ArticleThe Journal of applied psychology2020
Is student loan debt good or bad for full-time employment upon graduation from college?
Article in The Journal of applied psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Factors Affecting Acceptance of Life Education in Mainland China: National Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Exploring the impact of a conspicuous identity on college students' campus loans: Evidence from China.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Life Course Transitions and Educational Trajectories: Examining Adolescents who Fall off Track Academically.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2021Article
- Feeling Trusted or Feeling Used? The Relationship Between Perceived Leader Trust, Reciprocation Wariness, and Proactive Behavior.Psychology research and behavior management · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Student loan debt represents an important phenomenon in the United States, as around 61% of bachelor's degree recipients graduate with a debt of over $28,100. Although studies emphasize that holding student loan debt delays the transition to adulthood in terms of marriage and home ownership, little is known about its impact on employment and this limited research offers, at best, equivocal evidence. The current study draws from Conservation of Resources theory to argue that student loan debt acts as a major financial stressor for new labor market entrants during job search. Using archival data from 1,248 graduating seniors from 4 geographically diverse universities in the United States collected in the context of a prospective study design, we found evidence for 2 countervailing mechanisms through which student loan debt may influence full-time employment upon graduation. On the one hand, college students who had student loan debt were more likely to experience financial strain, and subsequently more job search strain, which was negatively related to college seniors' odds of securing full-time employment upon graduation. On the other hand, this financial strain was also positively related to students' work hours while in the last semester of college, which was positively related to their odds of securing full-time employment upon graduation. Further mediation tests revealed that only the 3-stage indirect effect through job search strain (i.e., student loan debt → financial strain → job search strain → full-time employment) was statistically significant. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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