Jenny SmithCaroline smithGeorge SandersAmelia ThorntonEmma clyde-smith

The Impact of Financial Circumstances on Student

HealthJessop, Herberts, & Solomon (2005)

Agenda

Summary of studyIs this study relevant?Critique of:

Participants & Design Materials Results

Does the data justify the conclusions?SuggestionsReferences

Summary of Study

Predictions: Finnish students would report less debt and less financial concern than UK students

Hypothesis 1: Finnish students should experience better mental and physical health than their UK counterparts

Hypothesis 2: Financial hardship and financial concern should predict mental and physical health

Method: 98 Finnish students and 89 UK students completed a questionnaire

Results: British students reported greater levels of debt and financial concern

Is this paper relevant?

Higher Education Act University fees increase from £1125 to £3000

Fees may cause substantial debt Evidence that financial concern of UK students effects their health (Roberts et al, 2000; Cooke et al., 2004)

Important topic, but does it add anything new? Roberts et al. (2000) insinuated that there appears “to be grounds for linking this adverse health to the experience of financial difficulties”

Marriot (2007) found that student debt may have a detrimental impact on the academic performance and psychological well-being of students

Participants

Middlesex University may not be a good representation of all students from the UK

Likewise with Abo Akademi in FinlandGood judgement to exclude overseas students

187 students is not a large enough cohortOpportunity sample.Fair split between British students and Finnish students – 89 versus 98

Participants

Male to female ratio of 1:2.28 makes the study more reflective of females “Women are twice as likely as men to experience depression” (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001)

Suitable age range from 18-50 years oldMean age of sample was 24.9 years oldNo indication of postgraduate or undergraduate Many studies have shown that students from different year groups have different attitudes towards debt (Lea et al., 2001; Cooke et al., 2004)

This study should have collected data on what year the participants are in to make it more reliable

Materials

Some of the measures are replications of Roberts et al. (2000)

Additional measures: Perceived control Amount of debt – approximate Financial concern – built upon Roberts et al. (2000) measure of ‘difficulty in paying bills’

No example questions provided for some measures, and no full questionnaire provided Framing effects? Reverse scoring? Open-ended questions?

Materials

All measures were tested for internal reliability Mental and physical health was only ‘acceptable’

Health measure was self reportIt has been found that there is significant error between perceived and actual health Butler, Burkhauser, Mitchell and Pincus (1987)

Questionnaire was to complete in ‘their own time’ Beginning versus end of term Beginning versus end of month

Design

Was the study design appropriate for the research question? Quick and cost effective Response rates? Design of questions is unknown Self-report

Subjective? Validity?

Results

British students reported a greater amount of debt than the Finnish students

British students had lower average scores on the Short Form 36 Health Survey than Finnish students Lower scores represent worse health

Found that financial concern was the best predictor of mental and physical health Limitations of multiple regression:

Correlational not causational:It has been found that social support correlates with student burnout (Jacobs, 2003)

Results

British students reported smoking and drinking more than Finnish students

64% of British students worked in addition to study compared with 46.9% of Finnish students

Perceived control did not differ significantly between the British and Finnish students

Does the data justify the conclusions?

(1)Finnish students should experience better mental and physical health than their UK counterparts

Data supports the hypothesis

(2)Financial hardship and financial concern should predict mental and physical health

Statistical data supports the hypothesis Underlying causations Increased sample size

Suggestions

When comparing student debt you must take other factors into consideration.

The paper fails to account for the possibility that students with higher financial concern might be generally more anxious.

The researchers should have asked the participants what degree course they were studying.

Objective health measures

Recent fee rise

References

Butler, J. S., Burkhauser, R. V., Mitchell, J. M., & Pincus, T. P. (1987). Measurement error in self-reported health variables. The review of economics and statistics, 69(4), 644-650.

Cooke, R., Barkham, M., Audin, K., Bradley, M. & Davy, J. (2004). Student debt and its relation to student mental health. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(1), 53-66.

Jacobs, S., & Dodd, D. (2003). Student burnout as a function of personality, social support, and workload. Journal of College Student Development, 44(3), 291-303.

Jessop, D. C., Herberts, C., & Solomon, L. (2005). The impact of financial circumstances on student health. British Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 421-439.

References

Marriott, P. (2007). An Analysis of First Experience Students' Financial Awareness and Attitude to Debt in a Post-1992 UK University. Higher Education Quarterly, 61, 498-519.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2001). Gender Differences in Depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 173-176.

Roberts, R., Golding, J., Towell, T., Reid, S., Woodford, S., Vetere, A., & Weinreb, I. (2000). Mental and physical health in students: The role of economic circumstances. British Journal of Health Psychology, 5, 289-297.

Usher, A. (2005). Global Debt Patterns: An International Comparison of Student Loan Burdens and Repayment Conditions. Toronto, ON: Educational Policy Institute.

Thank You!