30 Of The Worst Examples Of Helicopter Parenting People Have Experienced

Prof. Holly Schiffrin pointed out that according to some research, helicopter parenting affects four main outcome areas, including the child’s psychological well-being (the level of anxiety and depression, for instance), their behavior (for example, alcohol and drug use), their social and relational skills (such as romantic relationships and friendships), and their academic performance or career goals.

“By far the most research has been conducted on the psychological outcomes and there are very consistent findings (although almost entirely correlational) that helicopter parenting is associated with more anxiety and depression as well as less satisfaction with life,” Dr. Schiffrin told Bored Panda.

“The primary explanation for this relationship that has been examined has been self-determination theory, which states that there are three pillars of everyone’s well-being including autonomy (being able to make your own choices), competence, and relatedness to other people, and helicopter parenting seems to undermine all three of the concepts.”

While discussing how helicopter parenting affects a child’s well-being by undermining the three concepts identified by the self-determination theory, Dr. Schiffrin provided an example that such parents often make choices for their children, this way reducing their autonomy.

“They also do things for their children that they should be doing for themselves, which reduces the opportunity to practice skills and develop competence, as well as sends a—likely unintentional—message that the parent doesn’t think the child is competent enough to do it themselves. Both of these dynamics seem to negatively impact how related the child feels to the parent and others.”

The parenting expert continued that the next most studied area has been the way helicopter parenting affects the child’s academic performance; however, research has provided mixed findings, as some studies suggest there’s a relationship between helicopter parenting and academic engagement, success, and entitlement, while others do not.

“There have been a couple of studies looking at careers, which have found maladaptive workplace responses to hypothetical scenarios as well as weaker vocational identity,” Schiffrin told Bored Panda.

“A newer focus of research has been on behavioral outcomes, which have typically found that the emerging adult children of helicopter parents engage in more risky behavior such as alcohol and substance use, sexual coercion, as well as video game addiction.”

“The least researched area would be the social and relational outcomes,” Prof. Schiffrin pointed out. “The few studies that have been conducted tend to show a negative relationship between helicopter parenting and relationships with the family of origin, friends, and romantic partners, for example, a desire to stay single or to postpone marriage. However, this area could definitely benefit from more research.”

The influence of helicopter parenting on the mind of a developing child seems to be evident, but it’s not only kids of young age that such parents tend to coddle. Sometimes their involvement can be too much even after the child has become an adult, which can be a difficult thing to explain to a helicopter mom or dad.

“In terms of letting parents know that their involvement is too much, I think that the more this is discussed and parents are educated about it the better it will be,” Holly Schiffrin suggested. “Parenting this way is stressful and exhausting to parents; however, I think they do it because they genuinely think that they are helping their children. If they can come to understand that these helicopter parenting behaviors are not helpful—and may be harmful—it would give them permission to step back and parent differently, which would benefit their children and themselves.

“This type of parental education could come through articles, parenting books, pediatricians, psychologists, parenting sessions held by preschools or public schools, college orientation sessions, and similar ways. If a parent hasn’t gotten the message through these sources, then an emerging adult child may need to have a more direct conversation with their parent to express how helicopter parenting behaviors impact them and how they would like their parent to support their autonomy instead.”