WASHINGTON — The stress from deepening debt is becoming a major pain in the neck — and the back and the head and the stomach — for millions of Americans.
When people are dealing with mountains of debt, they’re much more likely to report health problems too, according to an Associated Press-AOL Health poll. And not just little stuff; this means ulcers, severe depression, even heart attacks.
Take Edward Driscoll, 38, of Braintree, Mass. He blames debt — $10,000 worth — for contributing to his ulcers and his wife Kimberly’s panic attacks. “Just worrying, worrying, worrying, you know, where the next payment of this is going to come from,” he says.
Although most people appear to be managing their debts all right, perhaps 10 million to 16 million are “suffering terribly due to their debts, and their health is likely to be negatively impacted,” says Paul J. Lavrakas, a research psychologist and AP consultant who analyzed the results of the survey. Those are people who reported high levels of debt stress and suffered from at least three stress-related illnesses, he says.
That finding is supported by medical research that has linked chronic stress to a wide range of ailments.
And the current tough economic times and rising costs of living seem to be leading to increasing debt stress, 14 percent higher this year than in 2004, according to an index tied to the AP-AOL survey.
Among the people reporting high debt stress in the new poll:
• Twenty-seven percent had ulcers or digestive tract problems, compared with 8 percent of those with low levels of debt stress.
• Forty-four percent had migraines or other headaches, compared with 15 percent.
• Twenty-nine percent suffered severe anxiety, compared with 4 percent.
• Twenty-three percent had severe depression, compared with 4 percent.
• Six percent reported heart attacks, double the rate for those with low debt stress.
• Fifty-one percent, had muscle tension, including pain in the lower back. That compared with 31 percent of those with low levels of debt stress.
People who reported high stress also were much more likely to have trouble concentrating and sleeping and were more prone to getting upset for no good reason.
The survey found that upwardly mobile, middle-class families were among those who had the most debt stress.
Others were women, couples with small children, low-income working families, Democrats and those who graduated from high school but haven’t taken college courses. Those least likely to be stressed from debt included men, retirees, empty nesters, college graduates and Republicans.
The AP-AOL Health poll involved phone interviews with 1,002 adults from all states except Alaska and Hawaii and was conducted from March 24 to April 3 by Abt SRBI Inc. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
