A new study aims to describe the effects zealous parents can have on their children—behaviors popularly known as “helicoptering” or “snowplowing.” While some potentially troubling associations are manifested by the analysis, specific constraints of the study design keep it from proving causation.
Researchers Kristin Moilanen and Mary Lynn Manuel of West Virginia University (WVU) surveyed 302 young adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four via an online survey. Most of the sample was white (79.4 percent), and two-thirds was female. Respondents were recruited via the internet and from the community around WVU. Respondents completed multiple batteries of questions, most of which appeared to be constructed so as to assess current experience (sample item: “My parent makes important decisions for me such as where I live, where I work, what classes I take, etc.,” rated on a scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree) rather than experience over time. Along with an assessment of the type and level of zealous parenting respondents experienced (or, more likely, were currently experiencing), other batteries administered included the Children’s Reports of Parental Behavior Inventory, which measures parental acceptance and psychological and firm control; the Pearlin Mastery Scale, which measures a person’s sense of control over their life outcomes; and assessments of self-regulatory ability, interpersonal competence, tendency toward feelings of depression, alcohol and substance use, and history of criminal activity.
Moilanen and Manuel had three stated goals: to determine the effect of zealous parenting in a variety of areas including peer social competence, prosocial behavior, depression, substance use, and lifetime criminality; to see if other parenting practices, such as parental acceptance, psychological control, and behavioral/firm control, mitigate those effects; and to test whether students’ mastery and self-regulation skills mediated the effects of zealous parenting.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of data over time they were only able to determine linkages between zealous parenting and children’s psycho-social states, not effects. To wit: They found that highly zealous parenting was associated with low mastery, self-regulation, and social competence in the young adults surveyed, as well as with high depression. Only associations with depression were mitigated by the presence of other parenting practices. The connections between zealous parenting and the children’s current mental and social states were pervasive. Respondents with strong self-regulation and/or mastery skills showed lessened association with helicoptering and snowplowing, but only in the areas of depression and social competence.
But the big caveat here is the issue of directionality: Were respondents reporting low self-regulation and high depression as a result of their parents’ zealous efforts on their behalf, or were parents exhibiting helicopter or snowplow behavior because their children had low self-regulation skills and high depression to begin with? This research design, unfortunately, did not allow for such directional conclusions to be made. The correlations described are interesting and potentially important, but do not allow for solid conclusions as to cause and effect.
One positive aspect of this study is that the recruitment of survey participants via the internet allowed for a wide cross-section of respondents. Wider, the authors say, than is typical for similar studies. These included young adults who had achieved desirable outcomes already (college graduation, financial stability, etc.) and those who had failed to do so in their lives thus far. The associations between zealous parenting and children’s psycho-social states were the same regardless of which of these outcomes the respondents had experienced. Future research should endeavor to include such outcome-based data but must include a directional component first and foremost.
SOURCE: Kristin L. Moilanen and Mary Lynn Manuel, “Helicopter Parenting and Adjustment Outcomes in Young Adulthood: A Consideration of the Mediating Roles of Mastery and Self-Regulation,” Journal of Child and Family Studies (August 2019).
