Economic stress among couples with emerging adult children in Portugal

Macroeconomic crises occur cyclically, entailing devastating social consequences for individuals and families. Previous research addressing families' responses to socioeconomic upheavals has been mainly conducted with couples with young or adolescent children. Less research attention has been given to middle-aged couples with emerging adult children who might be struggling to support their offspring's transition to adulthood emotionally and financially. The present study examines the impact of economic stressors on family and individual functioning reported by couples with emerging adult children in Portugal. Using a sample of 317 heterosexual middle-aged couples, structural equation models were built to assess the links between economic hardship, economic pressure, and family functioning and psychological well-being. Following an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) approach, both actor and partner effects were tested. The results showed that greater economic hardship was indirectly linked with (a) poor family functioning as reported by men and women, via the economic pressure felt by men, revealing an actor and a partner effect and (b) poor psychological well-being via each partner's own feeling of economic pressure, revealing only actor effects. Findings also indicated that economic stress processes may operate differently across socioeconomic status (SES) groups, with men from low/medium-low SES reporting a more pronounced association between economic pressure and family functioning. This study added support to previous literature on the adverse impact of economic stressors on family and individual functioning, extending family economic stress research to the Portuguese cultural setting and to an understudied stage of the family life cycle. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).