Hovering Is Not Helping: Relationships among Helicopter Parenting, Attachment, Academic Outcomes, and Mental Health in College Students

Abstract

Helicopter parenting (or overparenting) refers to developmentally inappropriate or intrusive tactics to control a child’s behavior. Helicopter parents are usually trying to help their children, but their behavior has been associated with adverse academic, adjustment, and mental health outcomes in older children (i.e., adolescents, young adults), who should be developing more autonomy. The current study examined potential associations between helicopter parenting, attachment security, and academic and mental health outcomes in college students, hypothesizing that higher rates of helicopter parenting would be associated with more insecure attachment with parental figures and closest friends, poorer mental health (i.e., higher rates of depression and/or anxiety), and reduced academic motivation, performance, and self-efficacy. Our sample of 135 college students completed measures of anxiety, depression, and somatization, academic self-efficacy and motivation, perceptions of parental involvement, and dimensions of attachment in multiple relationships (i.e., mother, father, and closest friend). As expected, the bivariate and regression analyses revealed that higher levels of parental involvement (i.e., helicopter parenting) predicted significantly more insecure parental and peer attachment, greater internalizing, and lower effort regulation among college students.