Negative Effects of Over Parenting on Children and Young Adults

INTRODUCTION

A. One of the most influential resources we all have are parents. Parents play a major role in our social engineering, and they hold the keys to the building blocks of a child's life including the responsibility for the safety, behavior and welfare of their children. Children and Young Adults observe their parents every move, words and actions as the child develops. Each generation speaks of their youth, discipline/rearing, customs, traditions, behaviors, experiences, status, availability of resources and things they did to pass the time as a measure to the parenting their children are receiving. As time sweeps smoothly through generations, parenting as a whole has evolved to over parenting inciting acute levels of control, monitoring, problem solving, tangible assistance and decision making. Although over parenting intentions are completed in the best interest of the child, the effects of over parenting can have a negative effect on a child's success.

Parenting today is far different than the generation of parenting experienced in the 1980's, with an over emphasis on caution and stronger desire to over parent in order to give children an edge on life. Over parenting, despite good intentions, can have negative reactions to a child or young adult.

B. There has been a long debate on whether over parenting causes negative effects on children and young adults. Scholars on one side argue that over parenting children and young adult's can cause anxiety, stress, ineffective coping skills, self-entitlement, or the extent to which young adults believe others should solve their problems (Segrin et al., 2012). While scholars on the other side argue that good parenting produces positive or neutral results.

C. In this paper I argue that there is a correlation between over parenting and traits that could hinder a child's or young adults success due to the fact that scholars have discovered over parenting marked by the application of developmentally inappropriate levels of control, monitoring, decision making and tangible assistance to late adolescents and emerging adults, despite seemingly good intentions the evidence points to a lack of adaptive outcomes that lead to anxiety, narcism, self-entitlement, stress, ineffective coping skills and regret.

CONTEXT

"The Association Between Overinvolved Parenting and Young Adults' Self-Efficacy, Psychological Entitlement, and Family Communication" was Authored in 2012, This research was introduced to establish a correlation between parental behavior indicative of over-involvement and control of young adult child self-identity, specifically self-efficacy and psychological entitlement. This article highlights balanced family adaptability, cohesion and open family communication as well as authoritative rather than authoritarian parenting producing positive results. Parental behavior that emphasized control over children produced negative results that reduced self-efficacy and enhanced self-entitlement. Parental over involvement reduces child individualization, competence and efficacy. This research examined parental patterns associated with the development of the emergent adult. There is limited research that examines the effects of over parenting in children beyond the collegiate ages. Recent years have witnessed an increasing awareness, first in the popular press and now in the social scientific literature, of a form of overinvolved parenting that appears to be progressively more prevalent among parents of late adolescents and young adults.

B. Parent Child dyads were solicited to participate in the study at two universities located in the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States.

C. The aim of this investigation is to systematically examine how parent-child communication patterns are associated with the identity development of the emergent adult. Specifically, this study examines dyadic effects of a series of psychological and communication variables that are central to the parent-child relationship, and investigates their association with perceptions of self-efficacy and attitudes of entitlement in the emergent adult. Soliciting information from both parent and child not only affords a more holistic view of family functioning, it also permits examination of the interdependence that exists in close, intimate, inescapable relationships that involve frequent interaction, such as the parent-child relationship (Givertz & Segrin 2014).

The aims of this investigation are to ex- amine some of the individual differences in parents that are associated with overparenting of their young adult children as well as the traits of young adults who are exposed to overparenting. These two separate aims address the questions of why some parents might en- gage in this practice, and what qualities their children might possess, presumably as a consequent of being reared by such parents (Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz & Montgomery, 2013).

D. Over Parenting creates negative outcomes to the development of children and young adults and has the possibility to create anxiety, stress, self-entitlement, dependency for others to solve the child/young adults problems.

• Overparenting also includes components of excessive parental involvement, risk aversion, and anticipatory problem solving by the parent, in an effort to keep the child out of harm’s way.
• The paradox of this form of parent- ing is that, despite seemingly good intentions, the preliminary evidence indicates that it is not associated with adaptive outcomes for young adults and may indeed be linked with traits that could hinder the child’s success.

MAIN CLAIM #1

A. Over parenting leads to more negative than positive outcomes for the child.

B. Segrin, C., Woszidlo, A., Givertz, M., & Montgomery, N. all credible authors in the field(s) of psychology, relationships, behavior and communication, specializing in family relationship analyzed an abundance of studies and did a latent variable analysis which were composed and written as an article called“PARENT AND CHILD TRAITS ASSOCIATED WITH OVERPARENTING"

The intended purpose of this study was to compare how children and young adults were affected behaviorally (over parenting, ) when they were subject to overparenting.

Participants in this investigation were 653 parent-adult child dyads. The parents who participated in this investigation resided in 32 of the 50 United States and just under 1% of the parents resided in other countries.

The data from 21 dyads were deleted because both the student and parent survey responses originated from the same IP address (and the parent reported that his/ her child did not live at home) and 19 dyads were dropped because at least one member completed the survey in less than 10 minutes. After these deletions, there were 653 parent-adult child dyads retained for analysis.

The authors used parenting variables (regret and over parenting) and situation variables (anxiety, perceived stress, narcissism, coping) to determine if over parenting negatively impacted children.

As Segrin, C., Woszidlo, A., Givertz, M., & Montgomery, N. argue "Results of this investigation add to a growing body of literature suggesting that overparenting has mostly deleterious effects on young adult children’s psychological well-being and that it does not contribute to the successful and adaptive child traits that many parents would hope for" (e.g., Montgomery, 2010; LeMoyne & Buchan- an, 2011; Segrin et al., 2012). By solving problems for the child and not allowing him or her to experience failures, the overinvolved parent corrupts the child’s opportunity to develop an independent self, and the ensuing narcissism reflects the child’s ongoing search for approval from idealized others (Segrin, C., Woszidlo, A., Givertz, M., & Montgomery, N., 598).

C. * Overparenting has a disastrous effect on young children's psychological well-being and it does not contribute to the successful adaptive child traits one would hope for.

• By solving problems for the child and not allowing him or her to experience failures, the overinvolved parent corrupts the child’s opportunity to develop an independent self, and the ensuing narcissism reflects the child’s ongoing search for approval from idealized others
• Overparenting is associated with poor cop- ing skills in young adult children

The excessive involvement in the child’s life and preoccupation with his or her well-being could be a parent’s way of indirectly addressing that parent’s own regrets while simultaneously assuaging the attendant anxiety that comes with them.

All in all, the evidence showed that when a young adult or child is exposed to overparenting the childs susceptibility to anxiety, lack of coping abilities, narcissism increases and has a disastrous effect on their psychological well being.

COUNTER-ARGUMENT PARAGRAPH

A. In contrast to what the previous scholars are arguing, these scholars argue: Recent evidence suggests that some aspects of overparenting or helicopter parenting are associated with positive processes such as child perceptions of emotional support from the parent (Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012) and adult child reports of life satisfaction (Fingerman et al., 2012).

B.

1. Larry J. Nelson, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, and Matthew G. Nielson, all credible in the Family life field, wrote “Is Hovering Smothering or Loving? An Examination of Parental Warmth as a Moderator of Relations Between Helicopter Parenting and Emerging Adults’ Indices of Adjustment."
2. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of parental warmth in the relation between helicopter parenting and indices of child adjustment (i.e., self-worth and school engagement) and maladjustment (i.e., risk behaviors) in emerging adulthood.
3. Participants included 438 undergraduate students from four universities in the United States (Mage= 19.65, SD = 2.00, range = 18–29; 320 women). This study focused on the moderating role of parental warmth and the importance of emerging adult perceptions of the parent–child relationship.
4. As Larry J. Nelson, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, and Matthew G. Nielson argue "Regression analyses established that increased helicopter parenting was associated with lower levels of self-worth and higher levels of risk behaviors for those emerging adults who reported low levels of maternal warmth from their parents (especially their mothers), but not for those with high levels of warmth (Larry J. Nelson, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, and Matthew G. Nielson, 283). Additonally "Self-worth. Both maternal and paternal warmth were positively associated with self-worth, FD(4, 429) 1⁄4 28.69, p < .001. There was also a significant two-way interaction between maternal helicopter parenting and warmth, FD(2, 427) 1⁄4 8.81, p < .001" (Larry J. Nelson, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, and Matthew G. Nielson, 283)

C. Analysis

1. One of the important factors that might determine whether helicopter parenting plays a facilitative versus debilitative role in the development of emerging adults is the role that parental warmth may play as a context for parental helicoptering.
2. The information found in this study showed that helicopter parenting is associated with a number of indices of maladjustment, especially when it occurs outside the context of parental warmth, providing evidence that the absence of parental warmth might be a key determinant in whether or not helicopter parenting becomes predictive of maladjustment in emerging adulthood.

REBUTTAL PARAGRAPH

A.

Recent date → 2014

The counter argument article was published in 2014, making the article’s contents recent.

A study by Segrin et al. (2012) did reveal that over-parenting was related to young adults’ beliefs that someone else should solve their problems for them. Relatedly, Padilla-Walker and Nelson (2012) suggest that over-parenting during emerging adulthood may prevent the full development of decision-making skills and independence to succeed in early career development. Arguably, people who have had their parents intervene on their behalf their entire lives have learned to expect that others will handle their problems and will be less likely to have developed the resources to be independent and self-sufficient.

The counter argument article was published in 2014, making the article’s contents recent. Also in the counter argument’s experiment, A study by Segrin et al. (2012) did reveal that over-parenting was related to young adults’ beliefs that someone else should solve their problems for them. Relatedly, Padilla-Walker and Nelson (2012) suggest that over-parenting during emerging adulthood may prevent the full development of decision-making skills and independence to succeed in early career development. Arguably, people who have had their parents intervene on their behalf their entire lives have learned to expect that others will handle their problems and will be less likely to have developed the resources to be independent and self-sufficient.

B.

• This study has 482 participants while main claim #1 analyzed 653 participants
• Asked responses from the participants through a questionnaire which may propose a sense of bias from the participant.
• The survey materials were administered online to students who chose to participate in the study. Students received course credit for participation and were able to complete alternatives if they did not wish to participate in the study.

MAIN CLAIM #2 PARAGRAPH

A. Over parenting leads to ineffective and negative coping skills strongly associated with anxiety and stress in young adults.

B.

1. 1. 1. Segrin, C., Woszidlo, A., Givertz, M., & Montgomery, N. (2013).

"Parent and child traits associated with overparenting.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology", 32(6), 569-595.

• The objective of this investigation are to examine some of the individual differences in parents that are associated with overparenting of their young adult children as well as the traits of young adults who are exposed to overparenting.
• Participants in this investigation were 653 parent-adult child dyads. The parents who participated in this investigation resided in 32 of the 50 United States and just under 1% of the parents resided in other countries. To assess current levels of parent-child contact participants were asked “On average, how frequently do you communicate with (the child/your parent) who is participating with you in this study (via phone, text messaging, face-to-face, and so on)?” Responses to this question, in addition to demographic descriptions of parent and adult child participants, appear in Table 1.

Parent-adult child dyads were recruited through students attending a university or college located in the West, Southwest, Midwest, or North Eastern United States. Students who completed an online survey and referred a parent to also complete an on-line survey were given extra credit toward their course grade. Interested students were given a link to a secure website where they could complete the survey and at the end of the survey, participants were asked for a name and email address of a parent who would be willing to complete a survey.

• Segrin, C., Woszidlo, A., Givertz, M., & Montgomery, N argue that Results of this investigation add to a growing body of literature suggesting that overparenting has mostly deleterious effects on young adult children’s psychological well-being and that it does not contribute to the successful and adaptive child traits that many parents would hope for (e.g., Montgomery, 2010; LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011; Segrin et al., 2012

C. These findings, along with others in the literature on helicopter parenting, overparenting, and parenting out of control highlight some fundamental questions about this parenting practice.

The findings from this investigation add to a growing body of evidence pointing to negative traits, in both parent and child, a ssociated with the overparenting of young adults.

The evidence showed that when over parenting is involved, Collectively, the results of this investigation indicate that overparenting of young adults exists in a nomological network of individual difference variables that are generally maladaptive to psychological and social well-being. On the parent side, overparenting is associated with anxiety.

CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH

A. As these studies have now proven, there is a correlation between over parenting and traits that could hinder a child's or young adults success due to the fact that scholars have discovered over parenting marked by the application of developmentally inappropriate levels of control, monitoring, decision making and tangible assistance to late adolescents and emerging adults, despite seemingly good intentions the evidence points to a lack of adaptive outcomes that lead to anxiety, narcism, self-entitlement, stress, ineffective coping skills and regret.

B.

Over parenting leads to more negative than positive outcomes for the child.

Over parenting leads to ineffective and negative coping skills strongly associated with anxiety and stress in young adults.

C. This is import to the family relationships field because with the ever evolving roles of parenting it is important to see the effects that over parenting has on children and young adults.