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Title: Student loans, physical and mental health, and health care use and delay in college
Objective: Determine relationships between college students’ student loan presence and self-rated physical and mental health, major medical problems, mental health conditions, physical, dental, and mental health care visits and delays, and medication use and reductions. Participants: A total of 3,248 undergraduates at two regional public U.S. universities, surveyed Spring 2017. Methods: OLS and Logistic regression. Results: Loan presence was related to significantly worse self-rated physical and mental health and more major medical problems, but not to mental health conditions, or physical or mental health medication use. Respondents with loans were less likely to visit the dentist and more likely to report delaying medical, dental, and mental health care, and reducing medication use to save money. Conclusions: Results provide evidence of health and health care use divides among college students by loan presence.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1947603 1947604
PAR ID:
10399982
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of American College Health
ISSN:
0744-8481
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1 to 11
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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