Abstract
The current study investigated the longitudinal associations among helicopter parenting, self-control, and school burnout over a one-year period in 416 Chinese adolescents (Time 1 Mage = 16.23, SD = 0.77). Perceived maternal helicopter parenting was significantly associated with lower levels of self-control and higher levels of school burnout experienced by adolescents at both time points. After controlling for the autoregressive effect of self-control at Time 1, adolescents’ perceptions of maternal helicopter parenting at Time 1 predicted lower levels of self-control at Time 2. Perceived maternal helicopter parenting at Time 1 did not predict school burnout at Time 2 after the autoregressive effect of school burnout at Time 1 was considered. Earlier levels of self-control predicted higher levels of school burnout at Time 2 even after the autoregressive effect of school burnout at Time 1 was considered. By contrast, earlier levels of school burnout of adolescents did not predict self-control ability longitudinally. Taken together, these results support a unidirectional hypothesis that helicopter parenting contributes to school burnout through lowering individuals’ competence in self-regulation. Perceived maternal warmth did not moderate the associations between maternal helicopter parenting with self-control and school burnout, which suggests that helicopter parenting may still be maladaptive for academic-related outcomes even it is perceived to be warm.
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Ching, B.HH., Li, Y.H. & Chen, T.T. Helicopter parenting contributes to school burnout via self-Control in late adolescence: A longitudinal study. Curr Psychol 42, 29699–29711 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04011-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04011-z