Shamshy Schlager
Financial Support and Emerging Adult Perceptions of Relationships with Parents and Development toward Adult Status
Chair: Eva Feindler, Ph.D.
Abstract
A dilemma that many parents face is whether to continue financial support for their emerging adult children once they have reached what has been determined to be the age of legal independence. A parent’s decision to continue or discontinue financial support to their adult child(ren) after he/she has reached the age of 18 may be contingent on a number of socioeconomic, demographic, philosophical, and psychological factors. The present study examined whether the degree to which emerging adults receive financial assistance from their parents predicts their current quality of relationship with their parents. Additionally, the relationship between the extent to which parents provide financial support to their emerging adult children, the parental bond between emerging adults and their parents prior to the age of 17, and emerging adults’ perception of their own development towards adulthood, was also explored. Participants in this study included 332 participants (102 males, 230 females) who were included in the demographic and quality of relationship analysis. Of these 332 participants, 189 (59 males, 130 females) were included in the regression analyses. All participants who were included in the regression were between the ages of 18 and 29 and indicated that they had at least one living parent at the time of their participation in the study. Stepwise linear regression analyses did not confirm the hypothesis that the degree to which emerging adults receive financial assistance from their parents would predict the current quality of relationships between emerging adults and their parents. Implications of the study and factors that potentially influenced the results of the study are also discussed.