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This study explores the influence of parental warmth during adolescence on financial experiences and well-being across the transition to adulthood. Given the poorer financial outcomes and more complicated parental relationships reported by sexual minorities compared to their sexual majority counterparts, the present study examined the moderating impact of sexual orientation during emerging adulthood. The current study used three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent eHealth. Groups were categorized as identifying as either heterosexual (n = 4,337) or nonheterosexual (referred to as "sexual minorities," n = 482), resulting in an overall sample size of (n = 4,819). Using a multiple group structural equation model, results indicated that while mediated by future financial expectations, parental warmth during adolescence positively predicted income and well-being during adulthood in both sexual minority and heterosexual individuals. Significant differences were found between these two groups. Parental warmth was a stronger predictor of later well-being in sexual minority individuals. Implications for practitioners are discussed including the need for further cultural competency related to sexual minority populations.

The present study explores how identifying with the gender and sexual minority (GSM) community can be an important developmental milestone and potential protective factor for GSM individuals. Cross-sectional data were collected from the United States using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to garner a nationally representative sample of individuals (n = 365) between the ages of 18-29 (M = 25.07 years old) who self-identified as a sexual and/or gender minority. Results of a structural equation model indicated that a higher sense of GSM identity salience was associated with greater attribution of their negative experiences to prejudice, which was associated with decreased well-being. Importantly, identifying with the GSM community was a protective factor for this population. Whereas higher attributions of negative experiences to prejudice were directly associated with decreases in well-being, when explained through group identification, the association was positive. This paper extends current research on the GSM community by situating group identification as a process of one's overall identity development and exploring the protective factors related to this identification. The study highlights the important ways in which connecting with other gender and sexual minority individuals can protect the individuals in this population from the negative outcomes of prejudice.