Helicopter Parenting May Negatively Affect Emotional Well-Being and Behavior of Children

Summary: Researchers report children whose parents are over-controlling, or Helicopter Parents, had poorer emotional and behavioral regulation by the age of 5.

Source: American Psychological Association.

It’s natural for parents to do whatever they can to keep their children safe and healthy, but children need space to learn and grow on their own, without Mom or Dad hovering over them, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. The study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology, found that overcontrolling parenting can negatively affect a child’s ability to manage his or her emotions and behavior.

“Our research showed that children with helicopter parents may be less able to deal with the challenging demands of growing up, especially with navigating the complex school environment,” said Nicole B. Perry, PhD, from the University of Minnesota, and lead author of the study. “Children who cannot regulate their emotions and behavior effectively are more likely to act out in the classroom, to have a harder time making friends and to struggle in school.”

Children rely on caregivers for guidance and understanding of their emotions. They need parents who are sensitive to their needs, who recognize when they are capable of managing a situation and who will guide them when emotional situations become too challenging. This helps children develop the ability to handle challenging situations on their own as they grow up, and leads to better mental and physical health, healthier social relationships and academic success. Managing emotions and behavior are fundamental skills that all children need to learn and overcontrolling parenting can limits those opportunities, according to Perry.

The researchers followed the same 422 children over the course of eight years and assessed them at ages 2, 5 and 10, as part of a study of social and emotional development. Children in the study were predominantly white and African-American and from economically diverse backgrounds. Data were collected from observations of parent-child interactions, teacher-reported responses and self-reports from the 10-year-olds.

During the observations, the research team asked the parents and children to play as they would at home.

“Helicopter parenting behavior we saw included parents constantly guiding their child by telling him or her what to play with, how to play with a toy, how to clean up after playtime and being too strict or demanding,” said Perry. “The kids reacted in a variety of ways. Some became defiant, others were apathetic and some showed frustration.”

Overcontrolling parenting when a child was 2 was associated with poorer emotional and behavioral regulation at age 5, the researchers found. Conversely, the greater a child’s emotional regulation at age 5, the less likely he or she was to have emotional problems and the more likely he or she was to have better social skills and be more productive in school at age 10. Similarly, by age 10, children with better impulse control were less likely to experience emotional and social problems and were more likely to do better in school.

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Children rely on caregivers for guidance and understanding of their emotions. They need parents who are sensitive to their needs, who recognize when they are capable of managing a situation and who will guide them when emotional situations become too challenging. NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

“Children who developed the ability to effectively calm themselves during distressing situations and to conduct themselves appropriately had an easier time adjusting to the increasingly difficult demands of preadolescent school environments,” said Perry. “Our findings underscore the importance of educating often well-intentioned parents about supporting children’s autonomy with handling emotional challenges.”

Perry suggested that parents can help their children learn to control their emotions and behavior by talking with them about how to understand their feelings and by explaining what behaviors may result from feeling certain emotions, as well as the consequences of different responses. Then parents can help their children identify positive coping strategies, like deep breathing, listening to music, coloring or retreating to a quiet space.

“Parents can also set good examples for their children by using positive coping strategies to manage their own emotions and behavior when upset,” said Perry.

About this neuroscience research article

Source: American Psychological Association
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Open access research for “Childhood self-regulation as a mechanism through which early overcontrolling parenting is associated with adjustment in preadolescence” by Perry, Nicole B., Dollar, Jessica M., Calkins, Susan D., Keane, Susan P., and Shanahan, Lilly in Cerebral Cortex. Published June 18 2018
doi:10.1037/dev0000536

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]American Psychological Association “Helicopter Parenting May Negatively Affect Emotional Well-Being and Behavior of Children.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 18 June 2018.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/helicopter-parenting-child-emotion-9368/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]American Psychological Association (2018, June 18). Helicopter Parenting May Negatively Affect Emotional Well-Being and Behavior of Children. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved June 18, 2018 from https://neurosciencenews.com/helicopter-parenting-child-emotion-9368/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]American Psychological Association “Helicopter Parenting May Negatively Affect Emotional Well-Being and Behavior of Children.” https://neurosciencenews.com/helicopter-parenting-child-emotion-9368/ (accessed June 18, 2018).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Childhood self-regulation as a mechanism through which early overcontrolling parenting is associated with adjustment in preadolescence

We examined longitudinal associations across an 8-year time span between overcontrolling parenting during toddlerhood, self-regulation during early childhood, and social, emotional, and academic adjustment in preadolescence (N = 422). Overcontrolling parenting, emotion regulation (ER), and inhibitory control (IC) were observed in the laboratory; preadolescent adjustment was teacher-reported and child self-reported. Results from path analysis indicated that overcontrolling parenting at age 2 was associated negatively with ER and IC at age 5, which, in turn, were associated with more child-reported emotional and school problems, fewer teacher-reported social skills, and less teacher-reported academic productivity at age 10. These effects held even when controlling for prior levels of adjustment at age 5, suggesting that ER and IC in early childhood may be associated with increases and decreases in social, emotional, and academic functioning from childhood to preadolescence. Finally, indirect effects from overcontrolling parenting at age 2 to preadolescent outcomes at age 10 were significant, both through IC and ER at age 5. These results support the notion that parenting during toddlerhood is associated with child adjustment into adolescence through its relation with early developing self-regulatory skills.

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