Validation of Helicopter Parenting: An Examination of Measures and Psychological Outcomes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of helicopter parenting, a parenting style characterized by parents’ overinvolvement in their adult children’s lives. Specifically, this study evaluated existing measures of helicopter parenting, whether helicopter parenting relates to negative psychological outcomes, and tested for gender and ethnic differences across the negative outcomes associated with helicopter parenting. Participants (N = 185) were college students aged 18–25 years living in the United States who were recruited through a small, private university in Southern California and online through Facebook. Four existing measures of helicopter parenting were identified and found to be significantly positively correlated to one another. All helicopter parenting measures were also found to significantly positively correlate to negative psychological outcomes including depression, anxiety, and stress, while also negatively correlating with a measure of self-efficacy. Gender was identified as a moderator in some of the relationships between helicopter parenting and self-efficacy, while ethnicity did not significantly moderate these relationships. This study adds to the literature by exploring helicopter parenting as a unique parenting construct and examining existing measures as to how they relate to psychological outcomes.