Associations Among Helicopter Parenting, Motivation, and Mindset

Abstract

Helicopter parenting, a type of overparenting, is a unique pattern of behaviors that typically includes excessive and developmentally inappropriate parental involvement. Rather than allow their child to embrace developmentally appropriate and typical childhood challenges, helicopter parents intervene prematurely and solve problems for their child (LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011). Helicopter parenting has been associated with lower levels of self-determination and autonomy in children and adolescents and higher levels of extrinsic motivation, performance-goal orientation, and maladaptive perfectionism (Schiffrin, Liss, Miles-McLean, Geary, Erchull, & Tashner, 2014; Schiffrin & Liss, 2017). Further, since helicopter parents attempt to prevent their child from experiencing failure, it is likely that children of helicopter parents have limited opportunities to develop growth mindsets (i.e., the belief that success often involves mistakes and repeated efforts; Haimovitz & Dweck, 2016). Using an online survey methodology, this study assessed college students’ self-reported experiences with helicopter parenting, intelligence mindsets, and goal orientations. The results suggested that helicopter parenting was associated with a mastery goal orientation, but was not associated with intelligence mindset.