Award
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5R21HD113910-02
Within-Year Debt Fluctuations, Stress, and Health
Recipient
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Award Amount
$167,424.00
Ceiling
$167,424.00
Awarded
July 23, 2025
Identifier
5R21HD113910-02
This NIH-funded project studies how within-year fluctuations in debt affect stress, anxiety, and depression among lower-income adults using biweekly smartphone surveys, aiming to inform policies to improve health and economic stability.
Description
The R21 project will systematically capture short-term changes in debt amounts and composition and evaluate associations with generalized stress, anxiety, and depression among lower-income adults. The project involves a novel smartphone survey collecting biweekly self-reported health, income, and debt data from 410 lower-income adults for one year, developing standard measures of within-year fluctuations in debt burdens, and analyzing data to provide insights on the scope of debt fluctuations and health consequences, with attention to racial variation. Findings will inform economic and family policy and public health.