Understanding the association between financial strain, mental health, and intention to move abroad among Turkish emerging adults: Roles of hopelessness and future anxiety

The current economic crisis in Turkey coupled with the high inflation rate has adverse effects for Turkish emerging adults' future aspirations. Recent population surveys documented that the majority of Turkish emerging adults (ages 18 and 30) feel hopeless and anxious about their future and show a strong desire to move abroad for better education and job prospects. While it is well established that Turkish emerging adults cite financial struggles, work conditions, and unemployment as their top concerns, no study to date has examined the link between financial strain, mental health, and intent to move abroad. The current study aimed to address this gap. To that aim, we recruited 308 Turkish emerging adults via social media platforms, listservs, and word of mouth. The eligibility criteria to participate were being 18-30 years old and being in transition from higher education - defined as either a) an undergraduate senior student in last year in college or b) an alumna who recently graduated but not involved in either graduate education or full-time employment. Participants filled out an online survey assessing subjective and objective financial strain, future anxiety, hopelessness, anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, as well as intentions and actions to move abroad. The survey took 15 minutes to complete. The results indicated that subjective financial strain was negatively associated with life satisfaction, and positively associated with depression, anxiety, intention, and actions to move abroad. Hopelessness mediated and future anxiety moderated the links of subjective financial strain with all three mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction). In addition, we found the mediating effect of future anxiety in the associations of subjective financial strain with the intention and actions to move abroad and the moderating effect of hopelessness for the association of subjective financial strain with the intention. The findings of the current study have implications for understanding Turkish emerging adults' mental health in an ongoing financial crisis and exploring their decision processes to move abroad.