Introduction

We are currently seeing the largest and fastest growth in global debt since the 1970s (The World Bank, 2020). Following decades of financial deregulation and the increasing availability of credit, the proportion of people with loan-financed consumption and interest-bearing loans has increased. Alarms have been raised about a consumption crisis and a generation of young adults in unsecured debt (Lusardi, Mitchell & Curto, 2010, p. 359; Oksanen, Aaltonen & Rantala, 2016, p. 1198; Hohnen et al., 2020), and scholars have noted that debt is often closely related to life-course events (Poppe et al., 2016) and historically specific policy contexts (Hiilamo, 2018). In this article we present evidence from biographical interviews with young debtors (25–32 years), and expert interviews with welfare state debt advisors in Norway. Based on a life-course perspective (Elder et al., 2003), we seek to answer two research questions:

1. Which life-course events and decisions may lie behind the acquisition of debt?
2. How might young debtors act to get out of their debt situation in the wider life-course context of the transition to adulthood?

Through analysis of biographical interviews, we develop concepts and typologies which may be helpful in understanding youth debt as biographical processes intimately related to the life phase as young adults, and as intertwined with both circumstances of social class, gender and period-specific institutional contexts. The analysis directs attention to the social contexts surrounding young debtorʼs actions: the events in life that may cause one to take up debt, and the kind of life-course processes which ensue. Studying youth debt in a contextualist life-course perspective (Elder et al., 2003) provides nuance to more individualistic, moralistic, and static understandings. A life-course perspective can serve to bring out aspects which have hitherto received scarce attention in the research literature on youth debt: the centrality of the individualʼs interactions in significant relationships specific to time and place, set within the institutional contexts of their lives (Elder et al., 2003).

While we highlight the specificities of the Nordic welfare state context, we suggest that our analyses may be of broader relevance, since the central contextual factors in question – such as financial deregulation, increasing debt accumulation, and classed shame relating to financial mismanagement – have been noted in several other national contexts (see Farrugia et al., 2022).

Literature Review

Financial education for the population has been a focus area for the EU in recent years, partly due to research that has argued that a lack of financial literacy makes the population vulnerable to debt problems and financial exclusion (EESC, 2017). Within social science research, however, the featuring of individualsʼ financial literacy as a main cure to prevent debt problems has been criticized as individualistic. For instance, in the book Indebted, Zaloom (2019) shows how difficult it is for parents in the United States to finance education for their children, and how complicated and impenetrable the loan system can be. She concludes that individual financial competence will not solve the underlying structural issues and debt problems these parents and children are in.

Similarly, Barba and Pivetti (2009) relate increased debt in low- and middle-income households to changes in the income distribution following the deregulation of the financial markets. They believe that increased borrowing and payment problems are a result of attempts to attain and maintain the consumption patterns and lifestyle of high-income groups, and that debt problems are thus socially oriented (Barba & Pivetti, 2009). In a study of young people from the middle and upper-middle class in Denmark, Hohnen, Gram, and Jakobsen (2020) show how «debt» is associated with moralizing discourses of not being able to exert control of oneself, while «credit» is framed as a legitimate financial buffer for everyday finances. Their findings suggest a normalization of credit, and thus draw attention to the relation between debt problems and wider regulatory and cultural changes in credit card financing. They conclude that measures at the individual level are bound to be ineffective against increasing youth debt, and see a need for a more critical public debate on everyday credit use, and tighter regulation of credit offers (Hohnen et al., 2020).

Another important theme in the research literature is the relation between debt, shame and class. Bradshaw and Östberg (2019) discuss the ritualized shaming of people with payment problems in reality television. These programmes mobilize the figure of the feckless consumer, who has overspent, who must come to regard their consumption as stupid, and will therefore accept austerity (Bradshaw & Östberg, 2019). Reality television more generally has been found to individualize working-class problems and contribute to stigma (Wood & Skeggs, 2008; Tyler, 2020). The shame associated with welfare dependence is relevant for youth debt. As noted by Jones (2009), the transition to financial independence is a defining element for young people, and family resources constitute channels for structural advantage or disadvantage (Jones, 2009). The shame connected with not managing life-phase-specific expectations of becoming financial independent may thus be closely connected with social class.

The relevance of gender for understanding youth debt is suggested by Goodeʼs (2012) study of menʼs debt problems in the United Kingdom. Goode argues that in breadwinner cultures, where husbands and fathers are seen as having the main responsibility for the householdʼs finances, men may experience more anxiety and depression associated with debt problems, and thus avoid asking for help (Goode, 2012).

In sum, the research literature on youth debt suggests that historically and nationally specific regulation schemes are a central contextual factor. The increased availability of credit has provided opportunities for loan-financed spending, utilized disproportionately by young people with few financial means. A central topic in the literature has been the relationship between class, shame and gender. Building on this research, this article focuses on youth debt problems in a broader life-course context.

A Contextualist Life-Course Perspective on Debt

Millsʼs (1959/2000) notion of the sociological imagination as addressing issues in the intersection between history and biography was an important inspiration for the development of the life-course perspective from the 1960s onwards (see Elder et al., 2003). Life-course research is a multidisciplinary theoretical orientation to study individualsʼ lives over time, emphasizing the interplay between social change and individual development (Elder, 2007).

Several concepts from the life-course perspective are relevant for the current study. Life-course transitions denote individualsʼ and familiesʼ movements over their life course within socially constructed schedules. The major transitions that individuals go through are, for example, entering employment or getting married (Hareven & Masaoka, 1988). As suggested by our analysis, a debt problem can interrupt a young personʼs socially constructed schedule due to constrained opportunities, and thereby delay the timing of transitions. The timing of transitions can yield lifelong impacts on the life course (Elder et al., 2003). The term turning point refers to a point in an individualʼs life that can lead to an altering of direction through a change in life situation, meaning, or behaviour (Elder et al., 2003; Hareven & Masaoka, 1988). A turning point is not an isolated event, and all life-cycle transitions are potential turning points since they are subjectively defined (Hareven & Masaoka, 1988). Building on this, we suggest that realizing oneʼs debt problem can be seen as a turning point for the young people in this study.

Life-course events are age-specific events that an individual is expected to experience during specific periods given the historical context (Elder, 2007). A central point in Elderʼs paradigmatic book Children of the Great Depression was that events early in life may influence events later in life, though never in mechanistic ways independent of time and place (Elder, 1974). In each life-course phase, there are life-phase-specific expectations associated with achievements and anticipated events. Young people may, for instance, move out from their parentʼs home, complete education and have children, while at the same time be expected to become financially independent. There is much variation in the degree to which, and in the life-course timing with which, markers of adulthood are achieved and viewed, and this variation is closely related to both class and gender (Nilsen, 2021).

The Norwegian Context

Norway has comparatively low levels of wage inequality as compared with other countries, but profound levels of wealth inequality, and class-origin wealth gaps have increased over recent decades (Hansen & Toft, 2021). Its Nordic type of welfare state is characterized by extensive provision of free or affordable public services geared toward increasing employment, but also by marked inequalities between those who are in employment and those who are not (Kvist et al., 2012, p. 3). One such welfare service of special relevance here is a debt advisor service provided at the municipal level (Tufte, 2022). This was established in the 1990s, in the wake of the «debt crisis» of 1987–1993, with the mandate of providing financial guidance to people with insurmountable debt (Poppe, 2007, p. 20). In line with the availability of unsecured credit and the normalization of loan-financed consumption, the volume of unsecured debt has increased considerably in the 2000s (Statistics Norway, 2021). There has also been an increase in defaults on such loans, from 5% in 2014 to 20% in 2020 (Finanstilsynet, 2020). The probability of having unsecured debt has increased most in the younger half of the population (Poppe et al., 2019).

The Debt Settlement Act in Norway is intended to give people with serious debt problems an opportunity to gain control of their finances and facilitate debt negotiations through a voluntary or compulsory debt settlement with creditors. In Norway a debt settlement is normally for five years, and after this debt settlement period the remaining debt is cancelled. In order to obtain a debt settlement, the debtor must be deemed permanently unable to pay the debt. He or she must have attempted debt negotiations with the creditor(s) and the debt settlement must not be offensive to other debtors or society in general (Ministry of Children and Families Norwegian Government, 2021). Those who do not qualify for a debt settlement because their debt is not large enough, or not old enough (most of the debt must be over two years old), may have to wait and see the interest-bearing debt grow. This is a common predicament for young debtors. In the meantime, the free government debt advisor service can assist in making a repayment plan in collaboration with the creditors.

Methods and Data

In this study, two samples were recruited in and around larger cities in southern Norway. We conducted biographical interviews with young people and expert interviews with debt advisors. The interviews with young people provide data on their pathways into and out of insurmountable unsecured debt. The debt advisor interviews have been used to gain insight into the wider institutional context of youth debt problems in Norway. In the presentation of our analysis below, we primarily use excerpts from the debtor interviews since these pertain directly to the debtorʼs experiences and perspectives. This methodological choice is consistent with the studyʼs theoretical foundation in the life-course perspective. The desired age range among the debtors was between 18–29 years, but due to recruitment challenges, one interviewee was 32 years of age. After recruitment of young people with debt proved difficult, we decided to compensate participation with NOK 500 (€50) to attract interviewees. Interviewees were recruited through debt advisors and social media (mainly Instagram). Because of Covid-19 restrictions, seven of 13 interviews were conducted on a digital platform. The interviews lasted between 1 and 2.5 hours. In total, seven debt advisors (two men and five women) and six young people with debt problems (three men and three women) were interviewed. The relatively small number of debtor interviews reflects challenges in recruiting interviewees from what is a socially marginalized group. Shame and secrecy relating to debt problems may indeed partly explain the limited volume of previous research in this area. The young people interviewed in this project were in low-income occupations, if in employment at all.

Ethical concerns were addressed throughout the project. Although there are ethical dilemmas related to compensating interviewees in marginalized groups (Surmiak, 2020), we deemed compensation necessary in order to complete the project. Paying interviewees can also be done for more philosophical reasons (see Sandberg & Copes, 2013). This, in combination with the fact that most of the interviewees lived in poverty, made us especially conscious of our ethical obligations as researchers. Written and informed consent was collected before the start of all interviews. Transcripts were anonymized by the omission of identifiable characteristics. Participation was voluntary and the interviewees were informed of their rights to withdraw at any time (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014). The project proposal, project revisions, and the data storage plan were evaluated and approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (project no. 406167).

This study can be described as a case study in that it analyses rich information on a small number of cases (Gomm et al., 2000) of young people with unsecured debt in Norway. The specific form of case analysis used here can be referred to as comparative biographical case analysis (Brannen & Nilsen, 2011). This involves comparing data from biographical interviews with the aim of generating knowledge about relevant layers of social context. In this small-scale exploratory study, concept and theory development was a central goal (Brannen & Nilsen, 2011; Gobo, 2008; Gomm et al., 2000). More specifically, we present two three-fold typologies which are empirically derived. A typology consists of two or more ideal types which stand in relation to one another but are not mutually exclusive in the manner of a classification which «attempts to be complete and cover all the cases» (Swedberg, 2014, p. 76). A typology is a heuristic tool which approximates reality, and its types can thus not be expected to be found in pure form (Swedberg, 2014). In the analysis, common features in the young peopleʼs uptake of debt and handling of debt problems were identified. Concepts from life-course research, such as the concepts of «turning points» and «critical moments» were used in a sensitizing way, providing a direction in which to look rather than precise definitions of what to look for (Blumer, 1954). Interview excerpts from the cases were selected for presentation based on their relevance for addressing the research questions. As a small-scale exploratory project, our study has clear limitations. More firm conclusions would require more data and participants from multiple national contexts. Further, the article does not involve comparisons with youth without debt, or comparisons with older groups with debt. Whether our findings are relevant for other groups can thus only be determined through further research.

Analysis

As noted above, previous research on ways into debt has critically interrogated contemporary policy discourses focused on individual preferences and mismanagement (for instance Hohnen et al., 2020), but has been relatively silent on ways out of debt. In the following, we aim to contribute to a contextualized account of youth debt in a life-course perspective. We present two three-fold typologies, developed through analysis of our interview data, and suggest that ways into debt are characterized by three types of contextual factors: obligations, temptations, and expectations, while ways out are marked by three stages: realizing, sharing, and waiting.

Ways into Debt

Obligations

The necessity of taking on debt can stem from a lack of financial resources to meet obligations. Such obligations can be bills and expenses for food, for oneself and/or family members. For the interviewee Torill (born in 1995, 25 years of age at the time of interview), the problem had not been credit card debt, but unpaid bills. She had lived on social benefits from the welfare services (NAV) since she came of age. Social benefits are means-tested in Norway, and notably, no longer higher in the Nordic countries than in other European countries (Kvist et al., 2012). She moved out at the age of 15 and has since had bills to pay. When asked if she has used a credit card, she answers: «No, I have applied for it (laughs) and did not get it. Because of payment defaults and stuff. And thatʼs very good.» Her case illustrates both how individualsʼ life courses are shaped by experiences from early life phases, and that the timing principle is relevant for understanding individualsʼ lives and associated challenges (Elder, 2007). Torill is grateful that she quickly became non-creditworthy and believes the debt would have been much higher if she had been granted loans. Her unstable upbringing and background forced her to meet adult financial obligations, such as paying her own bills, at an early stage in the transition to adulthood. Because of the debt that ensued, she had not achieved normatively expected milestones in the transition to adulthood, such as for example completing upper secondary education within the normatively expected age span (Vogt, 2018), and thus struggled to gain social status as an independent adult (Nilsen, 2021).

The case of Sara (born 1993, 27 years old), illustrates the role of youth debt acquired through relational obligations to others such as family members or partners. It was her ex-boyfriend who led them to accumulate several million kroner in credit debt together. They have children together and she works full time as a skilled worker. Sara saw herself as financially responsible, paying bills well in advance and so on. The debt she now has was caused by her partnerʼs gambling addiction. The more she tried to fix the problems, the deeper she and her ex-boyfriend fell into debt:

So I would pay down the credit cards in order to get lower interest rates…. But the problem was that when I make down payments, the cards can be used again. And thatʼs what happened over and over. I would make down payments, and the next day, the cards would be up and running again.

Her down payments enabled her ex-boyfriend access to new loans, further deepening their debt problems. Her case also demonstrates how digital access to credit loans makes borrowing easy. Saraʼs partner appears to have abused her trust and used her contact information to finance his consumption. In other words, her way into insurmountable debt was closely related to her obligations as a partner and as a mother.

Temptations

The start of a debt spiral can also be closely related to the temptations of readily available credit. Kjetil (born 1995, 25 years old), a skilled worker, remembers his first credit loan well:

It all started when I was studying. I was sitting by myself a lot in front of the computer. So I thought I would check out if I could get a small loan or a credit card, just for the fun of it (…) I remember it said «Apply now». I remember thinking I would not get anything. And then I clicked the link, applied, and it said «processing» and then all of a sudden «You have been granted 5000 kroner». Everyone gets 5000, I didnʼt know that then. So I was like «What?» I had never had that much money before, only made small amounts. 5000 kroner! How is it possible? I felt rich.

When asked if he thought he would have to pay back, he answers: «No. I thought, when I got it, it was in a way money I had found». For Kjetilʼs part, taking out unsecured credit was like finding the treasure at the end of the rainbow. This is in line with the findings of McNeillʼs (2014) article on lack of concern regarding current debt among young people in New Zealand.

Some of the debt advisors emphasized that many of the young people who seek guidance from them live in the moment, give in to temptations by buying something today rather than saving, and fail to consider the long-term consequences of their financial actions. On the other hand, young peopleʼs ways into debt appear as closely related to wider challenges in the transition to adulthood and to period-specific lending norms and technology. The clear relevance of social class also poses a challenge to individualized accounts. The debt advisors themselves noted the role of family background, using phrases such as «debt is inherited» and «social background is inherited». Several of the young interviewees also spoke about how their parents struggled financially. This is in accordance with previous research emphasizing how young people from low-income families and young people with a low level of education are more exposed to debt problems than middle-class young people (Hohnen et al., 2020).

Kjetil had been subjected to a marketing strategy where according to him «apparently, everyone gets five thousand kroner» in credit card loans regardless of financial status. As he was not able to pay this back, this in turn led to more borrowing. This solution served only to deepen the problem. As in the case of Torill, Kjetilʼs debt problem is intertwined with his social relations. He and his friend both took out unsecured credit to finance a lifestyle they shared. Faced with the low period-specific availability of credit through online applications, he could not resist the temptation of quick money for consumption. He eventually gave up ever getting out of the situation, and this contributed to further deepening the debt spiral. When asked about why he eventually stopped borrowing, the answer was «I quit because I was not allowed to take any more. That was why I quit, otherwise, I would have continued».

Expectations

Lastly, and closely related to the obligations and temptations already accounted for, classed, gendered and period-specific expectations can be a powerful driving force behind young peopleʼs ways into debt. The shame and fear of not being in the «right» place in the transition to adulthood may be associated with failure, and this is then transformed into pressure to – a sense of «having to» – take out loans to meet expectations in the transition to adulthood.

Thomas (born 1988, 32 years old) is a skilled worker, divorced with two children. His debt is related to family life and the costs are related to maintaining an expected standard of living. His debt problems started with a credit card loan to cover the costs of baptism, but did not stop there:

And then we needed a family car. That was another 130,000 kroner. We paid down payments on that for a while, but then other things came up. We needed money for a vacation, one thing and the other, and so I got into taking new loans in order to make down payments on the loans I already had. And before long I couldnʼt borrow anymore and I couldnʼt pay either.

For Thomasʼs part, it was not an option to ask his parents for financial support, and it would also be a failure not to meet his partnerʼs expectations. He was the one with the stable job and found it hard to resist his partnerʼs need to fulfil social expectations related to motherhood:

We had to have all kinds of equipment that other parents had. She kept comparing us to people who were in their mid-thirties, both in full-time positions and the likes. I like to think that I tried to speak up, but at the same time, Iʼm pretty good at avoiding arguments.

Thomasʼs way into youth debt appears closely related to gendered expectations of motherhood and fatherhood. His partner felt the need to acquire an expensive stroller etc. for the children, because «everyone» else had it. Here we can see the contours of pressure flowing from middle-class consumption norms. For his part, the gendered expectations were associated with supporting his family financially and giving his partner what she needed to be like «all» the other mothers. The flip side of these expectations was the shame associated with not fulfilling them. Trying to avoid this shame drove them into a lifestyle that was not in line with the total household income, but rather based on the consumption level they perceived as necessary for a normal and successful family life. Thomasʼs experiences are in line with Goodeʼs (2012) study in which menʼs debt problems were associated with their inability to meet the social expectations of being a good breadwinner.

In sum, the cases of Torill, Sara, Kjetil and Thomas illustrate three different, but closely intertwined life-course contexts for ways into youth debt: obligations, temptations and expectations. In order to live up to these social demands, the interviewees had chosen what they saw as the best available alternative and, given the regulations that were in place in Norway in the 2010s, this had been unsecured credit with high interest rates.

Ways Out of Debt

Our goal of understanding youth debt in the life-course context also entailed investigating ways out of debt. Whereas our intervieweesʼ accounts of their ways into debt were largely retrospective, questions about ways out pertained more to their lives at the time of the interviews. In the following we propose that young peopleʼs ways out of debt may be conceptualized as a contextualized process characterized by three stages: realizing, sharing, and waiting.

Realizing

When a young person is denied more loans, they can either pay the debt or leave it alone. With compound interest as the catalyst, the result in many situations will be the same – the loan will be unaffordable. In the cases we interviewed, being denied more loans had often sparked the first step on the way out of debt: realizing the problem. They typically realized the seriousness of the situation when quick solutions such as refinancing were excluded. Sara (27 years old) explained:

Eventually I sat down and tried to get an overview. And it really hit me like a tonne of bricks (…) I knew it was a lot, but I had no idea it was that much.

Sara had known she was in debt due to her partnerʼs gambling addiction and associated borrowing from her repeated attempts to refinance the loans for lower interest rates. But she did not know the extent of the debt problem. Kjetil realized the extent of his problem only when the authorities began to consider sending him in prison due to his unpaid government debt. When he received the letter, it was as if «life passed before my eyes». Thomas realized the extent of his problems while watching the reality television programme Luksusfellen (“The Luxury Trap») about financial mismanagement.

I was watching Luksusfellen back then and remember thinking «dear god, what idiots». And now, I canʼt stand to watch it. Because what they have in debt is often less than what I have. (…) It makes me sick to my stomach, watching it now only reminds me that I am worse than they are.

When Thomas realized he was «worse» than the people with debt problems who were being displayed for entertainment, he felt ashamed. As noted in previous research (Bradshaw & Östberg, 2019; Wood & Skeggs, 2008) reality television can serve to stigmatize people with financial problems for the sake of entertainment.

Sharing

The next step on these young peopleʼs ways out of debt can be conceptualized as sharing. The interviewees described the high emotional and mental costs associated with hiding the debt problem from others, and especially of not being able to follow normative patterns of consumption. The debt advisors described how, for young people from families with economic resources available, sharing could take the form of financial assistance – for instance, fathers paying off their young adult childrenʼs debt. For our interviewees, however, the sharing on offer was more emotional and relational. They described sharing the mental burden of the debt problem as a relief, whether it was with family members, close friends/colleagues or a debt advisor. In the short term, sharing could ease the burden of constantly finding new excuses not to participate in social events.

Several of the interviewees had been surprised at how their friends and family had reacted when finding out about their debt problems. Thomas told a friend about the debt problems and was surprised by his kindness:

After I told him, a friend of mine helped me. He gave me ten thousand kroner to pay for a car repair bill, after I opened up to him about it all. He had just had a good year, was sitting on some money, said he wanted to help me. I donʼt cry often, but I did then. I had never experienced anything like that, having someone do that for you. Just give me, hand me money like that, to help me out. That really made an impression on me.

Relief from sharing could also take place in meetings with debt advisors. Several debt advisors described it as their job to give the young people an extra push to realize the severity of their situation. Kjetil said of one such session that «it was hard to face reality», but he was at the same time relieved to get help with a concrete plan for what had to be done.

The debt advisors told of other cases where parents would come with a young person to the debt advisorʼs office and repay the debt with a single transfer. Torill and several others, however, had not been so fortunate. They were left with emotional and relational forms of sharing, which could make them feel less ashamed and alone in the debt problem, but would not necessarily bring them closer to being able to meet creditorsʼ demands.

Waiting

Waiting appears in our data as the last phase of young peopleʼs ways out of debt. In a wider life-course context, the lives of young people with debt problems are marked by waiting to become full (creditworthy) members of society. The strain of waiting is compounded by exclusion from social consumption activities, and by digital exclusion caused by defaulting on payments.

For people with debt that they cannot realistically repay, the best option in Norway is to apply for a debt settlement. For Sara, a debt settlement was the only solution that might have allowed her ever to have a manageable financial life. At the time of the interview, she was finally approaching the point of applying:

We have had to wait until the majority of our debt is more than two years old. And that is coming up now. They have said all along that I could apply at the end of this year (…) When I started preparing to apply there was one year waiting time for approval, but now the waiting time is two years. So itʼs all a drag, but after all, waiting for like eight years is still better than having to live like this for the rest of my life.

As noted above, in order to be granted a debt settlement in Norway, the debt needs to be «old enough». In addition, there are periods of waiting for various applications to be processed. Waiting to apply, waiting for approval, and then completing the debt settlement in five years, can amount to many years during the transition to adulthood.

The interviews provide data on how young debtors experienced waiting while on the way out of debt. The interviewees described many social settings as premised on joint (costly) consumption – such as having a cup of coffee together. The social exclusion associated with waiting seemed to apply to both traditional face-to-face interaction and to digital spaces. The interviewees described not being able to choose cheaper alternatives for services (electricity, tolls, mobile subscriptions, etc.). Since Thomas has unpaid debt, he is denied access to a beneficial road toll deal for when he drives his car.

My internet was cut, but we managed to scrape up enough to sort that out (…) The first priority is always those things that I need to be able to live an ordinary life. Like you know the road toll deal, where you have to pay up front to get it. With me driving to and from work every day, I end up paying twice the amount of what I would have to if I had the toll deal.

While compelled to wait for long periods without a clear end date, the interviewees found it hard to develop plans, hopes and dreams for the future (Nilsen, 1999). Thomas found it difficult to imagine an «ordinary life», and felt he was a long way off from setting goals for the future. Living like he did, with a low level of consumption, was acceptable to him personally, but he was distressed about how it affected his children and his role as a father:

For you know I can eat toast with low-price ham three days a week, no problem. But I canʼt serve that to the kids. (…) Itʼs not right that they should suffer for my mistakes. I donʼt like having to tell them at the store that «No, we canʼt buy that because I canʼt afford it». So when they are with me, we often end up spending the weekend at my parentʼs place».

For Thomas, the strain of waiting was compounded by his responsibilities and ideals as a father and provider. While waiting to apply for a debt settlement, he was also waiting to support his children in the way he wanted.

Torill described this type of waiting as being «outside» of society for many years. She compared herself to her age-peers and said that «I am not at the point they are at». In life-course theory terms, she felt out of sync with the normative transitions that someone her age «should» have gone through (Hareven & Masaoka, 1988). She felt ashamed for not having met historically specific age-based expectations, in addition to the stigma associated with «welfare dependence» and not being a «self-sufficient» young adult (Jones, 2009). While waiting, much of her time was spent navigating both the credit system and the welfare system as she tried to shorten the waiting time. She was motivated to pursue qualifications but was stopped by the debt burden and queue in the welfare system:

But right now I am sort of on hold (…) Iʼm waiting for answers from the welfare agency, and this is slow, of course. And then there is the pandemic slowing things down even more. (…) So Iʼm just waiting and waiting and waiting.

Discussion

Our analysis brings out the potential of a life-course perspective in understanding the place and role of youth debt within wider transitions to adulthood. We have suggested that ways into unsecured debt are characterized by three types of contextual factors: obligations, temptations, and expectations, while ways out are characterized by three stages: realizing, sharing, and waiting. Both the ways in and out appear closely linked to period-specific demands felt in contemporary transitions to adulthood. The young people interviewed had made use of whatever resources for action were available when the need for money was felt strongly enough. Unsecured debt thus comes across as closely related to the availability of credit in specific institutional contexts of time and place.

The availability of unsecured credit through online applications with instant feedback is clearly a central feature of the period-specific institutional context in which these young people have taken out loans in Norway in the 2010s. Debt has the potential to enable young people from less advantaged backgrounds to partly fill the income gap and thus conform with the normative consumption patterns of the middle and upper classes.

Much like the ways into debt, ways out of debt over the life course also appear to depend largely on the availability of financial resources in the family. The central determining factor was not primarily willpower or financial literacy, but the presence or absence of financial resources. The young people interviewed in this project were in low-income occupations, if in employment at all, and most did not have a financially resourceful family that could bail them out and leave it as a financial «lesson». Those who were not in a position to share the financial costs of getting rid of the debt with anyone were compelled to spend long periods of the life course waiting to get out of debt. They were also the ones who most strongly felt the shame associated with moralizing discourses emphasizing saving and austerity (Bradshaw & Östberg, 2019). The debt problem in itself carried the shame of not being able to meet the period-specific and life-phase-specific expectations associated with being an independent adult (Jones, 2009; Nilsen, 2021). These period-specific – and partly unrealistic – expectations of transition into self-sufficient adulthood add to the shame felt by young people in insurmountable debt. In line with Millsʼs general critique (1959/2000), youth debt thus appears as an area in which what are in fact social issues – related to digital accessibility and to societal distribution of economic resources – are framed as «private troubles».

In life-course perspective terms, our case study also suggests that close relationships are important for both ways into and ways out of debt over the life-course. The lives of our debtor interviewees appeared closely «interlinked» (Elder et al., 2003) to the lives of close relatives and friends, for better and for worse. Relationships with others could get them into debt, but also help them get out. The wider implication of this observation is that young people are not as independent in their acquiring and handling of debt problems as individualistic accounts may suggest.

The realizing and sharing found to be central in the initial stages of the ways out of youth debt may be seen as instances of «turning points» (Hareven & Masaoka, 1988). The emotional and cognitive relief associated with both realizing and sharing could stave off the paralyzing effects of having to carry insurmountable debt by oneself. Sharing came across as a potential antidote to moralizing discourses of individual responsibility and stigma. Facilitating realizing and sharing can be one of the functions of debt advisor services.

The interviewees descriptions of extensive waiting suggest that youth debt is closely related to postponement of normative milestones in the transition to adulthood. They generally longed to move on, but various challenges relating to their debt problems forced them to stand still. While waiting for debt settlements, or for responses to applications, etc., they were not able to keep up with age-peers in terms of consumption or saving. And, not least, waiting to get out of debt seemed to inhibit plans, hopes and dreams for the future (Nilsen, 1999). One might say the young debtors thus experienced what has been termed a «piling up» (Elder et al., 2003, p. 12) of unreached life-course milestones in the transition to adulthood. The wider implication of the pervasive waiting uncovered here, is that young people with debt problems are compelled to pay back not only financially, but in the form of an institutionalized waiting phase in the life course.

In sum, this analysis suggests that ways into and out of youth debt are embedded in contexts of social inequality. Seen from a life-course perspective, youth debt in Norway may be related to social class, gender and period-specific context. Our study shows how this perspective can serve to highlight the ways in which young peopleʼs debt problems are intertwined with their social relationships and with the historically high availability of credit. The analysis presented here can potentially shed new light on wider debates concerning the individual and social implications of financial (de)regulation and austerity policies.