Attitudes to debt among indebted undergraduates: A cross-national exploratory factor analysis

Harrison, Neil; Agnew, Steve; Serido, Joyce

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a cross-national study spanning England, New Zealand and the United States. A total of 496 first year undergraduates studying business or social science completed a 20-item questionnaire. This focused on their attitudes to their debt incurred while studying, as measured on a five-point Likert scale. A factor analysis model was developed, from which four consistent factors emerged, explaining 45 percent of the variation and consistent between countries. These factors were named: Anxiety, Utility-For-Lifestyle, Utility-For-Investment and Confidence. The first three factors were found to be uncorrelated with each other, but higher Confidence was associated with lower levels of Anxiety and Utility-for-Lifestyle and higher levels of Utility-for-Investment. The relationship with previous studies and implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Citation

Harrison, N., Agnew, S., & Serido, J. Attitudes to debt among indebted undergraduates: A cross-national exploratory factor analysis. Journal of Economic Psychology, 46, 62-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2014.11.005

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Journal: Journal of Economic Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0167-4870
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Pages: 62-73
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2014.11.005
• Keywords: debt attitudes, factor analysis, Higher Education, consumer attitudes and behaviour, educational finance
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/842398
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2014.11.005