Department of Psychological Science
University of Mary Washington
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On your limitations slide, what did you mean by “lacking family structures, gender identity of parents, and varying caretakers excluded”?
Thanks for your question, Dr. Schiffrin! In regard to family structure – we believe that giving participants only four family structures to choose from when what is considered to be a family unit is much more diverse than simply the four they were presented with is an area that should be studied deeper. We actually wound up having to drop one participants data because she did correctly fit into a single one of these family structures being that she was adopted and, by definition, a nuclear structure consists of two biological parents. In regard to gender identity of parents – participants were asked to answer questions about their mother and father, which is extremely binary way to consider things. We are able to recognize that gender exists on a spectrum and, as such, it is quite possible that participants could have a parent who is non-binary or has parents of the same sex and therefore would have to push one out of their gender identity in order to answer our survey in the the format it was presented in. In regard to varying caretaker – this goes back to the idea of what defines a family unit. Some families do not have a mother and a father. Some families have grandparents or other extended family members acting as the parental figure or caretaker. This does not make them any less of a family, but does exclude from this study being that we asked specifically about mothers and fathers.
I am a little surprised your study found two-parent families engage in helicopter parenting more than one-parent families. Maybe these results were found because the parent in one-parent families tend to be busier with work because they are the sole providers of the household. Whereas with two-parent families it is quite common to see one parent as a stay at home mom or dad, which may make them more likely to engage in helicopter parenting behaviors.
That is exactly what we were thinking, Shelby. Research by Brown established that those children who inhabit a home consisting of two biological and married parent families tend to experience better outcomes than children in other family structures. This may be a result of encountering better educational, social, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes provided in this family structure (2010). Because single parents have so many roles to fill, they have less time to over-parent their children. Thank you for your comment!
I noticed that you chose to combine the variables of maternal and paternal helicopter parenting when completing the mediation analysis. Do you think you would have gotten a significant result from doing these mediation analyses with separate variables for parental gender since you also found that maternal helicopter parenting was more common? Good job!
Thanks for your question, Isabel! The reason we chose to combine these two aspects into one variable for the mediation was due to the non-significant interaction effect of our two-way mixed ANOVA. We also had a quite small sample for one parent households, especially when comparing to two parent households, leading me to believe that our particular study would not have found a significant mediation. However, I would definitely be interested in seeing a mediation run with these two variables separated with a larger and more diverse sample!
Thanks for your question, Isabel! The reason we chose to combine these two aspects into one variable for the mediation was due to the non-significant interaction effect of our two-way mixed ANOVA. We also had a quite small sample for one parent households, especially when comparing to two parent households, leading me to believe that our particular study would not have found a significant mediation. However, I would definitely be interested in seeing a mediation run with these two variables separated with a larger and more diverse sample!
Since your sample size for participants from single-parent families was smaller than participants from two-parent families, do you think your results would have been different if you had more participants from single-parent families?
Thanks for the question Colleen! I do believe results would have been different if we had more participants in the single parent sample size. We found a significant mediation for single family structures but we believe that it was due major gap in sample size, so I would be curious to see what the results would be if we had equal sample sizes.
Going off of what Eva and Colleen were chatting about, I also would be interested to see what your results would be like if your single parent household sample was bigger. I also would be curious to see if in getting a larger and more diverse sample would change your results at all. Do you think the sample size is the only reason for a non significant finding for single parent households? I think you all did a great job and your topic was very interesting!
Thank you Andrea for your question! I believe that is a major factor contributing to the results. Single parents, as even mentioned, tend to take on more role which causes them to be less involved which leads to less helicopter parenting. We also read about how if strayed from the nuclear family, you are more likely to see less family satisfaction and well-being for the child.
I think it was really interesting how you found that two parents are more likely to engage in helicopter parenting than one, but maybe that is because they are able to share more responsibilities. Single parents have so so much on their plate that maybe that is a contributor to them be less directly involved with their child’s every single need.
This is an interesting topic to look at and I was not surprised by your results. Do you think you would still have found a significant result in your first hypothesis if you split the two parent household variable up into two variables (nuclear vs step)?
I cant entirely say if we would have seen a significant result, but it would be very interesting to compare the data of two variables and have a more in depth look at how nuclear and step show parenting behaviors. With step parents it would be a little more tricky because you would also have to look at what age did the parent remarry, and also how comfortable was the relationship between the child and the step parents as sometimes it takes some time before a child truly accepts another family member depending on the situation of course. The dynamic of step parents is very interesting and depending on the research done it may have been not significant as possibly the step parent may not want to step on any toes or over step if they dont feel fully welcomed
Hi! I liked that in your study you decided to look into two-parents or single-parent structures and helicopter parenting. I was honestly surprised that the two-parents had higher outcomes of helicopter parents, although I can see why. We may assume that single-parents would be more over baring with their children because its just them caring for them but as a single parent they tend to have to work a lot to maintain the household. Now, do you believe your results for two-parent/single-parent and helicopter parenting would change if there was more diversity in your study? Since single-parent family structures tend to be from more diverse background families.
I do believe that if there were more diversity that it would affect the relationship. I do agree that single-parent family structures do tend to be from more diverse background families, and having a more diverse sample with the ability to specify the type of family structure they have would be a big factor. Also, as mentioned by my team mates may have mentioned allowing for participants to specify who the caretaker in the house hold was (grandmother may have been the care taker, an aunt, etc.), keeping that in mind I think a more diverse sample would display different type of care takers since many cultures hold family as a very sacred thing
I’m not surprised by your results of two-parent households having more helicopter parenting than single-parents. I would be interested to see the difference between households with step families and nuclear families. Also, if the mom and step-dad helicopter more than the dad and step-mom.
I agree, after you and anthony had mentioned that point I think it would be very interesting to so what the difference would be if any. I think there would also be more to look at if we were to add another variable of parents sexual orientation and observe if maybe different family styles (dad and dad, mom and mom, etc) does impact parenting behaviors
Working in a dental office, I see a lot of helicopter parenting, especially from the mothers of patients who are being seen. These women, like concluded in your study, are married women so I found it interesting and viable that you found mothers are more likely to engage in helicopter parenting than fathers. I also found it interesting that two parent households are more likely to engage in helicopter parenting than a single parent household and that family satisfaction was mediated with helicopter parenting and well -being for the two parent household. Great project and addition to the existing research!
Interesting research. How do you think that the differences between mothers and fathers play out in two parent households? Are the kids pulled in different directions? Are they more flexible because they have to navigate two sets of parental interactions?
Very interesting study. Great job! I think it is interesting that you found that single parents have less helicopter parenting and that helicopter parenting is related to lower well being. That would imply that children from single parent families have greater well being! Did you look at well being differences by family make up? There may be other reasons why well being declines in single parent families (e.g., financial struggles) but maybe lack of helicopter parenting is a silver lining of single family households!
First, I would like to say that I think you all did a wonderful job on your presentation! Each of you spoke clearly, and your slides were clear and concise. I think your topic is very relevant and interesting. In my personal opinion, I thought you all would have found that single parents are more likely to engage in helicopter parenting, because I would think that they are more likely to spend their time monitoring their child(ren) versus having to worry about the well-being of a significant other, but that was not the case in your results (hence the family satisfaction not mediating the relationship). I was not surprised to learn that fathers were less likely to helicopter parent than mothers. I wonder if future research could look into, “Motherly instinct”, or confirmative masculinity, to see if these variables could explain why that occurs. Overall, great job!
This was a really cool study! I think it is super interesting that you all found two parent families participate in helicopter parenting more than one parent families. I would have thought single parents would be more of a helicopter parent but it also makes sense that a two parent household would be more like that. Do you think the gender of the child may have an influence on whether or not a father or mother are more of a helicopter parent than the other? Great Job you all!
You all did a great job creating an interesting and well-thought out study! I did not expect two-parent households to engage in helicopter parenting more than one-parent households, but that might be because of my own family experience. Although you looked at college students and were not able to study children, I wonder if this effect would be steady across time. So, do you think that family satisfaction would continue to mediate helicopter parenting and well-being for two parent households over time, or would it change as children age?
This was a wonderful and super relevant study! I was also a bit surprised by two-parent households engaging in so much more helicopter parenting than single-parent households. However, coming from a split up household, I can see where there was quite a bit of helicopter parenting with my parents being together and working together. After seeing them apart for so many years, I do see how there might not be much room for helicopter parenting. Do you think helicopter parenting might be different based on the gender of the single parent or even the child? Overall, you all did such a great job presenting your findings and all spoke so well!