Women in their 20s and 30s are being forced into debt by a growing pressure to spend money, it has been suggested.

According to the Observer, a desire to emulate the lifestyles of celebrities has combined with peer pressure and easily accessible credit to cause some younger women to suffer financial problems.

Leanne Holder, spokeswoman for financial adviser Helm Godfrey, told the newspaper that credit used to be just for making large purchases.

"These days, we’re using our credit cards every day to fund clothes, weekends away, expensive restaurants and more extravagant lifestyles generally," she noted.

Last year, research published by Standard Life suggested younger people felt pressured to imitate the lifestyles of the celebrities they admired.

Anne Gunther, chief executive of the bank, commented that credit has become a tool for financing lifestyles rather than to meet essential needs.

There has been an increase in the debt problems affecting younger people from wealthier backgrounds, she noted.