As in many countries, the prevalence of mental health conditions in the UK is increasing, including among young people. According to the NHS, the rate of probable mental disorders has increased from 11.6% of 6-16 years old in 2017 to 17.4% in 2021, while among 17 – 19-year-olds it rose from 10.1% to 17.4%.[1] How far this represents a sustained long-term trend or was, at least in part, a short-term response to the COVID pandemic will emerge over time.

Research suggests that 35% of mental disorders globally occur before the age of 14 and 48% by age 18 – with the peak age for onset being 14.5 years.^[2] The ever-growing interest in these formative years and the influential role of parents is therefore not surprising. One type of parental intervention which has garnered recent attention is helicopter parenting.

What is helicopter parenting

One of the earliest uses of “helicopter parenting” was by Dr. Haim Ginott in 1969.^[3] He described parents of teenagers who, according to him, hover like helicopters and observe each and every movement of their children.^[4] Hirsch and Goldberger define helicopter parenting as parents “who ‘hover’ over their children to shelter them from stress, resolve their problems, and offer unwavering, on-the-spot support and affirmation”..”^[5]  

Padilla-Walker and Nelson (2012), interested in establishing helicopter parenting as a distinct construct, propose it is not an entirely new dimension of parenting. Rather, helicopter parenting is “a unique patterning” of basic dimensions, which is low on granting authority while high on both control and warmth/support. They found that helicopter parenting differs from behavioural and psychological control, reflecting more overprotective parenting characteristics often studied in early childhood. While intrusive, researchers find it appears to be a result of strong parental concern for the child.^[6] It must also be noted that parents do not perceive this parental intervention to be associated with negative outcomes.^[7] That is, parents engage with this style of parenting with good intentions.

The rise of helicopter parenting    

The concept of helicopter parenting and its reported rise has piqued interest in recent years. This is particularly the case in America, where there has been an increase in the usage of the term since the 2000’s.

While there has been less research conducted in the UK, there is increasing evidence of protective parenting.[8] For example, the average age for children today to play outside alone is nearly 11, an increase of more than two years compared to their parents, with a reduction in the amount of ‘adventurous’ play. While the reasons for this are complex, this has a potentially negative impact on mental and physical health.[9]

Anecdotal evidence from school teachers suggests that some parents are regularly contesting their children’s grades throughout the year, explaining away late or uncompleted homework, blaming poor teaching for their children’s lack of focus or success, intervening constantly in friendship issues, expecting the school to mediate issues, editing or even writing their children’s homework, paying for tutors to help them understand and help with their children’s homework and monitoring phone calls, checking text messages and initiating communication several times a day to ‘check in’ on their children.[10] This is very much in line with a helicopter parenting approach.

Meanwhile, university staff also report increasingly dealing with parents intervening on behalf of their young adult children for timetabling issues or queries about the application process.[11] Universities have also reported an increase in parents attending open days.[12]

Impact of helicopter parenting      

With the increasing attention and interest in helicopter parenting, research has begun to investigate its impact on children and emerging adults. According to Padilla-Walker and Nelson (2012), helicopter parenting was positively associated with favourable aspects of parent-child relationship, including guidance/advice and emotional support.^[13]

However, emerging research conversely indicates that helicopter parenting is associated with a plethora of negative effects on young people, particularly impacting mental health. Indeed, it has been associated with ineffective coping skills ^[14] and lower self-efficacy ^[15], higher levels of depression ^{[16] [17]}, lower life satisfaction ^{[18] [19]} and eating disorders.^[20] Meanwhile parenting research has emphasised the importance of self-autonomy supporting parenting, which by contrast has been shown to have a positive association with improved physical health and life satisfaction in emerging adults. ^[21]

What drives helicopter parenting?

The increasing prevalence of helicopter parenting has coincided with improved scientific understanding of child development and the human brain. A number of studies indicate that parents spending an increased amount of time with children, or intensive parenting, is associated with improved school performance.^[22] Authoritative parenting (defined as high strictness and supervision and high parental acceptance of children’s needs)^[23] is associated with better GCSE results and increased likelihood of continuing to higher education. In comparison, permissive parenting is associated with a 49 percent less likelihood of achieving five good GCSEs and being five times more likely to be unemployed than in further education.^[24] Data from the British Household Panel Survey also indicates that authoritative parenting is associated with an increase in upward social mobility, resulting in the child being of a higher social class of the parent, of nearly 30%. [25]^,[26] It is therefore unsurprising parents are increasing their involvement, particularly concerning development and education.

Economic concerns may also be a factor. For example, current levels of student debt following the shift from grants to loans, have probably significantly raised parental concerns. Research also suggests that helicopter parenting or intensive parenting became more prevalent following the Great Recession of 2007-2009, spurred by growing economic uncertainty and inequality, resulting in parents’ uncertainty about their children’s future.^[27] While not evidence of a causal link, there is also a correlation between the proportion of respondents who agree with intensive parenting and the level of economic inequality in the country. In Sweden which has a low Gini coefficient indicating higher-income equality, just 11% of parents emphasize hard work, compared to 45% in the UK and almost two-thirds in the US.[28] In the UK, income inequality has increased an average of 0.2 percentage points each year over the last 10 years.[29]

At the same time, there appeared to be rising returns from higher levels of education. In the US, by 2009, workers with a postgraduate qualification earned on average a third more than those with just a college degree, while in the early 1970’s wages between the two were around the same.^[30] In the UK the government reported in 2019 that working-age graduates earned £10,000 more than non-graduates in 2018 and had higher employment rates.[31] However, this advantage may be reducing, with a 2021-study reporting evidence of a recent decline in the earnings premium for graduates over non-graduates by age 26.[32]

It has been suggested that this type of parenting is more prevalent among middle-class parents in the UK, keen to get their children into highly-ranked universities. The head of UCAS, the UK universities admission service, stated “I think for middle-class parents, they should butt out”.[33] Meanwhile, in 2016, the University of Oxford reportedly introduced separate sessions for parents and children at open day events to provide opportunities for prospective students to speak for themselves, rather than the sessions being dominated by parents. However, more research is needed to verify how widespread this is.

Technological advances and the rise of digital technology in education may have also facilitated this. The growing use of digital tools in the classroom such as Class Dojo, which became more prominent during the pandemic, give parents access even during the school day.^[34] Since the pandemic, teachers have noted a change in expectations and dynamic, with one teacher reporting at the NASUWT conference that “parents of students now feel they can access teachers 24 hours a day, seven days a week”. Teachers also reported parents asking for help on homework and expecting instant responses.^[35]

Looking ahead

The prevalence of mental health conditions is increasing - particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen a 25% rise in depression and anxiety globally.^[36] In turn, the pandemic has also impacted national economies across the globe, plunging populations back into economic uncertainty, and exacerbating inequalities. Emerging evidence suggests that there has already been a shift towards helicopter parenting, and current economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic and political crises may increase this further. While associated with positive aspects of parent-child relationship, including guidance/advice and emotional support,^[37] evidence suggests helicopter parenting is associated with a range of negative psychological effects ^{[38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]}.

Research in other countries suggests that autonomy supporting parenting is associated with both academic success and positive life satisfaction and well-being.[45] [46] However, more research is required on parenting styles and their impact in the UK, particularly to establish the drivers of helicopter parenting, how widespread the practice is, and the impact on young people and emerging adults in the UK context. These findings can be used to raise awareness of the impact of parenting styles, inform parenting practices and guide interventions.

Rachael Stanton September 2022