Study: Americans Have Trouble Dealing With Debt

A new study has determined young Americans are more negatively affected by credit card debt, while U.S. citizens as a whole are undereducated about the financial impacts of credit.

The study, completed by Michelle Barnhart of Oregon State University and Lisa Penaloza of Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales du Nord of France discovered most Americans suffer from a lack of financial knowledge.

The survey, which began in 2006, involved 27 white, middle-class Americans, and examined their financial habits. In 2008, more than 9 percent of American income was used to pay for debt. In addition, approximately 24 percent of homes in the United States had poor mortgages in 2010.

"Over time, credit card use and heavy debt has become normalized in our culture," Barnhart said. "Even though we say as a society, 'don't get in debt,' the overwhelming messages being sent out - from the way credit is used to approve or disapprove us for services to political leaders telling us to spend after a big disaster to prove our patriotism - all of this has created a culture of debt."

Many young people involved in the study did not want to open a line of credit, but felt that it was necessary in order to deal with the financial decisions involved with being an adult.