Relationships Among Helicopter Parenting, Self-Efficacy, and Academic Outcome in American and South Korean College Students

Abstract

Although numerous studies have examined the role of helicopter parenting in child outcomes, there is little empirical cross-cultural research on the academic outcomes of helicopter parenting for late adolescents. This study investigated the differences in the association between mothers’ and fathers’ helicopter parenting and college students’ ( N = 343) academic outcomes across American and South Korean contexts, examining the role of self-efficacy as a mediator. Multigroup structural equation modeling analyses showed that South Korean fathers’ helicoptering has a negative relation with students’ academic outcomes. Higher levels of fathers’ parenting were directly related to students’ lower academic outcomes in the Korean context. However, comparable results were not observed with South Korean mothers or American parents. In addition, mothers’ helicopter parenting was not related to either self-efficacy or academic outcomes across the two countries. Although there are cultural differences in helicopter parenting practices, there appear to be potentially more cultural similarities across the two cultures than was conjectured.