Flourishing and Floundering Financially in Emerging Adulthood: A Handbook

Financial independence and financial well-being are primary goals for many emerging adults and are often viewed as markers of adulthood. However, many emerging adults throughout the world are struggling financially due to a complex economy and a lack of financial literacy. For example, in the United States more than half of emerging adults live with their parents out of financial necessity and student loan debt has reached unprecedented levels. These financial struggles can be detrimental to emerging adults’ physical and mental health and are associated with delayed marriage and parenthood.

Flourishing and Floundering Financially in Emerging Adulthood describes the financial floundering that can occur in emerging adulthood and illuminates research-based pathways to financial flourishing. The book features 20 chapters written by experts on various facets of emerging adults’ financial literacy, financial considerations specific to emerging adulthood (e.g., college and student loans), the ways in which sociodemographic characteristics are linked to emerging adults’ financial literacy, and ways to improve emerging adults’ financial literacy. Based on reviewed research, each chapter includes practical tips and suggestions for practitioners and emerging adults to improve financial well-being at this critical life stage.

Ashley B. LeBaron-Black is an Assistant Professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Ashley teaches family theory (at the undergraduate and graduate levels), family finance, and close relationships. Her research focus is family finance, including finances in couple relationships and financial socialization. Ashley has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. She is Chair of the Family Financial Wellbeing Focus Group for the National Council on Family Relations.

Heather Kelley is a researcher at Utah State University’s Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice. Her research interests focus on understanding various factors that influence relational well-being in families and strengths-based approaches to understanding mental health concerns. She has published over 45 peer-reviewed journal articles. She is a mixed methods researcher with strengths in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and teaches graduate level mixed methods courses.

Angela Sorgente is an Assistant Professor of Psychometrics in the Department of Psychology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy. Her main research interest is financial well-being’s conceptualization and measurement and has developed the Multidimensional Subjective Financial Well-being Scale (MSFWBS) to measure the emerging adults’ financial well-being. This scale has been defined as the most complete instrument to measure financial well-being (de Oliveira Cardoso et al., 2023) and has been translated and validated across nine different countries. Angela also has an interest in quantitative methodology and teaches classes in research methods and statistical software.