Operalización de variables

We now consider whether the risk effect of financial dependence might be dependent on other factors in the lives of young adults. As Shanahan and colleagues (2005: 251) conclude an ‘adult status is likely to be based on a combination of personal qualities

and social roles’ (emphasis added). Molgat (2007) found that young people judged

whether they had reached adulthood based on both the individualistic character qualities Arnett found (1998) and transitions into adult roles. This suggests that financial independence combined with more structural adult role transitions may have a cumulative effect on delinquent behavior. For example, emerging adults who have achieved financial independence and have also transitioned into employment and independent living may be even more likely to desist than those who have only achieved financial independence from their parents. Put differently, those emerging adults who remain financially dependent and also remain in the more dependent, non-adult roles of being a student and living in the parental home may be at greater risk of delinquency that those who have at least transitioned to

7

more independent roles in one area of their lives, be that financial independence, employment, or living independently.

An alternative possibility is that the combination of, on the one hand, transitioning out of education, into employment, and into independent living, with, on the other hand, still being financial dependent on parents, may cause higher levels of delinquency, due to cognitive conflict between the two statuses. Looking at the literature, we know that financial dependence on parents during emerging adulthood is not unusual (Schoeni and Ross 2005). However, financial dependence when no longer student is less common (Fingerman, Miller, Birditt, and Zarit 2009; Sage and Johnson 2012; Siennick 2011; Swartz, Kim, Uno, Mortimer, and O’Brien 2011) and may, therefore, have different connotations. Once education has been completed, the transition into financial independence is expected. The disjuncture between no longer being a student, but still being financially dependent on one’s parents, may result in delinquent behavior, as expectations of adulthood are not matched by the reality. In fact, Johnson (2013) found that the effect of financial assistance from parents on depressive symptoms was stronger, and the effect of financial assistance from parents on self-esteem was only significant, when young people had moved into adult roles and were no longer students. As being employed would often go hand in hand with financial independence, based on these findings we might also expect financial dependence when employed to have a greater delinquent effect than financial dependence when unemployed.

Another area to consider is living situation. Research has shown that remaining in the parental home during emerging adulthood can have detrimental effects on one’s well-being (Nikolaev 2015) and psychological health (Seiffge-Krenke 2006). It can even cause depressive symptoms (Dubas and Petersen 1996), particularly for older emerging adults. However, previous work suggests that the effects of leaving the parental home are not always positive. Substance use has been shown to increase following the transition to independent living (Bachman, O’Malley, Johnston 1984; D’amico, Ramchand, and Miles 2009; White, McMorris, Catalano, Fleming, Haggerty, and Abbott 2006). Furthermore, Dubas and Petersen (1996) found that emerging adults living away from home report higher delinquency levels than those still living at home. It is possible that, rather than the idea of cognitive conflict between achieving an adult status in some areas but not others, in this case the freedom associated with no longer living with parents, but not yet having to take financial responsibility for oneself leads to a party lifestyle and continued delinquency. Adult freedoms, represented by living independently, combined with a lack of adult responsibilities, represented by financial dependence on parents, may encourage or enable emerging adults to engage in adolescent-like delinquent behavior. In this study, we therefore examine whether financial dependence or independence results in differential effects depending in whether participants are students, are employed, or live independently.

Leaving the bank of mum and dad: Financial independence and delinquency desistance in emerging adulthood One final point to mention is the possibility that the direction of effect is opposite to that which we have argued here, namely, that delinquency causes financial dependence, and desistance from delinquency leads to financial independence. Siennick (2011) found that delinquency predicted financial support from parents in young adulthood. Using self-reported offending as her predictor variable she found that parents gave more financial support to offenders than to non-offending peers or non-offending siblings. This effect was not explained by their having greater financial need, but was partly explained by other factors in their lives prompting parental assistance. Another study (Altszuler et al. 2015), primarily comparing young adults with ADHD to controls, found that delinquency significantly predicted more negative financial outcomes, including dependence on parents, over and above having an ADHD diagnosis. These studies indicate the importance of also examining the opposite direction of effect in the current study.

7.2.5 The current study

In this study, we will examine the relationship between self-reported offending and financial independence from parents in emerging adulthood among a general population sample of Dutch adults. If, as we have suggested, financial independence is a signal that young people have achieved an adult social status and financial dependence is a sign that they have not, then we would expect to see people report fewer delinquent acts as they move from being financially dependent to financially independent.30 _{Furthermore, we explore whether the relationship between financial}

dependence and delinquency differs depending on an individual’s education status, employment status, or living situation. We control for participants’ self-reported satisfaction with their financial situation. This is in order to rule out the possible effect of strain on offending.

7.3 Methods