[雙語新聞] 欠債讓生活更美好

 

Being crushed under a mountain of debt is typically frowned upon.
Not being able to pay for goods outright, and then being hit by extortionate interest rates which spiral out of control, is the stuff of financial nightmares.
But new research has suggested this could actually be a dream scenario for many young adults.
It claims those saddling themselves with credit card debt will feel empowered and have better self-esteem.
"Debt can be a good thing for young people - it can help them achieve goals that they couldn't otherwise, like a college education," said Ohio State University assistant sociology professor Rachel Dwyer.
Her study found that 18 to 27-year-olds who had huge credit card and university loan debts had better self-esteem than their peers.
They also felt as if they were more in control of their lives, especially those in the lower economic classes.
Only the oldest of those studied, between 28 and 34, began showing signs of stress about the money they owed.
Professor Dwyer said her team was "surprised" at the results of her research into 3,079 young adults which examined data on two types of debt - loans taken out to pay for university and total credit card bills.
She said: "We thought educational debt might be seen as a positive because it is an investment in their future, while credit card debt could be viewed more negatively. Surprisingly, though, we found that both kinds of debt had positive effects for young people. It didn't matter the type of debt, it increased their self-esteem and sense of mastery."
But Professor Dwyer also said that Debt may make young people feel better about themselves in the short-term, but that doesn't mean it won't have negative consequences in the long term.
"How debt affected young people depended on what other financial resources they had available," she said.

欠一屁股債可不是一件讓人覺得輕松的事情。
喜歡的東西買不起，硬著頭皮買下來又得承受高額利息，這簡直就是財務噩夢。
不過一項最新的研究表明，欠債實際上能激勵年輕人實現(xiàn)夢想。
根據這項調查的說法，欠信用卡卡債能讓人感覺更有力量，因而生活得更自信。
俄亥俄州立大學社會學助理教授瑞秋•多伊爾說：“年輕人欠點兒債沒什么不好的——這樣可以幫助他們實現(xiàn)奮斗目標，比如上大學。”
經調查她發(fā)現(xiàn)，在年齡為18至27歲之間的人群中，那些身負巨額債務或助學貸款的年輕人要比他們的沒有債務負擔的同齡人更自信
尤其是那些來自低收入家庭的孩子，他們會因債務而對自己的生活有更強的掌控感。
只有那些年紀較大，在28至34歲間的人才會因為欠債而倍感壓力。
多伊爾教授表示，她的研究小組在調查了3079名年輕人后發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們所欠的債務主要來自助學貸款和銀行信用卡，這樣的結果讓她們很驚訝。
她說：“按照我們的想法，助學貸款是在為他們的未來做投資，這沒有什么不對的，而信用卡則是鼓勵提前消費，負面影響較大。但是我們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這兩種債務都有其積極的一面，這點很叫我們吃驚。不管是哪種債務，它們都能增加這些年輕人的自信心和對生活的掌控能力。”
不過多伊爾教授同時也表示，欠債或許在短時間內讓這些年輕人自我感覺良好，但從長遠來看，這并不意味著就沒有任何負面影響。
她說：“債務對年輕人會產生什么樣的影響取決于他們是否有其他經濟來源。”