Financial Stress and Drinking During the Transition to Adulthood: The Role of Parental Financial Support

Abstract

We investigated the concurrent and prospective associations between financial stress and drinking during the transition to adulthood in the United States, drawing from two distinct stress and coping perspectives as competing explanations for the direction of associations: the Transactional Model of Stress and the Conservation of Resources (CoR) model. Because many emerging adults rely on continuing financial support from parents, we examined the role of parental support on these associations. We tested these associations using longitudinal structural equation modeling with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 9,026) collected at two time points: early emerging adulthood (ages 18–26) and 5 years later. Consistent with CoR, financial stress reduced concurrent drinking. Furthermore, parental financial support reduced adult children’s financial stress but increased drinking in early emerging adulthood. We discuss the findings in regard to facilitating the transition to adulthood.