Can helicopter parenting be beneficial for parent-child relationships? A person-centered approach in the United States and South Korea

Introduction

We aimed to uncover latent classes of maternal and paternal helicopter parenting among American and Korean college students and to examine whether latent classes of maternal and paternal helicopter parenting are associated with parent- child relationships.

Methods

We conducted three-step latent class analyses using five helicopter parenting indicators for 433 mother-child and 401 father-child groups in the United States and 207 mother-child and 195 father-child groups in South Korea.

Results

We identified the same three helicopter parenting latent classes (strong, weak, and managed) in mother-child and father-child groups in the United States and Korea. In addition, we found that American and Korean college students in strong and managed helicopter parenting latent classes reported better parent- child relationships than those in the weak class regardless of parents' gender.

Discussion

Our findings indicate that helicopter parenting is multidimensional and can be similarly interpreted by college students in Western and Eastern societies. Further, our findings suggest that helicopter parenting could be helpful for college students to establish an intimate relationship with their parents.

Influence of Perceived Helicopter Parenting, Critical Thinking Disposition, Cognitive Ability, and Learning Motivation on Learning Behavior among Nursing Students

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of perceived helicopter parenting, critical thinking disposition, cognitive ability, and learning motivation on learning behavior in nursing students in South Korea. The participants in this study were 149 sophomore nursing students from two universities using convenience sampling. The two universities were similar in terms of type, curricula, and size. Data were collected from October to November 2017 using self-reported questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regression with SPSS 22.0. The mean score of perceived helicopter parenting was 3.06 ± 0.65 out of six points. The levels of critical thinking disposition, cognitive ability, learning motivation, and learning behavior were medium. Factors affecting learning behavior were learning motivation (β = 0.40, p < 0.001), cognitive ability (β = 0.26, p = 0.001), and critical thinking disposition (β = 0.25, p = 0.001). These variables explained 32% of the variance in learning behavior (F = 18.21, p < 0.001). Teaching methods are necessary to increase the critical thinking disposition and learning competence of nursing students. In addition, it is important to consider the learning motivation of nursing students for effective learning.