Joel A Muraco

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• Serido, J., Pollitt, A. M., Muraco, J. A., Russell, S. T., Serido, J., Russell, S. T., Pollitt, A. M., Muraco, J. A., & Conger, K. J. (2019). Financial Stress and Drinking During the Transition to Adulthood: The Role of Parental Financial Support.. Emerging adulthood (Print), 7(6), 490-500. doi:10.1177/2167696818785555
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  We investigated the concurrent and prospective associations between financial stress and drinking during the transition to adulthood in the United States, drawing from two distinct stress and coping perspectives as competing explanations for the direction of associations: the Transaction Model of Stress (TMS) and the Conservation of Resources (CoR) model. Because many emerging adults rely on continuing financial support from parents, we examined the role of parental support on these associations. We tested these associations using longitudinal structural equation modeling (SEM) with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) (N=9,026) collected at two timepoints: early emerging adulthood (ages 18-26) and five years later. Consistent with CoR, financial stress reduced concurrent drinking. Furthermore, parental financial support reduced adult children's financial stress but increased drinking in early emerging adulthood. We discuss the findings in regards to facilitating the transition to adulthood.
• Pollitt, A. M., Muraco, J. A., Russell, S. T., Russell, S. T., Pollitt, A. M., Muraco, J. A., & Grossman, A. H. (2017). Disclosure Stress, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among Cisgender Bisexual Youth.. Journal of marriage and the family, 79(5), 1278-1294. doi:10.1111/jomf.12418
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  Bisexual youth are at elevated risk for depression compared to lesbians and gay men. Research on bisexual stigma suggests these youth are uniquely vulnerable to stress related to sexual identity disclosure. Depression associated with this stress may be buffered by social support from parents and friends. We examined the differential influence of social support from parents and friends (Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale) on the relation between disclosure stress (LGBTQ Coming Out Stress Scale) and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) and differences by gender in a sample of cisgender bisexual youth (n = 383) using structural equation modeling. Parental support buffered the association between stressful disclosure to family and depressive symptoms, especially for bisexual men; bisexual women seemed not to benefit from such support when disclosure stress was high. This nuanced examination elucidates the ways family members and clinicians can best support bisexual youth sexual identity disclosure.
• Muraco, J. A., Muraco, J. A., & Curran, M. A. (2012). Associations Between Marital Meaning and Reasons to Delay Marriage for Young Adults in Romantic Relationships. Marriage and Family Review, 48(3), 227-247. doi:10.1080/01494929.2012.665013
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  Using symbolic interactionism we developed an open-ended question to examine marital meaning for young adults (N = 111). Themes to emerge were love and commitment. Participants were placed into clusters: contractual (low love, high commitment), optimistic-realistic (high love, high commitment), romanticizing (high love, low commitment), and casual (low love, low commitment). We examined marital meaning and associations with reasons to delay marriage, conceptualized as relational doubts and financial concerns. Optimistic-realistic and casual individuals reported fewer relational doubts than contractual individuals. Longer relationship length was associated with fewer financial concerns for optimistic-realistic individuals when compared with all others. We conclude that although love and commitment are central to marital meaning, for some, specific pairings of these themes have implications in understanding reasons young adults delay marrying.
• Muraco, J. A., Utley, E. A., Muraco, J. A., & Curran, M. A. (2010). An exploratory study of the meaning of marriage for African Americans. Marriage and Family Review, 46(5), 346-365. doi:10.1080/01494929.2010.528314
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  Using specific tenets from symbolic interactionism as a frame, we asked 31 African Americans (18 women and 13 men) including students as well as nonstudents, across a variety of types of relationships and ages, what marriage meant to them. Two major themes, commitment and love, emerged from qualitative content analysis of the meaning of marriage. Other themes, including partnership/friendship, trust, family, and covenant, also emerged as themes, although less frequently. The overwhelming meanings of marriage were positive, with only a few negative instances (i.e., marriage as unnecessary and not fulfilling). Supportive qualitative data are presented for each theme. We discuss implications for the meaning of marriage for African Americans.