IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v26y2025i1d10.1007_s10902-024-00843-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spoiling the Spoils: Indulgent Parenting Costs Parents’ Well-Being More When Adolescents Deny Receiving Much Indulgence

Author

Listed:
  • Peipei Hong

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Hao Wu

    (Zhejiang Hangzhou High School)

  • Qing Mei

    (Zhejiang Hangzhou High School)

  • Jie He

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Ming Cui

    (Florida State University)

Abstract

How does prioritizing children’s happiness over their own impact parents’ well-being? This study contributes to addressing this question by investigating the relationship between indulgent parenting (parenting style prioritizing children’s moment-to-moment happiness) and parents’ well-being through an interdependent, dyadic approach. We focus on the congruence and discrepancies in the perception of indulgent parenting between parents and adolescents, examining their associations with parents’ depressive symptoms and life satisfaction in two remarkably different cultures sharing the norm of child-centered, intensive parenting. Survey data were collected from 122 parent-adolescent dyads in the United States and 402 dyads in China. Using response surface analysis (RSA), we found that parents reported the most optimal well-being (the lowest levels of depressive symptoms and the highest levels of life satisfaction) when parents and adolescents agreed on low indulgence. Congruence on high indulgence was linked to more depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction in parents. The worst well-being was reported by parents in dyads characterized by perception discrepancy, where parents reported providing high indulgence to their adolescent children while their adolescents reported receiving low indulgence from the parents. These patterns are generally consistent in both countries, but cultural variations are also identified – indulgent parenting appears to have a less negative association with the well-being of Chinese parents compared to American parents.

Suggested Citation

  • Peipei Hong & Hao Wu & Qing Mei & Jie He & Ming Cui, 2025. "Spoiling the Spoils: Indulgent Parenting Costs Parents’ Well-Being More When Adolescents Deny Receiving Much Indulgence," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 1-22, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:26:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10902-024-00843-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-024-00843-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-024-00843-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-024-00843-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xinwen Bai & Chiahuei Wu & Rui Zheng & Xiaopeng Ren, 2011. "The Psychometric Evaluation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale Using a Nationally Representative Sample of China," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 183-197, April.
    2. Thomas Hansen, 2012. "Parenthood and Happiness: a Review of Folk Theories Versus Empirical Evidence," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 29-64, August.
    3. Xiaorong Gu, 2021. "Parenting for Success: The Value of Children and Intensive Parenting in Post-Reform China," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 555-581, April.
    4. Giulia M. Dotti Sani, 2022. "The Intrinsic Value of Childcare: Positive Returns of Childcare Time on Parents’ Well-Being and Life Satisfaction in Italy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 1901-1921, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Angus Deaton & Arthur A. Stone, 2013. "Two Happiness Puzzles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 591-597, May.
      • Arthur A. Stone & Angus Deaton, 2013. "Two happiness puzzles," Working Papers 2013-3, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    2. Eiji Yamamura & Fumio Ohtake, 2024. "Family structure, gender, and subjective well-being: effect of children before and after COVID-19 in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 75(4), pages 611-635, December.
    3. Anna Matysiak & Letizia Mencarini & Daniele Vignoli, 2016. "Work–Family Conflict Moderates the Relationship Between Childbearing and Subjective Well-Being," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 355-379, August.
    4. Tatiana Karabchuk, 2016. "The subjective well-being of women in Europe: children, work and employment protection legislation," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 15(2), pages 219-245, November.
    5. Inessa Love & Boris Nikolaev & Chandra Dhakal, 2024. "The well-being of women entrepreneurs: the role of gender inequality and gender roles," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 325-352, January.
    6. Laura Langner, 2022. "Desperate Housewives and Happy Working Mothers: Are Parent-Couples with Equal Income More Satisfied throughout Parenthood? A Dyadic Longitudinal Study," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(1), pages 80-100, February.
    7. Matthew Andersson & Jennifer Glass & Robin Simon, 2014. "Users Beware: Variable Effects of Parenthood on Happiness Within and Across International Datasets," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 945-961, February.
    8. Yujin Kim & Hyeyoung Woo & Sinn Won Han, 2022. "Work and Family Pathways and Their Associations with Health for Young Women in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-17, November.
    9. Hanna Liberska & Monika Deja, 2021. "Satisfaction with Life, Emotions, and Identity Processes in Polish First-Time Mothers and Fathers and Their Child’s Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Hezhi Chen & Zhijia Zeng, 2023. "Seeking Pleasure is Good, but Avoiding Pain is Bad: Distinguishing Hedonic Approach from Hedonic Avoidance Orientations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2377-2393, October.
    11. Willem A. Arrindell & Irene Checa & Begoña Espejo & I-Hua Chen & Danilo Carrozzino & Phuong Vu-Bich & Huong Dambach & Paula Vagos, 2022. "Measurement Invariance and Construct Validity of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) in Community Volunteers in Vietnam," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Veljko Jovanović & Maksim Rudnev & Gökmen Arslan & Carmen Buzea & Radosveta Dimitrova & Vanesa Góngora & Tharina Guse & Rainbow T. H. Ho & Naved Iqbal & Szilvia Jámbori & Fang-Hua Jhang & Goda Kaniušo, 2022. "The Satisfaction with Life Scale in Adolescent Samples: Measurement Invariance across 24 Countries and Regions, Age, and Gender," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 2139-2161, August.
    13. Janusz Czapiński, 2015. "Individual quality of life and lifestyle," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 9(4), December.
    14. Piper Liping Liu & Louis Leung, 2017. "Migrant Parenting and Mobile Phone Use: Building Quality Relationships between Chinese Migrant Workers and their Left-behind Children," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(4), pages 925-946, December.
    15. Björn Huss, 2021. "Well-Being Before and After Pregnancy Termination: The Consequences of Abortion and Miscarriage on Satisfaction With Various Domains of Life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 2803-2828, August.
    16. Jona Schellekens, 2019. "Does the association between children and happiness vary by level of religiosity? The evidence from Israel," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(5), pages 103-124.
    17. Tao Chen & Lu-lu Liu & Ji-fang Cui & Xiao-jing Qin & Hai-song Shi & Muireann Irish & Ya Wang, 2021. "Balanced Time Perspective and Life Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of “Temporal Negative Affect”," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 2563-2574, August.
    18. Gimenez-Nadal, Jose Ignacio & Sevilla, Almudena, 2016. "Intensive Mothering and Well-being: The Role of Education and Child Care Activity," MPRA Paper 74249, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Anna Gudrun Ragnarsdottir & Paul McNamee & Edward C. Norton & Thorhildur Olafsdottir & Tinna Laufey Asgeirsdottir, 2024. "The Division of Labour Within the Household and Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1-22, August.
    20. Thomas Hansen & Britt Slagsvold & Marijke Veenstra, 2017. "Educational inequalities in late-life depression across Europe: results from the generations and gender survey," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 407-418, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:26:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10902-024-00843-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.