About This Project

In today’s uncertain and competitive environment, parents might struggle with how to simultaneously provide support and promote self-sufficiency as their children adjust to university. “Helicopter parenting” represents an imbalance in this dynamic. Overprotective and over involved, helicopter parents shield children from any possible failure and provide assistance at developmentally inappropriate levels. Although well-intentioned, helicopter parenting is associated with students’ poorer social, emotional, and academic adjustment. To date, few studies have examined why Hong Kong parents might engage in such behavior. Additionally, no studies have examined how helicopter parenting might change as youth adjust to university life. 

 

This project examines predictors of helicopter parenting during Hong Kong students’ first collegiate year. We investigate whether associations between helicopter parenting and youth difficulties represent effects of parenting upon youth adjustment, whether youth difficulties might evoke these parental behaviors, or whether both processes might simultaneously occur. We further examine whether parents’ greater feelings of uncertainty and threatened self-worth mediate these relationships. Understanding how associations between helicopter parenting and youth adjustment unfold within particular families can provide administrators, practitioners, and families with important advice for promoting optimal adjustment and balanced family relationships.

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This project is funded through the General Research Fund of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.