Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 19, 2025
07:56
Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
10.2K
Controlling or Caring? Associations Between Helicopter Parenting and Perceived Conflict and Support at the
Yue Wang1, Savannah Boele2, Loes Keijsers2
1Department of Educational Psychology, School of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Journal of Adolescence
|June 3, 2025
Summary
Helicopter parenting in Chinese culture presents a double-edged sword, fostering both conflict and support in youth-mother relationships. This parenting style
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Cultural Studies
Background:
- The cultural normativeness hypothesis suggests helicopter parenting may be less detrimental in cultures valuing intensive parental involvement, such as Chinese societies.
- Chinese helicopter parenting may concurrently exhibit negative (conflict) and positive (support) impacts on youth-parent relationships due to cultural acceptance of care.
- This parenting style can impede youth developmental needs while simultaneously expressing culturally sanctioned care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between maternal helicopter parenting and youth-mother relationship quality (conflict and support) in a Chinese cultural context.
- To examine concurrent and time-lagged effects of helicopter parenting on relationship quality.
- To explore the moderating role of mother-oriented interdependent self-construal (ISC) on the time-lagged effects of helicopter parenting.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study involving 350 late adolescents in Hong Kong.
- Bi-weekly reports collected over approximately 8 months (September 2020 to April 2021).
- Data collected on perceived maternal helicopter parenting, youth-mother conflict, youth-mother support, and mother-oriented interdependent self-construal.
- Dynamic Structural Equation Models were employed for data analysis.
Main Results:
- Positive associations were found between helicopter parenting and both conflict and support, both between and within families concurrently.
- Perceived maternal helicopter parenting positively predicted perceived support two weeks later.
- Perceived maternal helicopter parenting positively predicted perceived conflict two weeks later, but only for adolescents high in mother-oriented interdependent self-construal.
Conclusions:
- Results support the 'double-edged' nature of helicopter parenting within Chinese families.
- Helicopter parenting demonstrates both problematic (conflict) and potentially adaptive (support) influences on the quality of Chinese youth-mother relationships.
- Interdependent self-construal plays a role in moderating the long-term impact of helicopter parenting on relationship conflict.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Parenting Styles
142
Diana Baumrind's four parenting styles — authoritarian, authoritative, neglectful, and permissive — each influence children's socio-emotional development differently.
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
142
01:28Relationship with Parents: Attachment
5
Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
5
01:29Relationship with Other Adult Family Members and Siblings
3
Other adult family members and siblings play a crucial role in shaping children’s social and emotional development. While parents or primary caregivers are often the central figures in early attachment and socialization, other adults in a child’s life, such as grandparents, aunts, and uncles, can significantly influence developmental outcomes. These influences depend on each adult’s personality and may help compensate when a primary caregiver is emotionally distant or...
3
03:34Theory of Romantic Attachment in Adulthood
44.7K
Attachment is a long-standing connection or bond with others. While Attachment Theory was conceived in developmental psychology to describe infant-caregiver bonding, it's been extended into adulthood to include romantic relationships.
44.7K
03:00Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
5.4K
Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
5.4K
01:23Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
146
Adolescence is a pivotal period of identity formation, during which individuals begin to answer questions central to their sense of self, such as "Who am I?" and "Who do I hope to become?" Both parents and peers play critical roles in guiding adolescents through this complex developmental phase.
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth....
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth....
146