Pathways to Independence: The Dynamics of Parental Support in the Transition to Adulthood

Economic independence from parents is increasingly delayed in the United States. This delay has implications for the timing and sequencing of other life transitions such as employment and marriage, and for inequalities in the support young adults receive. In this study, we leverage the Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Transition to Adulthood Supplement. Using sequence analysis, we examine how financial and co-residential support are embedded within the transition to adulthood. We study heterogeneity in support trajectories between and within families and disentangle the temporal order of transition milestones using Cox models. Confirming previous literature, parental economic support serves as both a scaffold for young adults' educational and economic pursuits and a safety net for struggling children. However, we also find evidence of more traditional, gendered pathways to economic independence linked to marriage: marriage facilitates economic independence, but for young men especially, achieving economic independence is an important precursor to marriage.