Navigating Financial Self-Sufficiency: The Role of Parental Financial Support in Emerging Adultsʼ Financial and General Well-Being and Development

Abstract

Many parents around the world continue to financially support their emerging adult children as the latter experience prolonged education and extended transition times to stable employment. This has made the path to financial self-sufficiency longer and more diversified. Some emerging adults achieve financial self-reliance quickly, while others rely on parents until their early thirties. Therefore, the pathways linking parental financial support to emerging adults’ financial and general flourishing and floundering have received considerable attention from researchers. First, this chapter examines the increasing role of parental financial support in contemporary societies. Second, it delves into how prolonged parental financial support promotes emerging adults’ financial wellness. Third, it discusses the role of family socioeconomic status in the form and level of financial support parents can provide. Finally, it addresses the negative effects of parental financial support on emerging adult children’s psychological well-being, developmental progression, formation of financial skills, and parent–child relationships.