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&lt;p&gt;A new study shows that when young people take on debt, they feel good and strong, like they can take on the world. The more debt 18-27 year olds take on, the higher their self-esteem. Empowerment through debt&amp;mdash;terrifying stuff. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Debt can be a good thing for young people&amp;mdash;it can help them achieve goals that they couldn&amp;rsquo;t otherwise, like a college education, said Rachel Dwyer, lead author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;border: 2px solid black; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Man%20Jumping%20in%20Office.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;600&quot; height=&quot;454&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Surely, though, a difference must be made between debt accrued on credit cards and debt amassed from student loans, right? That&amp;rsquo;s exactly what Dwyer and her colleague and co-author Randy Hodson thought at first. Educational debt good (investment in the future); credit card debt baaaad (encourages spending outside one&amp;rsquo;s means). That&amp;rsquo;s not how it works, it turns out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly, though, we found that both kinds of debt had positive effects for young people.&amp;nbsp; It didn&amp;rsquo;t matter the type of debt, it increased their self-esteem and sense of mastery.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not only that, the poorer the person, the bigger the self-esteem boost. The wealthy, with all their money and resources, were unaffected by debt, and the middle class, so used to taking on student loans only got a kick from credit card debt.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, the younger the person, the bigger the boost. Only around the age of 28 did the study&amp;rsquo;s subjects start to feel the weight of their debt. Which makes sense, the world not being as easy or life not as straight a shot as it seems when we&amp;rsquo;re young.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are still in your early-to-mid twenties, already bedebted, come from impoverished means and are considering taking on more debt, take a moment to think. You may feel like a god right now, but gods don&amp;rsquo;t have debt. And there&amp;rsquo;s a shelf-life to the feeling good&amp;mdash;about the time you start to feel like a real adult. Spend a few years seeing a large chunk of your paycheck go toward school loans every month and see how quickly that self-esteem falls. In the meantime, consider the fact that true self-esteem doesn&amp;rsquo;t come from the size of your loans. Your debt doesn&amp;rsquo;t define you. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[OSU Research News, via NYT]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[Photo: Flickr/dospaz]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/f_logo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;23&quot; height=&quot;23&quot;&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Like us on Facebook&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float: left;&quot; src=&quot;http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/follow_me-c.png&quot; alt=&quot;Follow VaultMBA on Twitter&quot; width=&quot;134&quot; height=&quot;23&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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