Debt and relationships

My Ph.D. dissertation, completed in 2017, is called The Effects of Over-indebtedness on Interpersonal Relationships.

Researchers have paid significant attention to the economic and material deprivation caused by personal over-indebtedness. But the consequences for family, friends, and romantic partners have been neglected by comparison.

Many sociological and psychological studies demonstrate how crucial relationships with friends, family, and colleagues are in maintaining subjective well-being and mental health. In my dissertation, I conducted nearly 50 in-depth interviews to uncover detailed descriptions of how living with unmanageable personal debt damages these important relationships.

My research documents how those in debt often experience the breakdown of relationships with friends and family. I analyze how macro-economic policies surrounding consumer debt in Canada have led to a generation of indebted young people who cannot afford to get married, start families, or even date. Interview subjects reported feelings of shame, failure, depression and social isolation over their perceived inability to manage their debts. These feelings not only had a damaging effect on their relationships with others, but also a serious negative impact on subjects’ overall mental health and well-being.

My dissertation concludes by analyzing the policies that have been proposed to address this social and economic problem.

This research is relevant to those interested in:

• Consumer debt

• Macro-economic policy

• Mental health

• Social welfare

• Poverty

• Economic inequality

• Families

My full dissertation is available at http://research.library.mun.ca/id/eprint/12934

Electoral change

My Master’s thesis, completed in 2008, is called Rejecting electoral reform: The failed social movement to introduce proportional representation to the Prince Edward Island legislature.

For my Master’s project, I examined the 2005 failed attempt to introduce proportional representation to the Prince Edward Island legislature. Electoral reform is a recurring issue in Canadian politics, and recently appeared as a 2015 Liberal election promise.

I conducted over 50 interviews with politicians, community activists, and journalists, and then analyzed the organizational structure and actions of the respective “Yes” and “No” campaigns to uncover why PEI voters rejected the electoral reform initiative.

My research highlights the difficulties inherent in changing entrenched political systems. The provincial government was unenthusiastic about the proposed reforms and structured the plebiscite process to make change unlikely. The “Yes” side, whose members had little experience organizing political campaigns, was unable to formulate or communicate a convincing case for their cause. In addition, a perception that the Yes Coalition was left-leaning likely affected the coalition's credibility with some Islanders. Several Yes Coalition members were widely known to have taken controversial, unpopular, and very vocal stands on social and political issues in the past. This may have led some Islanders who might have supported electoral reform to uniformly distrust the coalition and its message.

This research is relevant to those interested in:

• Electoral reform

• Political communication/marketing

• Organizational structure

• Public relations

• Social movements

• Community activism

My full dissertation is available at http://research.library.mun.ca/id/eprint/8914