Biological and somatic outcomes of overprotection: A scoping review

Links between childhood experiences and health problems are well documented. We here focus on one such exposure: overprotection. While considerable research has explored and summarized associations between overprotection and outcomes commonly labelled as psychiatric or mental, less is known about those commonly thought of as biological or somatic. We therefore aimed to comprehensively map and summarize the literature on the latter relationship.

We conducted a scoping review. A systematic search for "overprotection" and relevant synonyms was performed in Embase, Medline and Web of Science in December 2025 and January 2026. We included studies that link overprotection as an exposure to biological or somatic outcomes, here understood as those that are objectively measurable, excluding self-reported variables.

62 studies were included in the review. Many studies examining outcomes related to weight (n = 14), HPA-axis activity (n = 8), neurophysiology/anatomy (n = 8), other stress-related physiology (n = 7), EEG- and fNIRS-measures (n = 5), inflammatory bowel disease (n = 3), DNA modifications (n = 3) and oxytocin levels (n = 2) suggested an effect of overprotection. Studies on outcomes related to glucose levels (n = 6), cardiovascular outcomes (n = 5), atopic dermatitis (n = 2), and reproductive lifespan (n = 2) yielded more ambiguous results.

This study provides the first comprehensive review on associations between overprotection and outcomes considered biological or somatic. The findings indicate a possible relationship and highlight a need for more research to establish causal connections.