No abstract

The extension of parental financial support into young adulthood has fueled concerns in the U.S. about young people’s development of independence and responsibility—financial and otherwise. This study draws on data from the Transition to Adulthood Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine young people’s self-assessments of these qualities as well as their financial concerns. The findings indicate that receiving financial support from families was negatively associated with young adults’ assessments of their independence and how much financial responsibility they have for themselves. It was also associated with more frequent worrying about money. Panel models offered no support for the argument that such associations result from financial assistance undermining these accomplishments, instead indicating that financial assistance is in some cases beneficial. In contrast, earlier assessments of these qualities and concerns predicted later receipt of financial support, supporting more of a selection argument.

This research investigates the association between body size and key indicators of well-being for adolescents (i.e., self-rated health, mental health, and life satisfaction), and simultaneously tests two social mechanisms that may explain these relationships: stigma enacted as bullying victimization and body image, representing the “outside” and “inside” views of the body, respectively. This study tested these relationships using the United States Health Behaviors in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2009/2010 data set ( N = 12,210). Results demonstrated that larger body size is associated with reduced well-being on all the indicators studied as well as higher levels of bullying victimization and worse body image. However, body image predominantly mediates the relationship between body size and well-being. The study broadens the empirical base on whether body size is linked to well-being for adolescents, clarifies the role of two important social mechanisms, and indicates that body image is critical to understanding the effects of body size.