the level of university study. Tolerance toward debt followed the same pattern. Impulsive buying was not related to overall debt levels, suggesting that impulsive buying is not a major cause of student debt. Methods that could be used to reduce or limit debt were widely used by those whose debt level was high. In general, there was little indication that student debt could be attributed to financial recklessness. In recent years there has been considerable research into why people get into debt (e.g. Berthoud & Kempson, 1992; Lea, Webley & Levine, 1993; Lea, Webley and Walker, 1995; Livingstone & Lunt, 1992; Tokunaga, 1993. See Lea, in press, for an overview). The topic clearly has both economic and psychological aspects, and, broadly speaking, accounts of why people get into debt tend either to arise from economic theory and stress rational reasons for people to be in debt, or to stress the role of the personal characteristics of the debtor. For example, life-cycle accounts of saving (e.g. Modigliani & Brumberg, 1954) predict that people will save and dissave at different points in their lives and may incur debt at different times. Lea et al. (1993) suggest that some debt at least can be seen as a rational response to conditions of poverty. On the other hand, Livingston and Lunt (1992) found that both debt and problem debt were quite common among people with rather high incomes, suggesting that personal characteristics may also be important. Recently, both in New Zealand (e.g. Ashby, Roberts & Parata, 1996) and overseas (e.g. Davies & Lea, 1995; Lea, Webley, & Bellamy, 1995) there has been considerable interest in student debt. New Zealand tertiary students are currently facing higher costs for their education than previously, and in many instances students go into debt to pay these costs. A number of questions arise from this phenomenon. First, can this tendency be considered as broadly rational in terms of the life-cycle account, perhaps even an investment in one's future, or are indebted students prone to behave in financially irrational ways? Second, one might ask what the long-term effects of so many young people incurring a substantial debt might be. Davies and Lea (1995) found that the more indebted English university students were more tolerant of debt than those who had smaller debts or none at all. Moreover, tolerance of debt increased with increasing time at university and appeared to lag behind increases in debt level. This result suggests that changes in their debt situation may have causally affected their attitude to debt rather than vice versa. In the present study several aspects of student debt were considered. These include the relationship between debt levels and participants' perception of debt from Davies and Lea's (1995) Attitude to Debt Scale. This scale indicates how accepting of, or opposed to, going into debt a person is. We anticipated, following Davies and Lea's results, that as debt levels rose attitude towards debt was likely to become more positive. Davies and Lea did not investigate whether the increased tolerance to debt they found remained after students left university. Thus the present study included a sample of ex-students. Debt levels may also be affected by an individual's personal characteristics and financial management skills. With New Zealand students having the right to borrow money (at least from the government) and with borrowing being relatively easy, there is a concern (e.g., Betts, 1998) that students may be borrowing to fund unnecessary luxuries (such as overseas holidays). As a result, debt levels may partially reflect what could be regarded as reckless, unnecessary spending. …