Helicopter Parenting and Young Adults’ Well-Being: A Comparison Between United States and Finland
Open accessAbstract
Helicopter parenting, defined as a form of overinvolved parenting of young adult children, is shown to be associated with young adult children’s well-being. Furthermore, the phenomenon of helicopter parenting is increasingly evident across various cultures. In this study, the association between helicopter parenting and young adult children’s well-being problems was examined, and the associations were compared between samples of American and Finnish young adults. With a sample of 441 American and 306 Finnish university students, results from path models suggested that maternal and paternal helicopter parenting was associated with university students’ symptoms of anxiety and depression, life dissatisfaction, and emotional dysregulation. Furthermore, even though the mean levels of helicopter parenting were lower among Finnish parents as compared with American parents, the associations between helicopter parenting and young adults’ well-being problems were, in general, equally significant. The implications for university students, parents of students, educators, and university administrators from different cultural backgrounds were also discussed.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Undergraduates who experienced helicopter parenting are more likely to have anxiety and depressive symptoms.
“According to these findings, undergraduates who experienced helicopter parenting are more likely to have anxiety and depressive symptoms (Cui et al., 2018).”
From Helicopter Parenting and Emotional Problems in Chinese Emerging Adults: Are there Cross-lagged Effects and the Mediations of Autonomy? (2023) · cites this paper as Cui et al., 2018
There was a strong correlation between helicopter parenting and emotional problems among college students at each measurement time.
“Nevertheless, there was still a strong correlation between helicopter parenting and emotional problems among college students at each measurement time, which was in line with prior findings from cross-sectional studies (Cui et al., 2018).”
From Helicopter Parenting and Emotional Problems in Chinese Emerging Adults: Are there Cross-lagged Effects and the Mediations of Autonomy? (2023) · cites this paper as Cui et al., 2018
Helicopter parenting was associated with students' anxiety level.
“Helicopter parenting was associated with students' anxiety and depression level”
From A Systematic Review of “Helicopter Parenting” and Its Relationship With Anxiety and Depression (2022) · cites this paper as Cui et al. (2019)
Helicopter parenting was associated with students' depression level.
“Helicopter parenting was associated with students' anxiety and depression level”
From A Systematic Review of “Helicopter Parenting” and Its Relationship With Anxiety and Depression (2022) · cites this paper as Cui et al. (2019)
Helicopter parenting was found to have a direct relationship with anxiety in 5 of the studies.
“Helicopter parenting was found to have a direct relationship with anxiety in 5 of the studies (Kouros et al., 2017; Luebbe et al., 2018; Cui et al., 2019; Hong and Cui, 2019; Schiffrin et al., 2019).”
From A Systematic Review of “Helicopter Parenting” and Its Relationship With Anxiety and Depression (2022) · cites this paper as Cui et al., 2019
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli1104_01 · Cited by 34,210 · see citing works
SCHULENBERG, J. E., SAMEROFF, A. J., & CICCHETTI, D. (2004) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579404040015 · Cited by 663 · see citing works
Helping or Hovering? The Effects of Helicopter Parenting on College Students’ Well-Being
Schiffrin, H. H., Liss, M., Miles-McLean, H., Geary, K. A., Erchull, M. J., & Tashner, T. (2014) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-013-9716-3 · Cited by 643 · see citing works
Does “hovering” matter? Helicopter parenting and its effect on well-being
LeMoyne, T., & Buchanan, T. (2011) · Sociological Spectrum · doi:10.1080/02732173.2011.574038 · Cited by 495 · see citing works
Victor, S. E., & Klonsky, E. D. (2016) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10862-016-9547-9 · Cited by 470 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Emotional dysregulation was measured by the 18-item short version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18; Victor & Klonsky, 2016).”
MethodParent and Child Traits Associated with Overparenting
Segrin, C., Woszidlo, A., Givertz, M., & Montgomery, N. (2013) · Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1521/jscp.2013.32.6.569 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 22
- Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: Psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 6, 893- 897.
- Bradley-Geist, J. C., & Olson-Buchanan, J. B. (2014). Helicopter parents: An examination of the correlates of over-parenting of college students. Education Training, 56, 314-328. doi:10.1108/ET-10-2012-0096 Child Trends (2015, October). Young adult depression. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=young-adult-depression · DOI
- Cui, M. (2014). Overmothering. In L. Ganong, M., Coleman, & J. G. Golson (Eds.), The social history of the American family (Vol. 15, pp. 984-986). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452286143. · DOI
- Cui, M., Allen, J., Fincham, F. D., May, R. W., & Love, H. (2018). Helicopter parenting, self- regulatory processes, and alcohol use among female college students. Journal of Adult Development. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1007/s10804-018-9301-5 · DOI
- Cui, M., Graber, J., Metz, A., & Darling, C. (2016). Parental indulgence, self-regulation, and young adults' behavioral and emotional problems. Journal of Family Studies. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1080/13229400.2016.1237884 · DOI
- Cui, M., Lorenz, F.O., Conger, R.D., Melby, J.N., & Bryant, C.M. (2005). Observer, self, and partner reports of hostile behaviors in romantic relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 1169-1181. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00208.x · DOI
- Darlow, V., Norvilitis, J. M., & Schuetze, P. (2017). The relationship between helicopter parenting and adjustment to college. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26, 2291-2298. doi:10.1007/s10826-017-0751-3 · DOI · Paper page
- Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75.
- Kouros, C., Pruitt, M., Ekas, N., Kiriaki, R., & Sunderland, M. (2017). Helicopter parenting, autonomy support, and students' mental health and well-being: The moderating role of sex and ethnicity. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26, 939-949.
- Kwon, K. A., Yoo, G., & Bingham, G. E. (2016). Helicopter parenting in emerging adulthood: Support or barrier for Korean college students' psychological adjustment? Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25, 136-145.
- Kyttä, M., Hirvonen, J., Rudner, J., Pirjola, I., & Laatikainen, T. (2015). The last free-range children? Children's independent mobility in Finland in the 1990s and 2010s. Journal of Transport Geography, 47, 1-12. doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrango.2015.07.004 · DOI
- Leung, J. Y., & Shek, D. L. (2017). Validation of the perceived Chinese overparenting scale in emerging adults in Hong Kong. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27, 103-117. doi:10.1007/s10826-017-0880-8 · DOI · Paper page
- Locke, J. Y., Campbell, M. A., & Kavanagh, D. (2012). Can a parent do too much for their child? An examination by parenting professionals of the concept of overparenting. Journal of Psychologists and Counselors in Schools, 22, 249-265.
- Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. A. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In P. H. Mussen & E. M. Hetherington (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th ed., pp. 1 101). New York: Wiley.
- Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Nelson, L. J. (2012). Black hawk down?: Establishing helicopter parenting as a distinct construct from other forms of parental control during emerging adulthood. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 1177-1190.
- Räsänen, P., & Sarpila, O. (2014). Helikopterivanhempien lapset yliopistossa. [Helicopter parents in the university]. Hyvinvointikatsaus [Well-being review] 1:2014, 51-56. Tilastokeskus [Statistics Finland]. Helsinki: Edita Prima Oy.
- Rousseau, S., & Scharf, M. (2015). 'I will guide you' the indirect link between overparenting and young adults' adjustment. Psychiatry Research, 228, 826-834. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2015.05.016 · DOI
- Scharf, M., Rousseau, S., & Bsoul, S. (2017). Overparenting and young adults' interpersonal sensitivity: Cultural and parental gender-related diversity. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26, 1356-1364. doi:10.1007/s10826-016-0652-x · DOI
- Segrin, C., Givertz, M., Swaitkowski, P., & Montgomery, N. (2015). Overparenting is associated with child problems and a critical family environment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 470-479. doi:10.1007/s10826-013-9858-3 · DOI
- Somers, P., & Settle, J. (2010). The helicopter parent: Research toward a typology. College and University: The Journal of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars, 86, 18-27.
- van Ingen, D. J., Freiheit, S. R., Steinfeldt, J. A., Moore, L. L., Wimer, D. J., Knutt, A. D., Scapinello, S., & Roberts, A. (2015). Helicopter parenting: The effect of an overbearing caregiving style on peer attachment and self-efficacy. Journal of College Counseling, 18, 7-20. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1882.2015.00065.x · DOI
- Wechsler, H., & Nelson, T. F. (2008). What we have learned from the Harvard School of Public Health college alcohol survey: Focusing attention on college student alcohol consumption and the environmental conditions that promote it. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69, 481-490. doi:10.15288/jsad.2008.69.481 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A Systematic Review of “Helicopter Parenting” and Its Relationship With Anxiety and Depression
Vigdal, J. S., & Brønnick, K. K. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.872981 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
“(2019), United States Crosssectional 104 undergraduate students Range not reported (19.”
BackgroundInfluentialGao, W., Hou, Y., Hao, S., & Yu, A. (2023) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-022-01702-5 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“According to these findings, undergraduates who experienced helicopter parenting are more likely to have anxiety and depressive symptoms (Cui et al., 2018).”
BackgroundResultInfluential
- Authors
- Cui, M., Janhonen-Abruquah, H., Darling, C. A., Carlos Chavez, F. L., & Palojoki, P.
- Affiliations
- Florida State University (US)
- University of Helsinki, Finland
- Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Cui, Ming
- Venue
- Cross-Cultural Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-10-03
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 410-427
- ISSN
- 0094-3673 (ISSN-L)
- 1069-3971
- 1552-3578
- OpenAlex
- W2895607336
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 6
- FWCI
- 3.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Cross-Cultural Research (publishedVersion)
- Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Keywords
- helicopter parenting, anxiety, depression, life dissatisfaction, emotional dysregulation, maternal care, fathering, cross-cultural comparison, United States, Finland, university students
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
