The increase in personal debt is often explained using macroeconomic and political arguments such as rising precarity, economic inequalities and the decline of the welfare state. But could changes in family dynamics also be a factor?
Maude Pugliese, a researcher at the INRS Centre Urbanisation Culture Société, wanted to determine whether new family realities marked by declining marriage rates, the normalization of divorce and separation and the growing number of blended families have an effect on debt levels.
To explore this question, she surveyed 4,800 people and found a correlation between certain aspects of family life and more negative forms of debt. For example, she observed that there is less economic exchange between parents and children in blended families once these children become parents themselves. This is important because access to support from family and friends is a protective factor against debt.
The researcher also noted the negative impact of separation. For example, couples may have a high level of debt due to a mortgage, but this debt finances an asset and can therefore be positive. On the other hand, separated people may have lower levels of debt, as they have less access to home ownership. However, their debts more often take the form of unpaid bills, credit card balances or payday loans, all of which are indicators of financial hardship.
Maude Pugliese also complied data on savings rates between 1980 and 2014 in 19 OECD countries. These figures do not take mortgage debt into account. This exercise allowed her to observe that the more marriages there are in a state, the higher the annual savings rates.
Want to learn more about this research? Read the research report “Le surendettement parmi les ménages québécois” (“Overindebtedness in Quebec households” – in French). |