Young Adults Series - Future of Families

The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study is now following its cohort into adulthood, capturing how participants are faring at age 22 across work, health, and life outcomes.

The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study has been following a large and diverse sample of children born in 20 large US cities since their births in 1998 to 2000. The children—now young adults—were re-interviewed between October 2020 and January 2024, at age 22, responding to questions about their income, earnings, living arrangements, employment, education, family, financial support, health, identity, and more. These children turned 22 during the COVID-19 pandemic. As this cohort transitions into young adulthood, these interviews offer a unique window into how this generation is navigating the transition to adulthood today.

The study is a joint effort by Princeton University’s Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child and Family Wellbeing and the Columbia Population Research Center. This research series is funded by the Hilton Foundation.

Young Adults at Age 22: Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief focuses on young adults’ living arrangements, to learn whether young adults are living on their own, with unrelated adults, or with a spouse or partner, or other relatives.

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Suggested Citation:

Jung, Hye-Min, Megan Curran, and Jane Waldfogel. 2024.Young adults’ living arrangement at age 22: Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, in this brief we focus on young adults’ health and mental health, at a time when young people nationally are reporting high levels of psychological distress and health problems.

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Suggested Citation:

Dickerson, Tia, Hye-Min Jung, and Jane Waldfogel. 2025. Young adults health and mental age 22: Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief presents a first look at patterns of employment, education, and disconnection at age 22 for contemporary young adults overall and by gender, race, and ethnicity.

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Suggested Citation:

Jung, Hye-Min and Jane Waldfogel. 2024. Employment, Education, and Disconnection at Age 22. Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief focuses on poverty among young adults, overall and by gender and race/ethnicity. We also analyze poverty by living arrangement, given the importance of household composition in shaping the economic resources available to young adults.

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Suggested Citation:

Jung, Hye-Min, Megan Curran, and Jane Waldfogel. 2025. Young Adults' Poverty at Age 22: Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief focuses on young adults’ financial wellbeing, looking at their incomes and their experiences of material hardship.

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Suggested Citation:

Jung, Hye-Min, Megan Curran, and Jane Waldfogel. 2025. Financial wellbeing at age 22: Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief focuses on sources of financial support for young adults.

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Suggested Citation:

Hamilton, Christal and Megan Curran. 2026. Sources of financial support at age 22. Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief focuses on the impact of pandemic Economic Impact Payments (or ‘stimulus checks’) on young adult material hardship.

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Suggested Citation:

Hamilton, Christal, Megan Curran, Jane Waldfogel, Sophie Collyer, Elizabeth Ananat, Eunha Kim, Christopher Wimer, and Tia M. Dickerson. 2026. The impact of COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments on material hardship at age 22: Preliminary estimates from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief examines intergenerational mobility in education—whether young adults complete more education than their parents and if parental attainment predicts outcomes—by gender and race/ethnicity.

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Suggested Citation:

Dickerson, Tia, Hye-Min Jung, and Jane Waldfogel. 2026. Intergenerational mobility in education: Preliminary evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Using evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this brief focuses on the risk and protective factors for disconnection—not enrolled in school/training or employed—for young adults.

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Suggested Citation:

Dickerson, Tia, Hye-Min Jung, and Jane Waldfogel. 2026. What predicts disconnection at age 22, and what experiences are protective? Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Princeton, NJ: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.