J Child Fam Stud DOI 10.1007/s10826-017-0751-3 ORIGINAL PAPER The Relationship between Helicopter Parenting and Adjustment to College Veronica Darlow 1 ● Jill M. Norvilitis 1 ● Pamela Schuetze 1 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017 Abstract As the entry into adulthood has become delayed, parental involvement in young adults’ lives has increased. However, parental overinvolvement may have negative consequences on development. This study examined the role of helicopter parenting and its effects on anxiety, depression, self-efficacy and adjustment to college among 294 college students. It was hypothesized that students with parents who are overly controlling will have higher levels of anxiety and depression and lower levels of self-efficacy, leading to poorer college adjustment, as evidenced by grade point average, academic adjustment, and social adjustment to college. The structural model was generally supported by the data, indicating an indirect effect of helicopter parenting on college adjustment, thus confirming the importance of the relationship between healthy parenting and college student mental health and, subsequently, student success. The study also examined student preferences for parental intervention, finding that students reporting more over- parenting were less likely to desire parental intervention. Keywords Parenting ● College adjustment ● Academic Introduction In recent years, parents have become increasingly involved in younger children’s lives. This increased parental control has also increased in college students’ lives as the emer- gence of adulthood has become delayed with a longer transition to some of the traditional markers of adulthood, such as home ownership, full-time employment, and families of one’s own (Furstenberg 2010). Parental invol- vement is key to children’s cognitive, social, and emotional adjustment (Combs-Orme et al. 2003; Pomerantz et al. 2007). As children develop into emerging adulthood, the growth of autonomy and self-reliance becomes an important task, but supportive parenting remains important for well- being (Furstenberg 2010). Indeed, when asked, college students report desiring parental involvement and most students report that they are satisfied with their parents’ degree of involvement (Pryor et al. 2007). Conversely, too much parental involvement may lead to negative outcomes in children. In fact, Grant and Schwartz (2011) argued that an inverted U relationship of moderation rather than excess may be most beneficial. That is, just as too little parental involvement is harmful to development, too much parental involvement may be as well. In fact, several studies indicate that too much parental involvement is associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety (Creswell et al. 2008; Gibbs 2009; Lemoyne and Buchanan 2011; Levine 2006; Marano 2008; Schiffrin et al. 2014) and with children who report feeling less competent and more vulnerable to stressors (Bronson and Merryman 2009; Gibbs 2009; Hofer and Moore 2010; Marano 2008). According to Creswell et al. (2008), parents’ over- involvement comes from the perception that the child is vulnerable and is a reaction to prevent child distress. However, this reaction only enhances childhood anxiety. * Jill M. Norvilitis norviljm@buffalostate.edu Veronica Darlow darlowvl01@mail.buffalostate.edu Pamela Schuetze schuetp@buffalostate.edu 1 Department of Psychology, SUNY Buffalo State, 1300 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, NY 14222, USA