Relationship between household financial debt and depressive symptoms: a longitudinal study in China

Objectives To examine the impacts of household financial debt on depressive symptoms and its possible mediating mechanisms. Design A nationally representative longitudinal study using the ordinary least squares regression model, fixed-effects model, and instrumental variable approach to explore the relationship between household financial debt and depressive symptoms and further using structural equation models and the Bootstrap method to analyse the mediating effects. Setting The China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database. Participants Three waves of longitudinal data in 2012, 2016, and 2018 from CFPS were used. A total of 103,247 individuals over the age of 18 were included in our study sample. Outcome measures Depression symptoms were assessed using an eight-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D8). We summed these eight items to conduct a depressive symptoms index to measure depressive symptoms. Results Among the sample, 35.3% of the households have financial debt, 49.7% of the sample are male, 73.2% of them have rural hukou, and the average age was 46.6. Regression results showed that household financial debt had a negative effect on depressive symptoms (ss=0.655, 95% CI 0.602 to 0.707, p < 0.01). This result remained robust after using instrumental variables with fixed effects (ss=0.483, 95% CI 0.311 to 0.656, p < 0.01). Household financial debt could affect depressive symptoms through mediating variables such as working pressure (p < 0.05) and life happiness (p < 0.01). Conclusion Our study showed that household indebtedness in China had a negative effect on depressive symptoms. Also, we found some mediating mechanisms for this effect, which might help provide new guidance for psychological interventions to promote the mental health of indebted residents.