Perceived manageability of debt and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A UK population analysis

Mark Shevlin; Enya Redican; Philip Hyland; Sarah Butter; Orla McBride; Todd K. Hartman; Jamie Murphy; Frédérique Vallières; Richard P. Bentall; Omar Mohammad Ali Khraisat

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0274052

Perceived manageability of debt and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A UK population analysis

Mark Shevlin
, Enya Redican
, Philip Hyland
, Sarah Butter
, Orla McBride
, Todd K. Hartman
, Jamie Murphy
, Frédérique Vallières
, Richard P. Bentall
, Omar Mohammad Ali Khraisat (Editor)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

135 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined the association between perceived manageability of debt and risk of depression, anxiety, and mental health help-seeking among a nationally representative sample of adults living in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: Data was derived from the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study Wave 6 (August/September 2021) which examined the psychological, social, and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK adult population. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between different levels of perceived debt manageability (i.e., “easily manageable”, “some problems”, “quite serious problems”, “very serious problems”, “cannot manage at all”) and mental health related outcomes. Results: Almost a quarter of the sample (24%, n = 494) reported debt management problems, and debt manageability associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and mental health help-seeking. After adjusting for demographic variables (e.g. income, receipt of benefits), logistic regression analysis demonstrated a dose-response association between increasing levels of debt manageability problems and mental health outcomes. Specifically, adjusted odds ratios for anxiety ranged from 2.28 (‘some problems’) to 11.18 (‘very serious problems’), for depression ranged from 2.80 (‘some problems’) to 16.21 (‘cannot manage at all’), and for mental health help-seeking ranged from 1.69 (‘some problems’) to 3.18 (‘quite serious problems’, ‘very serious problems’). Conclusion: This study highlights that debt manageability problems represent a robust predictor of depression, anxiety, and mental-health help seeking.

Original language	English
Article number	e0274052
Pages (from-to)	1-13
Number of pages	13
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	17
Issue number	9
Early online date	21 Sept 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274052
Publication status	Published online - 21 Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
: The initial stages of this project were
supported by start-up funds from the University of
Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield
Methods Institute and the Higher Education
Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant
administered by the university) and by the Faculty
of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University.
The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and
awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The
funders had no role in study design, data collection
and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of
the manuscript.

Funding Information:
The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Shevlin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding Information:
The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Shevlin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding

Funding Information: : The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Funding Information: The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Shevlin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding Information: The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Shevlin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Research Article
Medicine and health sciences
Social sciences
Biology and life sciences
Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology
Anxiety/epidemiology
COVID-19/epidemiology
Pandemics
Depression/epidemiology
Humans
Adult
Mental Health
Depression - epidemiology
Anxiety Disorders - epidemiology
Anxiety - epidemiology
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Depression
COVID-19
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety

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10.1371/journal.pone.0274052

pone.0274052.pdfFinal published version, 469 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Shevlin, M., Redican, E., Hyland, P., Butter, S., McBride, O., Hartman, T. K., Murphy, J., Vallières, F., Bentall, R. P., & Khraisat, O. M. A. (Ed.) (2022). Perceived manageability of debt and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A UK population analysis. PLoS ONE, 17(9), 1-13. Article e0274052. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274052

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title = "Perceived manageability of debt and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A UK population analysis",

abstract = "Objectives: This study examined the association between perceived manageability of debt and risk of depression, anxiety, and mental health help-seeking among a nationally representative sample of adults living in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: Data was derived from the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study Wave 6 (August/September 2021) which examined the psychological, social, and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK adult population. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between different levels of perceived debt manageability (i.e., “easily manageable”, “some problems”, “quite serious problems”, “very serious problems”, “cannot manage at all”) and mental health related outcomes. Results: Almost a quarter of the sample (24\%, n = 494) reported debt management problems, and debt manageability associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and mental health help-seeking. After adjusting for demographic variables (e.g. income, receipt of benefits), logistic regression analysis demonstrated a dose-response association between increasing levels of debt manageability problems and mental health outcomes. Specifically, adjusted odds ratios for anxiety ranged from 2.28 ({\textquoteleft}some problems{\textquoteright}) to 11.18 ({\textquoteleft}very serious problems{\textquoteright}), for depression ranged from 2.80 ({\textquoteleft}some problems{\textquoteright}) to 16.21 ({\textquoteleft}cannot manage at all{\textquoteright}), and for mental health help-seeking ranged from 1.69 ({\textquoteleft}some problems{\textquoteright}) to 3.18 ({\textquoteleft}quite serious problems{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteleft}very serious problems{\textquoteright}). Conclusion: This study highlights that debt manageability problems represent a robust predictor of depression, anxiety, and mental-health help seeking.",

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author = "Mark Shevlin and Enya Redican and Philip Hyland and Sarah Butter and Orla McBride and Hartman, \{Todd K.\} and Jamie Murphy and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}rique Valli{\`e}res and Bentall, \{Richard P.\} and Khraisat, \{Omar Mohammad Ali\}",

note = "Funding Information: : The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Funding Information: The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Shevlin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding Information: The initial stages of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1 and awarded to RPB, TKH, MS, JM, and OM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Shevlin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",

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AU - Redican, Enya

AU - Hyland, Philip

AU - Butter, Sarah

AU - McBride, Orla

AU - Hartman, Todd K.

AU - Murphy, Jamie

AU - Vallières, Frédérique

AU - Bentall, Richard P.

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N2 - Objectives: This study examined the association between perceived manageability of debt and risk of depression, anxiety, and mental health help-seeking among a nationally representative sample of adults living in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: Data was derived from the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study Wave 6 (August/September 2021) which examined the psychological, social, and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK adult population. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between different levels of perceived debt manageability (i.e., “easily manageable”, “some problems”, “quite serious problems”, “very serious problems”, “cannot manage at all”) and mental health related outcomes. Results: Almost a quarter of the sample (24%, n = 494) reported debt management problems, and debt manageability associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and mental health help-seeking. After adjusting for demographic variables (e.g. income, receipt of benefits), logistic regression analysis demonstrated a dose-response association between increasing levels of debt manageability problems and mental health outcomes. Specifically, adjusted odds ratios for anxiety ranged from 2.28 (‘some problems’) to 11.18 (‘very serious problems’), for depression ranged from 2.80 (‘some problems’) to 16.21 (‘cannot manage at all’), and for mental health help-seeking ranged from 1.69 (‘some problems’) to 3.18 (‘quite serious problems’, ‘very serious problems’). Conclusion: This study highlights that debt manageability problems represent a robust predictor of depression, anxiety, and mental-health help seeking.

AB - Objectives: This study examined the association between perceived manageability of debt and risk of depression, anxiety, and mental health help-seeking among a nationally representative sample of adults living in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: Data was derived from the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study Wave 6 (August/September 2021) which examined the psychological, social, and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK adult population. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between different levels of perceived debt manageability (i.e., “easily manageable”, “some problems”, “quite serious problems”, “very serious problems”, “cannot manage at all”) and mental health related outcomes. Results: Almost a quarter of the sample (24%, n = 494) reported debt management problems, and debt manageability associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and mental health help-seeking. After adjusting for demographic variables (e.g. income, receipt of benefits), logistic regression analysis demonstrated a dose-response association between increasing levels of debt manageability problems and mental health outcomes. Specifically, adjusted odds ratios for anxiety ranged from 2.28 (‘some problems’) to 11.18 (‘very serious problems’), for depression ranged from 2.80 (‘some problems’) to 16.21 (‘cannot manage at all’), and for mental health help-seeking ranged from 1.69 (‘some problems’) to 3.18 (‘quite serious problems’, ‘very serious problems’). Conclusion: This study highlights that debt manageability problems represent a robust predictor of depression, anxiety, and mental-health help seeking.

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M1 - e0274052

ER -

Perceived manageability of debt and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A UK population analysis

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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