Consumer Attitudes to Debt

What it measures

An economic psychology instrument measuring the evaluative and normative orientations that shape consumer debt behaviour. Lea, Webley & Walker (1995) situated consumer debt within a broader framework of money management and economic socialisation, demonstrating that attitudes toward debt are empirically distinct from actual indebtedness — consumers with positive debt attitudes and high normalisation of debt are more likely to carry revolving credit balances, use buy-now-pay-later services, and underestimate total debt obligations. ATD captures the functional-evaluative dimension (is debt a useful financial tool?); DN captures descriptive normalisation (is debt common and acceptable in society?); DI captures the moral-stigma dimension (is being in debt a sign of personal failure or social inferiority?). DI is negatively correlated with ATD and DN and is more prevalent in older cohorts and cultures with strong savings norms. ATD and DN predict credit card adoption, instalment purchase behaviour, and willingness to finance consumer durables; DI predicts avoidance of credit products and reluctance to disclose financial difficulties to advisors. The scale is widely used in consumer financial psychology, credit marketing, and financial wellbeing research.

Response format

5-point Likert (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree); items averaged within each subscale

Scale items

Attitude toward Debt — ATD (5 items): general positive or negative evaluation of personal borrowing as a financial strategy. 5-point Likert (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Items averaged.

• It is sometimes necessary to borrow money to get what you want.
• Borrowing is a sensible way to manage your finances.
• There are times when it makes sense to go into debt.
• Borrowing money can be a practical solution to financial problems.
• Debt is a reasonable way to finance large purchases.

Debt as Normal — DN (5 items): the degree to which debt is perceived as a socially ordinary and accepted aspect of consumer life. 5-point Likert. Items averaged.

• Most people I know have some form of debt.
• It is quite normal these days to owe money.
• Having debt is a common part of modern life.
• Most people use credit of some kind at some point in their lives.
• Debt is a fact of life for most consumers today.

Debtor as Inferior — DI (5 items): moral stigma and negative social evaluation associated with being in debt. 5-point Likert. Higher scores = greater debt stigma. Items averaged.

• People in debt have only themselves to blame.
• Being in debt is a sign of poor personal character.
• I would be ashamed if people knew I was in debt.
• People who get into debt are irresponsible with money.
• A person in debt cannot be fully trusted to manage money well.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

DI items should be examined for ceiling/floor effects in younger samples where debt stigma has declined markedly since the 1990s — consider updating normative referents. The scale was validated on UK adults; cross-national replication is needed given substantial cultural variation in debt norms (e.g., US vs. Northern European attitudes to consumer credit). In financial services research, ATD and DN are useful segmentation dimensions for targeting credit product marketing and financial counselling interventions. Pair with money attitude measures (MAS, Yamauchi & Templer 1982; id:513) for a comprehensive consumer financial psychology profile. When used alongside actual debt levels, partial out socioeconomic status to isolate attitudinal effects.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Lea, S.E.G., Webley, P., & Walker, C.M. (1995). Psychological factors in consumer debt: Money management, economic socialisation, and credit use. Journal of Economic Psychology, 16(4), 681–701.

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