Department of Psychological Science
University of Mary Washington
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One of the limitations you listed on your slide was “self-report data.” Can you say more about what that means?
By “self-report data” we mean that in our study, we had participants take our survey themselves and were therefore self-reporting each item and area of measure- including; experiencing helicopter parenting, alcohol use, drug use, sexual risk behaviors, and levels of self-regulation. We believe that since participants self-reported these factors, participants may not have been entirely truthful, especially concerning alcohol and drug use and sexual risk behaviors, because they may not have wanted to fully report their level of engagement in these private matters. The self-report nature of our survey may have resulted in data that is not entirely accurate due to some participants possibly not being 100% truthful with their report of risk behaviors or other measures, making the self-report aspect of our study a limitation.
Thank you for your question! Self-report data is data that relies solely on the answers of an individual. My group and I included this type of data from emerging adults because of the convenience of this sample and because we hope they will be more accurately able to answer the types of questions we used in our surveys. However, with this type of data collection there are limitations as it gathers responses from only one biased source. Among research it is always helpful to collect data from different sources to receive the most accurate results. Especially with our topics on risk behaviors, some of them being illegal, it is possible that not all the self-report measures are completely accurate which is definitely a limitation of our research.
What is a way you could data that didn’t have report bias. Sexual behaviors was found to be decreasing but that could be because they do not want to report on it?
Hi Corey! It is very difficult to collect data in any other way than self-report measures for our variables as they are based on past behaviors. It is a limitation that is hard to reduce, especially since alcohol use, drug use, and sexual activity are rarely accurately observed from others. It definitely is possible the emerging adults in our sample did not want to report on their sexual activity, however we made sure to emphasize in our debriefing form that all answers are confidential and will not be linked to their identity which is the only way to mitigate this limitation with our research design. Thank you for your question!
This is a super interesting study! How did you all choose the three distinctive behaviors that you did- alcohol use, drug use, and sexual risk behaviors- as the three variables in your study? Were there other behaviors you were interested in but had to make a decision to exclude? Also – do you think your first hypothesis may have been supported had you combined the three risk variables into one uber-risk variable?
Hi Eva!
As for our variables, we chose these for two reasons. First, they’re external behaviors that our audience, college students, are likely to find interesting and relatable, and they are also behaviors that a lot of our peers struggle to control. These weren’t the first variables that we considered as we planned to look at undergraduate GPAs and psychological maladjustment to college, but many studies had already looked at these variables a considerable amount and college freshmen don’t have a cumulative GPA just yet.
Using our current sample, I don’t think that our first hypothesis would have been supported if we had combined the three variables. Because the correlations between HP and alcohol risk were negative and the positive correlations between HP and both drug risk and sex risk were extremely weak, they would have averaged out to a result that would not be significant. Thanks for your questions!
That makes a lot of sense – thanks for taking the time to explain your thought process! I really enjoyed watching your presentation!
Your final limitation about the fact that these data were collected during “COVID times” is an important one. In addition to your point that there hasn’t been as much opportunity for risky behaviors, if much of your data came from students in the general psychology pool (the majority who are freshman) I wonder how many are doing remote learning from home and thus may still be subject to helicopter parenting? I wonder if this is delaying emerging adulthood for some by preventing opportunities for demonstrating independence (and thus may reduce the relationships you predicted).
Yes that was a point that we thought about while collecting the data as well. We did not ask how many participants; with a majority of them being freshmen, were living at home vs living away from home or at college this semester. As we know from prior research, students who may have stayed home for the semester are far more likely to be subject to helicopter parenting than a college student away from home because they are constantly with their parents. I agree that this may lead to a delay in these individuals developing a real sense of independence and freedom because they are spending the start of their emerging adult years the same way they spent their teenage years and childhood. I think that the implications of COVID-19 is something we and other researchers who collected data during this time will have to look into as a potential external variable that affected the research.
These are very interesting points that I had not thought about when listening to the presentation. It is interesting to see how the freshmen who lived at home this semester/year are different from those who did not later on.
Since the majority of your participants were under 21, do you think that the correlation between alcohol use and helicopter parenting would be different if the majority of your sample was 21+?
Hi Colleen!
Yes I think we would have seen stronger results dealing with alcohol use because of report bias. Since in America the drinking age is 21, individuals who are underaged are less likely to report their honest drinking habits out of fear of legal actions, despite the anonymity of our survey. This 21+ population would have also established drinking habits in a year which wasn’t plagued with COVID-19, so that limitation would not apply here.
Thanks so much for your question!
Great presentation and topic! I saw where sample size and diversity was one of your limitations, how might your results change if you had received a larger and more diverse sample? Also if COVID-19 wasn’t around and there were more opportunities for risky behavior, do you think the participants would have reported more that they engaged in risky behavior recently?
Hi Andrea and thank you for your questions!
Specifically if we were to have had a larger pool of male participants, we would have definitely seen significant, or at least stronger, results. This is because studies have shown that males have lower levels of inhibitory thinking which is a thought process that people use to avoid risk and weigh out costs and benefits, leading to a higher prevalence of risk behaviors in that demographic. I think your hypothetical about COVID-19 is entirely true. Yes, we would definitely had much higher levels of risk behaviors if the freshmen who took our survey were able to go out and attend parties.
I liked your study very much, specially with the current times that we are living in now (COVID-19). Did you predict for a higher outcome in the sample size? I can see where many limitations can come with so many current restrictions there is less time for risky behaviors. Do you think results could have been much different? Great job on your study!
Hi Denia! We definitely did predict higher levels of our outcomes (drug and alcohol use and sexual activity) among our sample. However, as you mentioned, COVID-19 significantly affected these results due to a lack of social gatherings where alcohol or drug use is common and it is possible to meet new people. I believe that our results would have been significantly different in the absence of COVID-19. Thank you for your question and I am glad you were interested in our study!
This is a very interesting study! Of course covid plays a huge part in how people were act and socializing this year, so it was nice that in the questionnaire you it mentioned in the last year as it would give a little more lee way in finding info from 2019 instead of just 2020. But do you think college year would make a difference? such as a freshman compared to senior? and also prior education? By that mean the difference that could have happened from public v private v homeschooled
Since all of your survey data was anonymous it really feels like the self report data wasn’t the issue. It may be that the age group is just more dishonest and that may have impacted your results. Though I could be completely wrong. I just feel like anonymous data collection is more likely to get more accurate results when it comes to self report.
As a dental professional, I found your research topic very interesting. I see a lot of helicopter parents while at work and I found it interesting that you looked into its effect on risk behaviors in emerging adults. The finding of the negative correlation between helicopter parenting and alcohol use was notable. I enjoyed listening to your project and also liked that you all used mediation. I think adding to existing research that you found no direct mediating effect of self regulation and risky behaviors is viable. It would be interesting to have seen this study ran pre-COVID19. Again, Great project!
I wonder if risks look different in the pandemic. You mention practical effects, but it might also change perspectives what seems risky.
Cool study! Good job.
Good job – this was an interesting study and I think a very sound hypothesis. I am not entirely surprised that helicopter parenting was related to decreased alcohol use but I wonder why. I can think of two reasons 1) your participants were home due to COVID and parents were watching them and 2) growing up with overly protective helicopter parents mean that participants internalized parental guidance and limitations. I think this study is worth replicating after COVID. I wasn’t sure how your study contradicted Cui except for lack of power to detect differences. You also found that self-regulation was negatively correlated with sex and drug risk behaviors – it just wasn’t significant. My last question is your comment that you had low levels of helicopter parenting. The average on the slide did not seem that low (3.67 on a 1-7 scale) – what am I missing here?
You all did a greta job on your study and your presentation! I think the alcohol and substance abuse was really interesting especially with COVID-19. I wonder the outcome if you had younger participants that participate in underage substance abuse or alcohol.
Good job!
You all did a great job with your study, it was such a unique concept! You mentioned in your limitations that COVID-19 limits socializing, so it is more difficult to assess the risky behaviors you were looking at. It would be really interesting to study the alternative risky behaviors individuals may turn to instead of the ones that you listed, since large gatherings and contact is more limited. Maybe helicopter parenting and low self-regulation leads people to break COVID-19 rules, such as gathering with others?
What a great study! The current COVID pandemic is definitely a huge limitation in your study, as well as in many others. Something that we mentioned as a limitation in our own study was that many of our participants came from UMW and there are very strict rules for the current situation at UMW. I wonder if any of these rules that have been put in place for residential students have had any impact on your findings?
I found it interesting how out of 106 participants with 84.9% female and 15.1% male. I found it interesting how higher levels of drug abuse were associated with more alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors. I also found it interesting how self-regulation does not mediate the relationship between helicopter parenting and alcohol risk.