Depression and Student Loan Debts: A Qualitative Study of User Posts in an Online Community

Background. One in five people in the US suffers from depression every year. Depression has been positively associated with financial difficulties, including student loan debts (Richardson et al., 2017; Sinha, 2022). The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore stressors (factors or events that cause emotional or psychological distress and exacerbate the symptoms) that compound the burden of student loan debt among individuals who reported their experiences of depression in an online community.

Methods. Data were obtained from an online community (r/depression). Fifty posts were randomly chosen from the 149 posts that indicated experience with student loans. In-vivo, topic, emotion, and content-based first-order coding were utilized. Saturation was reached after 40 posts. Axial coding was then employed to examine the interconnectedness between various topics. To test the accuracy of the coding, another person who was not involved in the coding process vetted the codes and second-order themes.

Results. Findings indicated that posts that reflected financial security (e.g., had jobs, manageable finances, received friends and family support, and did not have mounting debt) revealed fewer symptoms of depression. Only 10 % of the total posts had positive sentiments and they showed positive outcomes like improved health status, enhanced confidence/motivation, and coping with their challenges. Posts expressing multiple stressors at once or showed hindering factors such as financial hardship (27%), struggle during the job/finding a job (23%), unforgettable negative past experiences (13%), other health problems along with depression (12%), unforgettable happy life from the past (10%), and struggle for connection (11%), etc.) tended to have a more difficult time coping with their challenges and experience a broader range of negative emotions like sadness (72%), fear (14%), and anger (13%). These posts also revealed having negative outcomes like low self-esteem/procrastination (43%), reduced motivation/interest/sleep/appetite (25%), suicidal thoughts (18%), addiction dependency (8%), and avoiding others and loneliness (6%). Forty percent of posts focused on seeking assistance to deal with the situation and a lack of appropriate support was making them feel hopeless and helpless.

Conclusion. Findings suggest that data from online communities may provide nuanced insights into people’s behaviors, in this case individual posts identifying depressions or depressive symptoms on student loan debts. Findings demonstrated that financial security and strong social networks lead to positive emotions. In contrast, financial difficulties, health problems, negative past experiences, and a lack of support contribute to increased distress in the presence of both student loan debt and depression. Consequently, these hindering factors induce negative feelings that may worsen depressive symptoms. Mental illness posts expressed sadness, fear, and negativity; therefore, for policymakers and practitioners to reduce the mental burden of student debt, they must address increased levels of sadness, fear, and anger. Strategic interventions on online platforms that can offer therapeutic services, career guidance, or both, which will enable in-depth research on the impact of a support system on individuals with mental health issues and student debt.