Associations between Helicopter Parenting and Emerging Adult Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Introduction: Helicopter parenting, a parenting style defined by high parental control and warmth, negatively impacts emerging adults through higher rates of depression and anxiety (Lubbe, 2018; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012). Further, helicopter parenting may inhibit emerging adults’ academic performance (Love, 2019) and feelings of success (Deci & Ryan, 2012). This parenting style is also associated with maladaptive traits in adult children, including a sense of entitlement (Segrin, 2012). The goal of the current study was to explore the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between helicopter parenting and emerging adult well-being. It was hypothesized that higher levels of helicopter parenting would be associated with lower self-efficacy which, in turn, would predict poorer well-being. 
Methods: Six-hundred sixty-five undergraduate college students were recruited to participate in the study at two private universities in the same region. Participants answered a series of online questionnaires about their interactions and relationships with their parent, reporting on their perceptions of their parents’ helicopter parenting behaviors. Students also completed questionnaires about their feelings of self-efficacy, well-being, and sense of psychological and academic entitlement.
Results: In order to test Lubbe and colleagues (2018) proposed four-factor helicopter parenting model, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed in MPlus version 8 (Muthén & Muthén, 2001-2014). The four subscales of the Bifactor Model of Helicopter parenting were used as indicators for the latent variable, Helicopter parenting. Results of the CFA indicated the model had good fit, χ2 (2) = .720¸ p ≤ .001; RMSEA ≤ .001; CFI = 1.00; SRMR = .005. To test the relationship between helicopter parenting and college student well-being and the mediating role of self-efficacy, a structural regression model was performed with the ML estimator and 10,000 bootstraps. Results indicated good fit, χ2 (17) = 34.72¸ p = .007; RMSEA = .040; CFI = .989; SRMR = .021. The indirect paths through self-efficacy from helicopter parenting to psychological entitlement (95% CI: [-.45, -.06]), academic entitlement, (95% CI: [.16, .71]) depressive symptoms (95% CI: [.37, 1.42]), and subjective well-being (95% CI: [-.16, -.05]), were all significant. In sum, greater helicopter parenting was associated with lower self-efficacy which, in turn, predicted lower levels of psychological entitlement and subjective well-being and higher levels of depressive symptoms and academic entitlement.
Discussion: Helicopter parenting behavior during emerging adulthood is not developmentally appropriate for parents to engage in and has been associated with negative outcomes for their college-aged child. Results of the current study support previous findings and suggest these associations are mediated by lower self-efficacy. Overparenting may lead adult children to feel less capable and unsure of their abilities, which manifests in poorer well-being. This also appears to translate into their academic experiences as these students also reported expecting their college professors to assist them more. It may be important for colleges in the USA to share with parents developmentally appropriate ways to assist their adult children during this period.

Authors

• Alyssa Haley Alanis, Texas Christian University
  Presenting Author

• Deborah Rafferty, Texas Christian University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Roxanne Lynne Odiorne, Texas Christian University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Quynh Nguyen, Texas Christian University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Naomi Ekas, Texas Christian University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chrystyna D Kouros, Southern Methodist University
  Non-Presenting Author