Jason N Houle
Biographic Data
| ID | 160658 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jason N Houle |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jason N |
| FAMILY NAME | Houle |
| SIGNATURE | HOULE J N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Dartmouth College |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1278-0644 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 464 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 31 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Unsecured Credit and the Social Safety Net in U.S. States
Low-income households in the United States draw on public and private resources to manage economic risk. Cross-national scholars describe a “credit–welfare state tradeoff” where credit markets become particularly important when state benefits are less supportive. The United States is frequently highlighted in this regard, with its often-inadequate market-first safety net. Both credit markets and the safety net are, however, highly unequal and seg…
“First Phone Call Is Usually Family”
Objective We examine experiences of informal borrowing (from friends and family) among a sample of low‐income debtors. Background Low‐income populations often take on debt to cope with economic insecurity. However, most research on debt focuses on formal market debts (e.g., credit cards) even though research on informal exchanges identifies significant borrowing between family and friends. We ask how low‐income debtors navigate these informal cre…
Debt Collection Pressure and Mental Health
The debt collection industry in the United States has grown in tandem with rising indebtedness. Prior research on debt and mental health mainly treats debt as a resource and liability rather than a power relationship between creditors and debtors. We study the mental health consequences of debt collection pressure using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1997 Cohort (N = 7,236). Drawing on stress theory and health power resources…
Revisiting Durkheim
Research dating back to Durkheim’s Suicide has linked high suicide rates to low social integration. Less research has examined community vulnerability to suicide clusters—characterized by an unusually high number of suicides in a time and place. In this study, we draw from recent qualitative research to hypothesize that social integration is positively associated with the emergence of suicide clusters, in contrast to the classic Durkheimian hypot…
Inequality in high-cost borrowing and unemployment insurance generosity in US states during the Covid-19 pandemic
Trajectories of unsecured debt and health at midlife
The amount, timing, and duration of unsecured debt accumulation and repayment have important health implications and may exacerbate midlife health inequalities
Are All Politics National? County-Level Social Contexts and Inequality Remediation Attitudes, 2006 to 2012
Despite growing economic inequality in recent decades, public support for government intervention to address it has been stable. A substantial literature has documented the individual-level demographic, social, and political characteristics that are associated with the extent to which individuals favor government intervention to reduce inequality. However, less work has examined how the local social environments that individuals are embedded in s…
Trajectories of Unsecured Debt across the Life Course and Mental Health at Midlife
In this paper, we contribute to a growing literature on debt and mental health and ask whether patterns of unsecured debt accumulation and repayment over two decades are associated with depressive symptoms at age 50. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 Cohort and group trajectory models, we have three key findings. First, we find substantial heterogeneity in debt trajectories across the life course. Second, respondents w…
Locked Out of the Labor Market? State-Level Hidden Sentences and the Labor Market Outcomes of Recently Incarcerated Young Adults
Cody Warner a, Joshua Kaiser b, Jason N. Houle c, Locked Out of the Labor Market? State-Level Hidden Sentences and the Labor Market Outcomes of Recently Incarcerated Young Adults, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 1, The Criminal Justice System as a Labor Market Institution (March 2020), pp. 132-151
Criminal Justice Contact and Indebtedness in Young Adulthood
Contact with the American criminal justice system is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and financial insecurity, but little research has explored the link between criminal justice contact and indebtedness. In this study, we ask whether contact in young adulthood is associated with access to credit and unsecured debt burdens. We also focus on state-level policies that operate alongside official punishments and restrict citizenship and soc…
The Foreclosure Crisis, Community Change, and the Cognitive Health of Older Adults
This study shows that the adverse consequences of home foreclosures spill over to the local community, with implications for the cognitive health of older adults
Rising Household Debt and Children’s Socioemotional Well-being Trajectories
Debt is now a substantial aspect of family finances. Yet, research on how household debt is linked with child development has been limited. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort and hierarchical linear models to estimate associations of amounts and types of parental debt (home, education, auto, unsecured/uncollateralized) with child socioemotional well-being. We find that unsecured debt is associated with growth i…
Racial Disparities in Student Debt and the Reproduction of the Fragile Black Middle Class
A nascent literature recognizes that student loan debt is racialized and disproportionately affects youth of color, especially black youth. In this study, the authors expand on this research and ask whether black-white disparities in student debt persist, decline, or increase across the early adult life course, examine possible mechanisms for changes in racial disparities in student debt across early adulthood, and ask whether racial disparities …
The harder they fall? Sex and race/ethnic specific suicide rates in the U.S. foreclosure crisis
Into the Red and Back to the Nest? Student Debt, College Completion, and Returning to the Parental Home among Young Adults
Rising student debt has sparked concerns about its impact on the transition to adulthood. In this paper, we examine the claim that student debt is leading to a rise in ''boomeranging,'' or returning home, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort and discrete time-event history models. We have four findings. First, student loan debt is not associated with boomeranging in the complete sample. However, we find that the a…
Children with disabilities and trajectories of parents' unsecured debt across the life course
Young, Black, and (Still) in the Red
Getting sick and falling behind
BACKGROUND: An emerging literature shows that mortgage strain can lead to poor health outcomes, but less work has focused on whether and how health shocks influence mortgage distress. We examine the link between changes in health status and default/foreclosure risk among older middle-aged adults. METHOD: We used National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 data and multivariate logistic regression models to examine the relationship between changes i…
Flu and Finances
Objectives. We examined the association between influenza outbreaks in 83 metropolitan areas and credit card and mortgage defaults, as measured in quarterly zip code–level credit data over the period of 2004 to 2012. Methods. We used ordinary least squares, fixed effects, and 2-stage least squares instrumental variables regression strategies to examine the relationship between influenza-related Google searches and 30-, 60-, and 90-day credit card…
Is Student Loan Debt Discouraging Homeownership among Young Adults
Amid concern that rising student loan debt has social and economic consequences for young adults, many suggest that student loan debt is leading young adults to forgo home buying. However, there is little empirical evidence on this topic. In this study, we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to estimate associations of student loan debt with homeownership, mortgage amount, and home equity. We use a variety of methodologic…
The Home Foreclosure Crisis and Rising Suicide Rates, 2005 to 2010
Objectives. We examined the association between state-level foreclosure and suicide rates from 2005 to 2010 and considered variation in the effect of foreclosure on suicide by age. Methods. We used hybrid random- and fixed-effects models to examine the relation between state foreclosure rates and total and age-specific suicide rates from 2005 to 2010 (n = 306 state-years). Results. Net of other factors, an increase in the within-state total forec…
Mental health in the foreclosure crisis
Disparities in Debt
In an era of rising college costs and stagnant grant-based student aid, many young adults rely on their parents' resources and student loans to pay for their postsecondary education. In this study I ask how parents' income and education are linked to young adults' student loan debt. I develop and test two perspectives regarding the functional form of the association between parents' income, parents' education, and student loan debt. I have four k…
I Didn't Recognize It as a Bad Experience until I was Much Older
Analyzing interview data from 33 women and men, we examine how perceptions of sexual harassment are linked to age, experience, and historical context. Participants described workplace experiences from adolescence into their late twenties. Three themes emerged. First, as adolescents, respondents perceived some of the sexualized interactions they experienced at work as fun. Second, while participants did not define some of their early experiences a…
Depressive Symptoms and All-Cause Mortality in a Nationally Representative Longitudinal Study With Time-Varying Covariates
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and all-cause mortality in a longitudinal study with a nationally representative sample. Research has shown that depressive symptoms increase mortality risk, but results have been inconclusive regarding the role of physical health conditions in the relationship. This study asks whether the association between depressive symptoms and mortality exists independent of contemporaneous …
Young, Black, and (Still) in the Red
Disparities in Debt
In an era of rising college costs and stagnant grant-based student aid, many young adults rely on their parents' resources and student loans to pay for their postsecondary education. In this study I ask how parents' income and education are linked to young adults' student loan debt. I develop and test two perspectives regarding the functional form of the association between parents' income, parents' education, and student loan debt. I have four k…
Into the Red and Back to the Nest? Student Debt, College Completion, and Returning to the Parental Home among Young Adults
Rising student debt has sparked concerns about its impact on the transition to adulthood. In this paper, we examine the claim that student debt is leading to a rise in ''boomeranging,'' or returning home, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort and discrete time-event history models. We have four findings. First, student loan debt is not associated with boomeranging in the complete sample. However, we find that the a…
Racial Disparities in Student Debt and the Reproduction of the Fragile Black Middle Class
A nascent literature recognizes that student loan debt is racialized and disproportionately affects youth of color, especially black youth. In this study, the authors expand on this research and ask whether black-white disparities in student debt persist, decline, or increase across the early adult life course, examine possible mechanisms for changes in racial disparities in student debt across early adulthood, and ask whether racial disparities …
Does intergenerational mobility shape psychological distress? Sorokin revisited
Mental health in the foreclosure crisis
The psychological impact of intragenerational social class mobility
The Home Foreclosure Crisis and Rising Suicide Rates, 2005 to 2010
Objectives. We examined the association between state-level foreclosure and suicide rates from 2005 to 2010 and considered variation in the effect of foreclosure on suicide by age. Methods. We used hybrid random- and fixed-effects models to examine the relation between state foreclosure rates and total and age-specific suicide rates from 2005 to 2010 (n = 306 state-years). Results. Net of other factors, an increase in the within-state total forec…
Is Student Loan Debt Discouraging Homeownership among Young Adults
Amid concern that rising student loan debt has social and economic consequences for young adults, many suggest that student loan debt is leading young adults to forgo home buying. However, there is little empirical evidence on this topic. In this study, we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to estimate associations of student loan debt with homeownership, mortgage amount, and home equity. We use a variety of methodologic…
The harder they fall? Sex and race/ethnic specific suicide rates in the U.S. foreclosure crisis
Locked Out of the Labor Market? State-Level Hidden Sentences and the Labor Market Outcomes of Recently Incarcerated Young Adults
Cody Warner a, Joshua Kaiser b, Jason N. Houle c, Locked Out of the Labor Market? State-Level Hidden Sentences and the Labor Market Outcomes of Recently Incarcerated Young Adults, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 1, The Criminal Justice System as a Labor Market Institution (March 2020), pp. 132-151
Getting sick and falling behind
BACKGROUND: An emerging literature shows that mortgage strain can lead to poor health outcomes, but less work has focused on whether and how health shocks influence mortgage distress. We examine the link between changes in health status and default/foreclosure risk among older middle-aged adults. METHOD: We used National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 data and multivariate logistic regression models to examine the relationship between changes i…
Rising Household Debt and Children’s Socioemotional Well-being Trajectories
Debt is now a substantial aspect of family finances. Yet, research on how household debt is linked with child development has been limited. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort and hierarchical linear models to estimate associations of amounts and types of parental debt (home, education, auto, unsecured/uncollateralized) with child socioemotional well-being. We find that unsecured debt is associated with growth i…
The Image in the Mirror and the Number on the Scale
Double jeopardy and health congruency theories suggest that adolescents' joint experience of their weight and weight perceptions are associated with depressive symptoms, but each theory offers a different prediction about which adolescents are at greatest risk. This study investigates the proposed associations and the applicability of both theoretical perspectives using data from 6,557 male and 6,126 female National Longitudinal Study of Adolesce…
Children with disabilities and trajectories of parents' unsecured debt across the life course
I Didn't Recognize It as a Bad Experience until I was Much Older
Analyzing interview data from 33 women and men, we examine how perceptions of sexual harassment are linked to age, experience, and historical context. Participants described workplace experiences from adolescence into their late twenties. Three themes emerged. First, as adolescents, respondents perceived some of the sexualized interactions they experienced at work as fun. Second, while participants did not define some of their early experiences a…
Flu and Finances
Objectives. We examined the association between influenza outbreaks in 83 metropolitan areas and credit card and mortgage defaults, as measured in quarterly zip code–level credit data over the period of 2004 to 2012. Methods. We used ordinary least squares, fixed effects, and 2-stage least squares instrumental variables regression strategies to examine the relationship between influenza-related Google searches and 30-, 60-, and 90-day credit card…
Inequality in high-cost borrowing and unemployment insurance generosity in US states during the Covid-19 pandemic
The Foreclosure Crisis, Community Change, and the Cognitive Health of Older Adults
This study shows that the adverse consequences of home foreclosures spill over to the local community, with implications for the cognitive health of older adults
State and Regional Suicide Rates
U.S. suicide rates vary across the states and are higher in the American West than in other regions. Reasons for these patterns have eluded social scientists. This research note examines whether residential stability and population density as ecological contexts for social integration help explain the patterns. Reflecting Durkheimian reasoning, results suggest that residential stability helps explain both the high Western suicide rate and state s…
Are All Politics National? County-Level Social Contexts and Inequality Remediation Attitudes, 2006 to 2012
Despite growing economic inequality in recent decades, public support for government intervention to address it has been stable. A substantial literature has documented the individual-level demographic, social, and political characteristics that are associated with the extent to which individuals favor government intervention to reduce inequality. However, less work has examined how the local social environments that individuals are embedded in s…
Adolescent Weight and Depressive Symptoms
Objective. Adolescent weight and depressive symptoms are serious population health concerns in their own right and as they relate to each other. This study asks whether relationships between weight and depressive symptoms vary by sex and race/ethnicity because both shape experiences of weight and psychological distress. Methods. Results are based on multivariate analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data. Resul…
Debt Collection Pressure and Mental Health
The debt collection industry in the United States has grown in tandem with rising indebtedness. Prior research on debt and mental health mainly treats debt as a resource and liability rather than a power relationship between creditors and debtors. We study the mental health consequences of debt collection pressure using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1997 Cohort (N = 7,236). Drawing on stress theory and health power resources…
Criminal Justice Contact and Indebtedness in Young Adulthood
Contact with the American criminal justice system is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and financial insecurity, but little research has explored the link between criminal justice contact and indebtedness. In this study, we ask whether contact in young adulthood is associated with access to credit and unsecured debt burdens. We also focus on state-level policies that operate alongside official punishments and restrict citizenship and soc…
Adolescent Weight and Depressive Symptoms
Objective. Adolescent weight and depressive symptoms are serious population health concerns in their own right and as they relate to each other. This study asks whether relationships between weight and depressive symptoms vary by sex and race/ethnicity because both shape experiences of weight and psychological distress. Methods. Results are based on multivariate analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data. Resul…
Does intergenerational mobility shape psychological distress? Sorokin revisited
The Image in the Mirror and the Number on the Scale
Double jeopardy and health congruency theories suggest that adolescents' joint experience of their weight and weight perceptions are associated with depressive symptoms, but each theory offers a different prediction about which adolescents are at greatest risk. This study investigates the proposed associations and the applicability of both theoretical perspectives using data from 6,557 male and 6,126 female National Longitudinal Study of Adolesce…
The Impact of Sexual Harassment on Depressive Symptoms during the Early Occupational Career
Sexual harassment has been theorized as a stressor with consequences for the physical and mental health of its targets. Although social scientists have documented a negative association between sexual harassment and mental health, few longitudinal studies have investigated the association between sexual harassment and depressive symptoms. Using longitudinal survey data from the Youth Development Study, combined with in-depth interviews, this arti…
The psychological impact of intragenerational social class mobility
Depressive Symptoms and All-Cause Mortality in a Nationally Representative Longitudinal Study With Time-Varying Covariates
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and all-cause mortality in a longitudinal study with a nationally representative sample. Research has shown that depressive symptoms increase mortality risk, but results have been inconclusive regarding the role of physical health conditions in the relationship. This study asks whether the association between depressive symptoms and mortality exists independent of contemporaneous …
State and Regional Suicide Rates
U.S. suicide rates vary across the states and are higher in the American West than in other regions. Reasons for these patterns have eluded social scientists. This research note examines whether residential stability and population density as ecological contexts for social integration help explain the patterns. Reflecting Durkheimian reasoning, results suggest that residential stability helps explain both the high Western suicide rate and state s…
The Home Foreclosure Crisis and Rising Suicide Rates, 2005 to 2010
Objectives. We examined the association between state-level foreclosure and suicide rates from 2005 to 2010 and considered variation in the effect of foreclosure on suicide by age. Methods. We used hybrid random- and fixed-effects models to examine the relation between state foreclosure rates and total and age-specific suicide rates from 2005 to 2010 (n = 306 state-years). Results. Net of other factors, an increase in the within-state total forec…
Mental health in the foreclosure crisis
Disparities in Debt
In an era of rising college costs and stagnant grant-based student aid, many young adults rely on their parents' resources and student loans to pay for their postsecondary education. In this study I ask how parents' income and education are linked to young adults' student loan debt. I develop and test two perspectives regarding the functional form of the association between parents' income, parents' education, and student loan debt. I have four k…
I Didn't Recognize It as a Bad Experience until I was Much Older
Analyzing interview data from 33 women and men, we examine how perceptions of sexual harassment are linked to age, experience, and historical context. Participants described workplace experiences from adolescence into their late twenties. Three themes emerged. First, as adolescents, respondents perceived some of the sexualized interactions they experienced at work as fun. Second, while participants did not define some of their early experiences a…
Getting sick and falling behind
BACKGROUND: An emerging literature shows that mortgage strain can lead to poor health outcomes, but less work has focused on whether and how health shocks influence mortgage distress. We examine the link between changes in health status and default/foreclosure risk among older middle-aged adults. METHOD: We used National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 data and multivariate logistic regression models to examine the relationship between changes i…
Flu and Finances
Objectives. We examined the association between influenza outbreaks in 83 metropolitan areas and credit card and mortgage defaults, as measured in quarterly zip code–level credit data over the period of 2004 to 2012. Methods. We used ordinary least squares, fixed effects, and 2-stage least squares instrumental variables regression strategies to examine the relationship between influenza-related Google searches and 30-, 60-, and 90-day credit card…
Is Student Loan Debt Discouraging Homeownership among Young Adults
Amid concern that rising student loan debt has social and economic consequences for young adults, many suggest that student loan debt is leading young adults to forgo home buying. However, there is little empirical evidence on this topic. In this study, we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to estimate associations of student loan debt with homeownership, mortgage amount, and home equity. We use a variety of methodologic…
Young, Black, and (Still) in the Red
The harder they fall? Sex and race/ethnic specific suicide rates in the U.S. foreclosure crisis
Into the Red and Back to the Nest? Student Debt, College Completion, and Returning to the Parental Home among Young Adults
Rising student debt has sparked concerns about its impact on the transition to adulthood. In this paper, we examine the claim that student debt is leading to a rise in ''boomeranging,'' or returning home, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort and discrete time-event history models. We have four findings. First, student loan debt is not associated with boomeranging in the complete sample. However, we find that the a…
Children with disabilities and trajectories of parents' unsecured debt across the life course
Rising Household Debt and Children’s Socioemotional Well-being Trajectories
Debt is now a substantial aspect of family finances. Yet, research on how household debt is linked with child development has been limited. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort and hierarchical linear models to estimate associations of amounts and types of parental debt (home, education, auto, unsecured/uncollateralized) with child socioemotional well-being. We find that unsecured debt is associated with growth i…
Racial Disparities in Student Debt and the Reproduction of the Fragile Black Middle Class
A nascent literature recognizes that student loan debt is racialized and disproportionately affects youth of color, especially black youth. In this study, the authors expand on this research and ask whether black-white disparities in student debt persist, decline, or increase across the early adult life course, examine possible mechanisms for changes in racial disparities in student debt across early adulthood, and ask whether racial disparities …
Trajectories of Unsecured Debt across the Life Course and Mental Health at Midlife
In this paper, we contribute to a growing literature on debt and mental health and ask whether patterns of unsecured debt accumulation and repayment over two decades are associated with depressive symptoms at age 50. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 Cohort and group trajectory models, we have three key findings. First, we find substantial heterogeneity in debt trajectories across the life course. Second, respondents w…
Locked Out of the Labor Market? State-Level Hidden Sentences and the Labor Market Outcomes of Recently Incarcerated Young Adults
Cody Warner a, Joshua Kaiser b, Jason N. Houle c, Locked Out of the Labor Market? State-Level Hidden Sentences and the Labor Market Outcomes of Recently Incarcerated Young Adults, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 1, The Criminal Justice System as a Labor Market Institution (March 2020), pp. 132-151
Criminal Justice Contact and Indebtedness in Young Adulthood
Contact with the American criminal justice system is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and financial insecurity, but little research has explored the link between criminal justice contact and indebtedness. In this study, we ask whether contact in young adulthood is associated with access to credit and unsecured debt burdens. We also focus on state-level policies that operate alongside official punishments and restrict citizenship and soc…
The Foreclosure Crisis, Community Change, and the Cognitive Health of Older Adults
This study shows that the adverse consequences of home foreclosures spill over to the local community, with implications for the cognitive health of older adults
Trajectories of unsecured debt and health at midlife
The amount, timing, and duration of unsecured debt accumulation and repayment have important health implications and may exacerbate midlife health inequalities
Economics (21 works) · Psychology (18 works) · Demographic economics (16 works) · Medicine (16 works) · Demography (14 works) · Finance (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Debt (11 works) · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis (11 works) · Gerontology (10 works)