Addiction and financial burden: Longitudinal 6-time point analysis of risk factors for debt enforcement in Finland

Background: Default, debt problems, and insolvency have growing importance in many Western countries. These economic difficulties also play a significant part in excessive behaviors and the harms caused by them. Especially behavioral addictions, such as excessive gambling, are closely linked to excess use of money. There is currently a need to understand how people recover from not only excessive behaviors but from the harms caused by such behaviors. This longitudinal study investigates people who are actively in debt enforcement (i.e. legal process involving repayment of outstanding debts by court order). We analyze the role of different excessive behaviors as a risk for being in debt enforcement, while considering several confounding factors, including occupational position, personality, social ties, and mental wellbeing.

Methods: Participants were Finnish people aged 18–75 years (N=1530, 50% male). Data collection started in Spring 2021 and has continued in intervals of six months, covering six time points at the end of 2023. Response rates of the surveys have been high and about half of the participants have taken part in all six surveys. The data covers 6640 observations from 1530 participants. Measures included questions concerning debt enforcement, excessive gambling (Problem Gambling Severity Index, PGSI), excessive gaming (Internet Gaming Disorder Test, IGDT), excessive internet use (Compulsive Internet Use Scale, CIUS), excessive alcohol use (AUDIT-C), psychological distress (Mental Health Inventory, MHI-5), and social ties (Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults -short) that were measured over time. We also used impulsivity (Eysenck Impulsivity Scale) and socio-demographic background variables as controls. Multilevel regression models were used for the analysis of the data. 

Results: We found robust evidence that excessive gamblers have a higher risk of being in debt enforcement. Both between- and within-person effects were detected, indicating differences not only between the level of gambling problems, but also showing that an increase in gambling problems increases the risk of debt enforcement. Out of the other excessive behaviors, only alcohol use had a small statistically significant association with debt enforcement within our model. Psychological distress and social ties were not associated with debt enforcement. Those working and having a university degree were less likely to be in debt enforcement. Debt enforcement was also less common among participants who had recovered from enforcement procedure before our first baseline survey. Impulsivity was associated with the likelihood of being in debt enforcement.

Conclusions: Results indicate that excessive gambling poses a higher risk for debt enforcement compared to other forms of excessive behavior. While harm varies across different types of excessive behaviors, excessive gambling particularly leads to accumulating financial troubles that can burden individuals for years.