Adolescent-Mother Agreements and Discrepancies in Reports of Helicopter Parenting: Associations with Perceived Conflict and Support

Adolescents’ and parents’ similar and/or divergent perceptions of parental behaviors may be associated with youth-parent relationship quality. This study examined adolescents’ and mothers’ perceptions of helicopter parenting, and whether (dis)agreements between these views were associated with perceived conflict and support. Participants were 349 late adolescents (M_T1age = 18.20; 39.8% male) and their mothers (M_T1age = 49.10) in Hong Kong who completed four assessments over one year. Results suggested that youth-mother agreements regarding helicopter parenting were positively associated with both conflict and support. Additionally, discrepancies between their reports were positively related to adolescent-reported conflict. These findings highlight the importance of examining multiple perspectives when studying helicopter parenting dynamics, and suggest both positive and negative aspects of these practices in Chinese families.