The COVID-19 pandemic brought grave financial concerns for families in the United States as they attempted to navigate the multifaceted impacts of the pandemic. The present descriptive study examined Florida families' employment characteristics, credit card debt, savings characteristics, use of savings based on employment and income variables, and patterns of use of the first 2020 economic impact payment during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses to an online questionnaire were collected from 526 Florida residents, age 18 or older, who were parents of minor children during the time the study was conducted. Findings are indicative of varying financial impacts on families based on gender, marital status, income level, and employment status related to COVID-19. Implications are presented for employers, educators, researchers, policymakers, and families.

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Rural adolescents are transitioning to adulthood in the context of growing disparities. To advance research on the social, behavioral, and contextual factors that influence rural young adult development, this study conducted a scoping review. The review sought to identify how researchers defined rural and how/which theories guided their work; how they integrated the rural context into the research design and methods; and how they used variables, concepts, and outcomes to measure rural experiences. Included articles were published between January 2009 and November 2020, included young adults ages 18–29, measured adult role achievement and/or behavioral health outcomes and reported on these outcomes for young adults, and focused on a rural sample within the United States. A systematic search of four databases resulted in 25 empirical articles for the inductive, qualitative analysis. Most studies used atheoretical approaches focusing on outcomes related to adult social roles, substance use, and mental health. Five themes emerged focused on the definitions of rural, the level of integration into the research design and method, and variables salient to the rural experience. These results reveal that future research should clearly define the rural context and better integrate the rural context into the conceptualization, design, methods, and implications of the empirical research.

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