The Association Between Economic Pressure and Positivity During Young Adulthood

The current study examined how two theoretical constructs change individually and in conjunction with each other over a twelve-year period during young adulthood (i.e., ages 19 to 31). Assessments included prospective self-report measures (n = 546) collected during seven developmental time points at two-year intervals. Research questions regarding intra-individual variability in the change and inter-individual differences in economic pressure and positivity and the interplay between these developmental processes were investigated by using an autoregressive latent trajectory model. Results showed that there was no evidence of a causal relationship between economic pressure and positivity while there were correlational associations between economic pressure and positivity across time. The negative correlations may imply that individuals who generally had high levels of economic pressure were more likely to have low levels of positivity during young adulthood. These results suggest that prevention efforts should strive to promote positivity as well as reduce the root causes of economic pressure. Further implications of the results are discussed.