Social norms and expectations regarding marriage or childbearing while in debt—or with an indebted partner—may explain links between student loans and lower family formation rates. This study analyzes an original survey of college students (N = 2,990) at two universities examining how student loans will, would, or should affect romantic relationship and family formation decisions. A significant minority believed marriage should be delayed and nearly half believed childbearing should be delayed when people have student loan debt. Many reported they would hesitate to marry someone with high student debt, their loans would delay family formation, and they would form families earlier if their debt were forgiven. Those with loan debt and higher debt were more willing to partner with those who had high student debt. Women were less likely to believe people should delay childbearing and marriage because of loans, but more hesitant to marry a partner with high student debt. Findings suggest social norms underlie childbearing and marriage delays among those with loans, and student loan debt creates a class divide among the highly educated.

中文翻译：

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关于学生贷款和家庭组建的社会规范和期望

社会规范和关于在负债期间或与负债伴侣结婚或生育的期望可以解释学生贷款与较低的家庭形成率之间的联系。本研究分析了对两所大学的大学生 (N = 2,990) 的原始调查，研究学生贷款将如何、将会或应该如何影响浪漫关系和家庭形成的决定。相当一部分人认为应该推迟结婚，近一半的人认为当人们有学生贷款债务时应该推迟生育。许多人报告说，他们会犹豫与学生债务高的人结婚，他们的贷款会延迟家庭组建，如果他们的债务被免除，他们会更早组建家庭。那些有贷款债务和更高债务的人更愿意与那些有高学生债务的人合作。女性不太可能相信人们应该因为贷款推迟生育和结婚，但更犹豫要嫁给学生债务高的伴侣。调查结果表明，社会规范是贷款人生育和结婚延迟的基础，而学生贷款债务在受过高等教育的人中造成了阶级鸿沟。