Profiles of Perceived Parental Indulgence Among Finnish Emerging Adults: A Replication-Extension Study

Built upon parenting theories and empirical studies, indulgent parenting has been operationalized as a multidimensional construct assessing material, relational, and behavioral indulgence. Current research has several limitations in that researchers tend to focus on indulgent parenting of younger children, overlook potential cultural variations, and rely heavily on the variable-centered approach. In this study, with a sample of Finnish emerging adults, we aim to fill the gaps in the current literature by using a person-centered approach to (1) replicate parental indulgence profiles reported in a study of American emerging adults by Cui and colleagues in 2018 and to (2) extend this study and consider maternal and paternal indulgence jointly to examine material-relational-behavioral indulgence pattern similarity/dissimilarity between mothers and fathers. With a sample of 306 Finnish emerging adults, results from latent profile analysis (LPA) suggested two-profile solutions for maternal indulgence and for paternal indulgence, separately. The findings of replication suggested differences from the four-profile solutions of maternal indulgence and paternal indulgence reported by American emerging adults in the study by Cui and colleagues. Extending the separate LPA to joint LPA, results supported a four-profile solution, revealing variations in material-relational-behavioral indulgence patterns between mothers and fathers. Implications are also discussed.