@article{Hämmig_Herzig_2022, title={Over-indebtedness, mastery and mental health: a cross-sectional study among over-indebted adults in Switzerland}, volume={152}, url={https://smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/3180}, DOI={10.4414/SMW.2022.w30151}, abstractNote={<p><p>OBJECTIVES: The aim is to investigate whether and why over-indebted individuals in German-speaking Switzerland have poorer mental health than the general population.</p> <p>METHODS: A cross-sectional study among over-indebted people in the canton of Zurich was conducted in 2019. The study population (n = 219) was compared to the cantonal subsample of the general adult population selected from the nationally representative sample of the Swiss Health Survey 2017 (n = 1,997). Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to examine associations between over-indebtedness, mastery and health outcomes like mental stress and depression.</p> <p>RESULTS: Over-indebted people have poorer mental health and weaker mastery than the general population. Low mastery is the strongest predictor of poor mental health (beta coefficient = 0.58/–0.62 for mental stress/depression respectively) among the over-indebted, followed by the perception of one’s health being affected by over-indebtedness (beta coefficient = –0.19/0.15). The amount of debt, anticipated time until repayment of debt and duration of indebtedness had no predictive effects.</p> <p>CONCLUSION: Surprisingly, traditional debt parameters cannot explain the poor mental health of the over-indebted, in contrast to a strong sense of mastery, which was identified as a highly protective factor.</p></p>}, number={1314}, journal={Swiss Medical Weekly}, author={Hämmig, Oliver and Herzig, Joanna}, year={2022}, month={Mar.}, pages={w30151} }