Parental Financial Assistance and Psychological Well-Being Among Korean Emerging Adults: Pressure from and Fulfillment of Parental Career Expectations as Mediators

Abstract

Many emerging adults receive parental financial assistance (PFA) to prepare for their future and career, but it can also be a psychological burden through parental career expectations. The purpose of this study was to examine whether actual PFA (APFA) and the evaluation of PFA (EPFA) were associated with Korean emerging adults’ psychological well-being both directly and indirectly through pressure from and the fulfillment of parental career expectations. Our data came from 1,107 never-married Korean emerging adults (593 women; 19-34-year-olds) who had at least one living parent. Structural equation modeling indicated that APFA was directly associated with higher life satisfaction while EPFA was directly related to both depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Pressure from parental career expectations alone mediated the relationship between APFA/EPFA and depressive symptoms. The indirect relationship between APFA/EPFA and life satisfaction was also significant when pressure from career expectations and fulfillment of career expectations were sequential mediators.