Megan Bea
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Social Science
Many lower-income Americans rely on credit cards, payday loans and other unsecured debt to manage expenses. As a result, their debt can rise and fall many times within a single year.
- Fields
Social Science
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
household debt
unsecured debt
payday loans
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Field a smartphone survey collecting biweekly self-reported health, income and debt data from 410 lower-income adults for one year.
- Develop standard measures of within-year fluctuations in debt amounts and composition across unsecured sources such as credit cards and payday loans.
- Analyze how short-term debt fluctuations relate to generalized stress, anxiety and depression among lower-income adults, with attention to variation by race.
More about the research
These swings might help by easing money-related stress, or they might harm health by adding stress, anxiety and depression. Existing surveys rarely capture such short-term changes, so researchers know little about which is the case.
Why it matters
Short-term swings in debt may be a hidden contributor to health inequalities. Findings could help policymakers design economic and family policies that address debt fluctuations, not just total debt, to improve the health and well-being of lower-income people. The public dataset could support research on poverty, family functioning and health.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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Ohio State University, OH·Social Science
Test whether college costs and the resulting educational debt drive student decisions, using causal analyses of population-level administrative data from the State of Ohio.
Constance Guille
Medical University of South Carolina, SC·Medicine & Clinical Research
Use daily Ecological Momentary Assessment over 12 postpartum weeks to determine whether increases in stress, anxiety and craving, and declines in mood and sleep quality, are associated with return to cannabis use.
Portia Miller
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Psychology
Measure family wealth, household assets minus debts, repeatedly across nine observations in 750 families with adolescents aged 13 to 15, to describe how wealth inequality and net worth poverty change over time and differ across socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups.
The school
University of Wisconsin-Madison: 91 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 854 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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