Student loan debt represents an important phenomenon in the United States, as around 61% of bachelor's degree recipients graduate with a debt of over $28,100. Although studies emphasize that holding student loan debt delays the transition to adulthood in terms of marriage and home ownership, little is known about its impact on employment and this limited research offers, at best, equivocal evidence. The current study draws from Conservation of Resources theory to argue that student loan debt acts as a major financial stressor for new labor market entrants during job search. Using archival data from 1,248 graduating seniors from 4 geographically diverse universities in the United States collected in the context of a prospective study design, we found evidence for 2 countervailing mechanisms through which student loan debt may influence full-time employment upon graduation. On the one hand, college students who had student loan debt were more likely to experience financial strain, and subsequently more job search strain, which was negatively related to college seniors' odds of securing full-time employment upon graduation. On the other hand, this financial strain was also positively related to students' work hours while in the last semester of college, which was positively related to their odds of securing full-time employment upon graduation. Further mediation tests revealed that only the 3-stage indirect effect through job search strain (i.e., student loan debt → financial strain → job search strain → full-time employment) was statistically significant. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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大学毕业后全职工作的学生贷款债务是好是坏？

学生贷款债务是美国的一个重要现象，大约 61% 的学士学位获得者毕业时的债务超过 28,100 美元。尽管研究强调持有学生贷款债务会延迟在婚姻和房屋所有权方面向成年的过渡，但对其对就业的影响知之甚少，而且这项有限的研究充其量只能提供模棱两可的证据。当前的研究借鉴了资源保护理论，认为学生贷款债务是求职期间新进入劳动力市场的主要财务压力源。在前瞻性研究设计的背景下，使用来自美国 4 所地理位置不同的大学的 1,248 名应届毕业生的档案数据，我们发现了 2 种反补贴机制的证据，通过这些机制，学生贷款债务可能会影响毕业后的全职工作。一方面，背负助学贷款债务的大学生更有可能面临经济压力，随之而来的是更多的求职压力，这与大学毕业生在毕业后获得全职工作的几率呈负相关。另一方面，这种经济压力也与学生在大学最后一个学期的工作时间呈正相关，这与他们毕业后获得全职工作的几率呈正相关。进一步的中介测试表明，只有通过求职压力（即学生贷款债务→财务压力→求职压力→全职工作）的三阶段间接影响在统计上是显着的。讨论了这些发现的理论和实践意义。（PsycINFO 数据库记录 (c) 2020 APA，保留所有权利）。