Youth become psychologically independent by emotionally separating from their parents and simultaneously developing a sense of trust in them. While these relational components have been addressed separately, studies focusing on the change in dynamics of these components are lacking. This study examined profiles of parent–youth relationship quality based on emotional separation and parental trust, age differences in the prevalence of these profiles, and age differences in the associations between the profiles, identity, and life satisfaction. Participants included 14,428 youth living in Japan from five age groups (44.8% girls/women; M_age = 20.6 years; range = 12–25 years). Six profiles were identified: healthy–independent, unhealthy–independent, balanced, moderate/ambivalent, connected, and distant. The connected profile was predominant among early adolescents, while the healthy–independent profile was predominant among late adolescents and early and middle emerging adults. Among all age groups, identity synthesis was the highest in the healthy–independent profile, and life satisfaction was the highest and identity confusion was the lowest in the healthy–independent and connected profiles. These findings indicate that young people navigate the process of becoming independent from their parents by balancing emotional separation and parental trust, and this balance relates to identity development and life satisfaction.

年轻人通过在情感上与父母分离并同时对他们产生信任感而在心理上独立。虽然这些相关组件已被单独处理，但缺乏关注这些组件动态变化的研究。本研究检查了基于情感分离和父母信任的亲子关系质量概况、这些概况普遍存在的年龄差异，以及概况、身份和生活满意度之间关联的年龄差异。参与者包括来自五个年龄组的 14,428 名日本青年（44.8% 的女孩/女性；M_年龄 = 20.6 岁；范围 = 12-25 岁）。确定了六个概况：健康-独立，不健康-独立，平衡的、适度的/矛盾的、连接的和疏远的。相互关联的特征在早期青少年中占主导地位，而健康独立特征在晚期青少年和早期和中期新兴成年人中占主导地位。在所有年龄组中，健康独立型的身份综合最高，健康独立型和连接型的生活满意度最高，身份混淆最低配置文件。这些发现表明，年轻人通过平衡情感分离和父母信任来驾驭与父母独立的过程，这种平衡与身份发展和生活满意度有关。