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Helicopter Parenting Hypothesis

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In the experiment Helping or Hovering? The Effects of Helicopter Parenting on College Students’ Well- Being, the researchers proposed multiple hypotheses. Their first proposed hypothesis was that “the college students’ perceptions of their parents engaging in helicopter parenting behaviors would be related to higher levels of depression and anxiety (Lemoyne and Buchanan 2011) as well as decreased satisfaction with their life” (Segrin et al. 2012). In brief, that means that college students who had “helicopter parents” would suffer from higher levels of anxiety and depression, as well as showing increased dissatisfaction for their life. Their second hypothesis was “that the relationship between parenting behaviors and psychological outcomes …show more content…

These variables displayed the researchers’’ cause and effect relationship between the two scenarios. The first cause was helicopter parenting and the effect was high stress levels and anxiety, depression, and life dissatisfaction. For instance, the child who had experienced helicopter parents were more likely to be on anti- depressant medication or anxiety medication compared to a child who had not experienced the effects of a helicopter parent. Their second cause and effect relationship scenario was displayed with the correlation between autonomy and well- being and increased life satisfaction in contrast to children who suffered at the hands of helicopter parents. A child who had experienced more of autonomy compared to helicoptering tended to display better behavior in a class room and less signs for depression and low life …show more content…

The experiment was considered qualitative due to its small sample size that focused on underlying reasoning and motives compared to a larger sample size that would generalize based of the number of people which had been carried out through surveys or questionnaires. The participants would have to answer select questions about their mother that showed either helicoptering traits or autonomy. Overall, the researchers found their hypothesis to be true. “Consistent with the idea, our data suggests that an inappropriate level of parental behavior control is associated with negative child outcomes. Specifically, helicopter parenting behaviors were related to higher levels of depression and decreased satisfaction with life” (Schiffrin, Liss, Miles- McLean, Geary, Erchull, Tashner, 2013). Researchers gathered these findings to conclude their hypotheses correct through a series of questions. For example, the researchers asked the audience My mother monitors who I spend time with the answers were then represented with factor 1 and factor 2 on their graph to display their findings. Factor one displayed a child with a helicopter parent and factor two displayed a parent that allowed the child autonomy. Factor one stood for yes, which would have been a helicoptering parent’s child and factor two was no, which would

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