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The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
The transition to adulthood in Western societies, termed emerging adulthood (EA), holds new challenges for family relationships across and within generations. Drawing on Self Determination Theory and Bowens’ Family systems theory, this study examines the combined contribution of personal resources and relationships with parents and friends to satisfaction with life among young Israeli adults. It also examines the possible change in parental support that occurs with increasing age. A convenience sample (n = 572) of young Jewish Israeli adults (18–29 years) completed structured questionnaires. Using regression analysis, we modelled the associations between personal and support variables to life satisfaction as well as the interactions between age and parental support. The findings reveal that young women reported receiving more parental support than young men. Commitment to values and beliefs and greater support from friends make a positive contribution to life satisfaction. High parental support impairs life satisfaction as age increases. The study extends Bowens’ theory to understand the developmental stage of young adulthood and emphasize on the practical level that therapists need to familiarize themselves with the protective variables at this stage of life and the changing role of parental support.
Keywords: emerging adulthood, family systems theory, life satisfaction, social support, parental support, personal resources, self-determination theory
The transition to adulthood in Western societies, termed emerging adulthood (EA), holds new challenges for family relationships across and within generations [1]. Until about thirty years ago, it was commonly believed that parental support reached its climax in adolescence, in parallel with the process of identity formation [2]. The understanding that this transition may be a lengthier process, occurring at ages 18–29 [3], has changed both research and therapeutic views on the journey to adulthood. This issue has become more significant since the outbreak of COVID 19, which has created changes in the family structure and employment status of young adults around the world [4].
One of the key understandings in this regard is that relationships with parents continue to be significant even beyond adolescence [5] and that parent–child interaction and experiences with friends, along with personal resources, may contribute to the young adult’s satisfaction with life, which is an important aspect of adjustment [6]. However, despite the clinical understanding about the integrated role of the individual’s relationships, alongside their personal resources, only a few studies have been conducted to date with young adults in order to identify the main determinants of life satisfaction in this stage of life [7]. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, these variables have not been examined in the context of young adults in Israel, who are the focus of the current study.
Given the cultural context in which young adults live, they are critically impacted by the manner in which they experience their transition to adulthood and by the results of this transition [8]. Israel embodies individualistic and collectivistic values existing in tandem. On the one hand, it is considered a developed, Western country that emphasizes the needs of the individual. At the same time, the country holds dear collectivistic values, attaching great importance to family and community. This duality appears to be the product of Israel’s history and its establishment in the aftermath of the Holocaust [8]. Further, young israeli adults of both genders are required to serve in the army for a period of two to three years, providing them with an experience that is significant in terms of their future [9].
Our study is aimed at examining the combined contribution of personal resources (traumatic-stressful life events, self-mastery, identity formation) and relationship variables (financial and emotional support by parents and social support from friends) to satisfaction with life among young Israeli adults. In order to enable a more in-depth look at the relationship between young adults and their parents we sought to examine not only the nature of the association between their relationship and life satisfaction but also the change in the need for parental support as the young adult advances in age, a question that to the best of our knowledge has not been examined to date.
This question was raised in reference to Arnett’s theory [10], according to which young adults’ development stage may be conceived as an “in-between age”, during which they assume responsibilities and commitments but at the same time fail to perceive themselves as mature adults, while remaining dependent on their parents. This perception is challenged by social expectations of them: a previous study found that when young adults feel that they are not fulfilling society’s expectations, as commensurate with their age, their life satisfaction declines [11]. The hypotheses and questions formulated in the present framework were derived from two theories—Self-determination theory (SDT) [12,13], which emphasizes the contribution of personal and environmental resources to fulfilling the individual’s basic psychological needs and enhancing his life satisfaction; and Bowen’s family systems theory, which explains how potent relational forces ensure survival and facilitate less anxious physiological states that are crucial to wellness [14,15]. Life satisfaction is one of the most well-established indicators of general wellness and positive functioning [16], especially among young adults [9]. The concept refers to an individual’s cognitive assessment of how satisfied they are with their life in terms of the criteria they set themselves [16]. Some studies indicate that EA is characterized by an increase in satisfaction with life [17,18] and a decrease in negative affect in the form of depression and anxiety [1,10]. In contrast, others report a rise in mental problems [11,19].
A research conducted in 90 different countries also found gender differences in this regard, with women tending to have a higher subjective well-being compared to men [20]. Past research indicated that young women rely more on support from their environment than young men [21]. One explanation for this focuses on different cultural expectations from young men, who are perceived as being able to fend for themselves at this stage of life—unlike women, who are assumed to be supported by their partners [22].
The search for personal and supportive factors that may protect young adults at this developmental stage ties in with the claim of Bowen [14] that the individual’s developmental processes occur between two counterbalancing agents: togetherness and individuality [15]. Togetherness refers to the person’s ability to be in a meaningful relationship with others. Individuality represents the person’s ability to retain a coherent sense of self and a clear identity, even given his connections with others.
Bowen posited that functional families have a higher capacity for containing the individual’s separation, while continuing to provide support and approval [23]. Therefore, the young adult’s supportive relationships at this stage in life are of great significance, although importance is also attached to personal resources [6]. A number of studies on young adults revealed a developmental advantage for those with stronger personality resources [10,17]. The importance of these variables is emphasized, especially for those with previous exposure to traumatic-stressful life events, such as accidents, violence and terror attacks; these could lead to a developmental deficit and a more intense experience of developmental stress [24,25], thereby reducing satisfaction with life [26].
Bowen [14] claimed that the ability to be flexible and act wisely, even in situations of anxiety and stress, is associated with an individual’s personal and relationship resources [14]. The instability that characterizes EA may be mitigated by a strong sense of self-mastery, which may serve as a protective factor [17,27]. Self-mastery, one of the personal resources on which we chose to focus, is defined as the individual’s sense that they can influence circumstances and events in their life [28]. According to the theory of self-determination It refers to a feeling of competence, and a desire to be effective and in control of the development process using new skills [29]. A high sense of self-mastery at this stage of life was found to be associated with less emotional distress and greater life satisfaction [30].
One of the individual’s most significant psychological needs according to the theory of self-determination is the need for autonomy, namely, the desire to feel intrinsically free to act and make one’s own decisions [12]. This need is in keeping with the second variable we chose—Identity formation. Marcia [31] claimed that the status of identity achievement is measured by the individual’s position with respect to two dimensions: exploration and commitment. Exploration relates to the degree to which young adults consider the direction their life should take, while exploring different roles and commitments—this being a measure of the degree to which they are committed to their choices, or the extent to which their life choices reflect their values and beliefs [32]. As regards commitment, the findings of a cross-cultural study indicate that well-being is consistently associated with high commitment, high in-depth exploration, and low reconsideration of commitment [33].
The third psychological need to which the theory of self-determination refers is relatedness. Meaning the need to belong and be part of a group [34].
In the framework of the young adult’s relationships, we chose to focus on two aspects that are perceived as important at this developmental stage: parents [35,36], and friends [11]. Parents can influence their offspring’s life satisfaction through various types of support [37], including financial support and different levels of emotional support, such as advice, comforting and listening [36,38]. Many young adults feel that their parents are too involved in their lives, whether they live at home or elsewhere [10]. Nevertheless, the literature contains conflicting findings regarding the contribution of the family in general, and parents in particular, to young adults’ development [10,39]. According to studies in Southern European countries, young adults report that they feel satisfied with their dependence on emotional and financial support from their parents [40], although, to the best of our knowledge, the differential contribution of each type of support to the life satisfaction of young adults has not yet been measured. The present study is intended not only to answer this lacuna, but also to understand in greater depth whether the importance of parental support changes as a function of age, i.e., whether advancing age in the young adults affects their need for parental emotional and/or financial support.
In this regard a study encompassing five counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and four counties in New Jersey reported a correlation between intensive parental support and better psychological adjustment [38], Another study in which the majority of youngsters identified their ethnicity as European American/White found that when young adults are at an age where they are expected to live independently, and that expectation was not met, they reported lower well-being [11].Moreover, in light of the findings that social relations and friendship networks are a major source of satisfaction with life [41,42], together with parental support [43,44], the current study also focused on the support that participants received from their social networks. The importance of support from friends among young adults is discussed extensively in the literature [11,45]. For example: lack of social support among university students was found to be associated with increased stress [46] and more suicidal ideation [47]. In the present study, as stated above, our aim was to expand the understanding regarding the combined contribution of support from parents and friends.
In light of the literature review, we hypothesized that differences in life satisfaction will be found between men and women, with women being more satisfied with life than men (Hypothesis 1). We also hypothesized that differences will be found between men and women in the level of support relationships, with women relying more on parents’ emotional and financial support, as well as social support from friends, than men (Hypothesis 2).
Two research questions were formulated: (1) What is the unique contribution of personal resources (traumatic-stressful life events, self-mastery and identity formation), together with financial and emotional support from parents and supportive relations with friends, to the explained variance in young adults’ satisfaction with life? and (2) What is the moderating role of financial and emotional parental support in the relationship between young adult’s age and satisfaction with life?
Our study was conducted in 2018. Approvals were obtained from the ethics committee of Bar-Ilan University (022102). The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. A total sample size of 98 participants was needed, as determined by G*Power for this study design with six predictor variables (setting the a priori effect size of 0.15, p-level to 0.05, power to 0.80). As we wanted to add background variables as covariates and explore possible interactions, and assuming 10% attrition, it was determined that a minimum of 150 participants was needed.
A total of 600 young Jewish Israeli adults received a set of structured questionnaires as well as written information about the study through social networks. No remuneration was offered for their participation. After eliminating incomplete questionnaires and those that did not meet the inclusion criteria (18–29 years of age and able to understand and complete questionnaires in Hebrew), a final sample was selected, consisting of 572 participants—326 (57%) women and 246 (43%) men. The participant’s gender was determined by the gender identity according to which the participant chose to present himself or herself.
The mean age for males and females was 25.66 (SD = 0.16) and 25.59 (SD = 0.17), respectively. The majority of participants were Israeli-born (87.8%), single (62.9%), employed (64.1%), and self-defined secular (64.1%). Forty-four (7.7%) were parents. A total of 62.7% rated their economic status as average (the average income in Israel is NIS 10,428, equivalent to £2200 or $3000).
The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) [16], assesses the individual’s global perception of their life satisfaction. The scale consists of 5 items (e.g., “So far I have gained the important things I want in life”). The participants were asked to indicate the degree to which they agree with each statement on a scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Each participant was assigned a score equal to the sum of their responses, with higher scores indicating greater life satisfaction. Cronbach’s α in the current study was 0.84.
The Traumatic-Stressful Life Events Questionnaire (TLEQ) [48] measures exposure to stressful life events. The 26 items in the questionnaire describe a variety of stressful events, such as road accidents, violence, etc. Included is an open-ended question, enabling the respondent to refer to an event not described in any of the other items. The participants were asked to indicate the number of times they had been exposed to each type of event, their age at the time, and the degree to which it had affected their lives on a scale of 1 (no effect on my life at all) to 5 (strongly affected my life). As there is no reason to believe that there is any connection between the items, it is accepted practice not to examine the reliability of the questionnaire [29].
The Self-Mastery Scale [49], assesses the individual’s sense of control over their life in the present and future, as well as over their environment. The scale consists of 7 items (e.g., “What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me”). The participants were asked to indicate the degree to which they agreed with the statement in each item on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Each participant was assigned a score equal to the mean of their responses, with higher scores indicating a greater sense of self-mastery. Cronbach’s α in the current study was 0.80.
The Social Support from Parents Tool (SSPI) [50] is adapted from a scale designed to assess intergenerational relations from the standpoint of the children. The adapted version consists of 4 items assessing the frequency of two types of parental support: financial (1 item: “How often have your parents helped you financially in the past 12 months?”); and emotional (3 items, e.g., “How often have your parents comforted you in the past 12 months?”). As the tool relates to frequency rather than perception, it is an indirect measure of parental support. Participants are marked on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The participants were assigned a score for each aspect of support that is equal to the sum of their responses to the relevant items, with higher scores indicating more financial or emotional support from parents. Cronbach’s α in the current study was 0.75 for the total questionnaire and 0.85 for emotional support. As financial support consisted of a single item, internal reliability could not be tested.
Social Support from Friends Scale (SSPF) [51]. The scale consists of 5 items and assesses support from friends (e.g., “I feel comfortable turning to my friends when I have a problem”). The participants were asked to indicate the degree to which they agreed with each statement, marking their responses on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Each participant was assigned a score equal to the mean of their responses, with higher scores indicating the receipt of greater support from friends (Cronbach’s α = 0.91).
Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood—Revised (IDEA-R) [52], This consists of 25 items assessing the two dimensions of identity: exploration and commitment. Five items relate to creating commitment (e.g., “I know what I want to achieve in life”), 5 to identifying with the commitment (e.g., “My plans for the future give me a sense of confidence”), 5 to wide-ranging exploration (e.g., “I think about the direction I want my life to take”), 5 to in-depth exploration (e.g., “I think about the future plans I have made for myself”), and 5 to ruminative exploration (e.g., “I am always searching for my direction in life”). The participants were asked to indicate the degree to which each statement applied to them, marking their responses on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A reliability of 0.86 was found for the tool as a whole. Factor analysis revealed that two separate factors explained 34% and 15% of the variance: the first was composed of the items in creating commitment and identifying with the commitment; the second was composed of the items in wide-ranging exploration, in-depth exploration and ruminative exploration. Participants were therefore assigned two scores equal to the mean of their responses to the relevant items: commitment (Cronbach’s α = 0.87) and exploration (Cronbach’s α = 0.85).
Analysis was conducted in three stages. First, t-tests were performed to examine the differences between men and women with respect to satisfaction with life and social support. In order to assess the size of the effect, use was made of the scale according to Cohen [53]. The range of values up to 0.2 was defined as small, between 0.2 and 0.5 as medium, and above that as large. Next, Pearson correlations were conducted between the independent variables and satisfaction with life. Correlations that were considered significant were those whose α value was lower than 0.05. In accordance with Cohen [53] we defined the size of r = 0.1 as small, r = 0.3 as medium and r = 0.5 A large.
Finally, regression analysis was performed to examine the unique and combined contribution of the independent variables to the prediction of satisfaction with life. Each stage was considered significant when the α value was lower than 0.05. The size of an additional effect was represented as f 2 . The scale of values was according to that of Cohen [16]: f 2 = 0.2 was considered small, f 2 = 0.15 was considered medium, and f 2 = 0.35 was considered large. PROCESS procedure [54] was used to explore interactions between the variables. This approach examines correlations between the independent variable and the dependent variable for various moderator levels [54]. For the variable of age, use was made of the approach by Johnson & Neyman [55], which is based on the entire range of moderator values [22]; the approach examines significance in the slope of a large number of values, e.g., age throughout the range of ages. It is thus possible to identify the exact age at which there is a change in the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable under the influence of the moderator.
The research hypothesis relating to differences between men and women in satisfaction with life were examined using independent samples t-tests. As can be seen in Table 1 , according to the study’s first hypothesis, women reported more life satisfaction compared to men. In addition, and in accordance with the second hypothesis, women reported receiving more parental support of both types than men, although a significant difference was found only for emotional support. A significant difference between the genders was found for support from friends, with women reporting more support from friends than men.
Means, Standard Deviations, and t-tests for the Study Variables in the Two Study Groups.
| Women n = 321 | Men n = 251 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | SD | M | SD | t (df = 570) | Cohen’s d | |
| Satisfaction with Life | 4.47 | 1.09 | 4.28 | 1.14 | 2.00 * | 0.17 |
| Emotional parental support | 3.25 | 1.06 | 2.8 | 1.01 | 5.06 *** | 0.43 |
| Financial parental support | 3.2 | 1.4 | 3.03 | 1.48 | 1.43 | |
| Stressful life events | 2.73 | 0.24 | 2.78 | 2.28 | 0.24 | |
| Self-mastery | 2.97 | 0.19 | 2.98 | 0.51 | 0.19 | |
| Commitment | 3.42 | 0.67 | 3.48 | 0.77 | 0.99 | |
| Exploration | 2.7 | 0.25 | 2.7 | 0.28 | 0.02 | |
| Support from friends | 3.38 | 0.53 | 3.2 | 0.62 | 3.54 *** | 0.31 |