Introduction
Internalizing problems characterized by a basic disturbance in intropunitive moods and emotions are worldwide psychological problems, including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, and somatic or physical problems (e.g., fear, worry, concerns, and headaches) (Zahn-Waxler et al., Reference Zahn-Waxler, Klimes-Dougan and Slattery2000). The global lifetime prevalence of depression was estimated to be 10.8% (Lim et al., Reference Lim, Tam, Lu, Ho, Zhang and Ho2018), and approximately 14.6% to 33.7% of the population might be affected by an anxiety disorder during their lifetime (Bandelow & Michaelis, Reference Bandelow and Michaelis2022). Although depression and anxiety disorders are moderately to highly heritable, the etiology of depression and anxiety also results from environmental risk factors, such as parenting (Dunn et al., Reference Dunn, Uddin, Subramanian, Smoller, Galea and Koenen2011; Franić et al., Reference Franić, Middeldorp, Dolan, Ligthart and Boomsma2010). Meta-analytic studies have demonstrated that parenting (e.g., parental rejection and control) plays a significant role in children’s and adolescents’ depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms (McLeod et al., Reference McLeod, Weisz and Wood2007; Yap & Jorm, Reference Yap and Jorm2015; Yap et al., Reference Yap, Pilkington, Ryan and Jorm2014). However, less is known about the influences of overparenting on offspring’s mental health problems.Footnote 1 Despite a growing concern about overparenting’s adverse effects on offspring internalizing problems (e.g., Cui et al., Reference Cui, Darling, Coccia, Fincham and May2019; Darlow et al., Reference Darlow, Norvilitis and Schuetze2017; LeMoyne & Buchanan, Reference LeMoyne and Buchanan2011; Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Erchull, Sendrick, Yost, Power and Saldanha2019a), contradictory findings have been reported that overparenting may not be associated with depression or anxiety (Howard et al., Reference Howard, Alexander and Dunn2022; Trbovich et al., Reference Trbovich, Preszler, Emami, Cohen, Eagle, Collins and Kontos2021). To better understand the relationship between overparenting and offspring outcomes, the current research meta-analyzed studies on overparenting and its association with offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms, which could provide practical implications for parental education programs and clinical implications for mental health intervention programs.
Overparenting and offspring internalizing mental disorders
Overparenting (also called helicopter parenting) has received increasing attention in the popular press and academic research in the past few decades. Cline and Fay (Reference Cline and Fay1990) first developed the concept of helicopter parenting to describe parents hovering around and ready to resolve problems for their offspring. Researchers contend that helicopter parenting is not a new parenting dimension but a unique parenting pattern composed of overinvolved and restrictive parenting behaviors that discourage independence or autonomy (LeMoyne & Buchanan, Reference LeMoyne and Buchanan2011; Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Liss, Miles-McLean, Geary, Erchull and Tashner2014). Even though researchers agree that helicopter parenting and overparenting can be used interchangeably (Rousseau & Scharf, Reference Rousseau and Scharf2015; Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Jiao and Wang2022; Trbovich et al., Reference Trbovich, Preszler, Emami, Cohen, Eagle, Collins and Kontos2021), overparenting has been considered the term that best represents a type of parenting style that goes beyond what most parents would do and is intentional (Garst & Gagnon, Reference Garst and Gagnon2015). Segrin et al. (Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, Bauer and Taylor Murphy2012) defined overparenting as developmentally inappropriate parenting characterized by overinvolvement in offspring’s lives and decision-making, driven by the parents’ desires to ensure the offspring’s success and protect them from challenges and obstacles. From this definition, the term “overparenting” not only captures the overinvolvement and excessive control but also highlights parents’ good intentions.
Despite the benevolent intentions behind overparenting behaviors, the over part of overparenting (e.g., excessive levels of involvement and control) might adversely affect the offspring’s well-being (Locke et al., Reference Locke, Kavanagh and Campbell2016; Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Givertz, Swaitkowski and Montgomery2015). Researchers have provided a compelling account of the effect of overparenting on offspring’s ill-being based on self-determination theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, Reference Ryan and Deci2000; Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Liss, Miles-McLean, Geary, Erchull and Tashner2014). According to the SDT, there are three basic psychological needs: autonomy (the need to self-regulate an individual’s experiences and actions), competence (the need to feel effectance and mastery), and relatedness (the need to feel socially connected). The basic needs framework emphasizes that people must satisfy all three needs to psychologically thrive. The excessive problem-solving for offspring and the intrusive quality of overparenting may threaten all three basic needs (Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz and Montgomery2013), which has been supported by empirical evidence showing that basic psychological needs frustration may be a potential mechanism that links overparenting and emerging adults’ psychological challenges (Hong, Reference Hong2021; Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Jiao and Wang2022).
The involvement aspect of overparenting might make the offspring feel relationally connected and have protective effects, especially when the offspring faces challenges. Indeed, overparenting has been shown to be positively associated with parent–offspring relationships (Padilla-Walker & Nelson, Reference Padilla-Walker and Nelson2012), psychological adjustment and life satisfaction (Fingerman et al., Reference Fingerman, Cheng, Wesselmann, Zarit, Furstenberg and Birditt2012), and a sense of competence among emerging adults (Shoup et al., Reference Shoup, Gonyea and Kuh2009). Nevertheless, SDT has suggested that balancing the three basic psychological needs satisfaction is also vital to well-being (Sheldon & Niemiec, Reference Sheldon and Niemiec2006). Overparenting may cause variability or imbalance in the satisfaction of the basic three needs. For instance, the offspring may relinquish satisfaction of autonomy in order to acquire acceptance from a controlling parent. However, there will be negative psychological consequences for the offspring’s well-being, as the three basic needs are highly intercorrelated, and any frustration will cause functional costs (Ryan & Deci, Reference Ryan and Deci2000). In short, overparenting has been suggested to be problematic and may elicit more depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms in offspring from the SDT perspective.
In addition to the parent effect, offspring mental health problems are also likely to affect overparenting behaviors. There has been an increased interest in the interplay or bidirectionality between parenting behaviors and offspring development (Pinquart, Reference Pinquart2017). For instance, Bell’s model of bidirectionality proposed that parents could increase control or grant more autonomy as a response to offspring’s behaviors (Bell, Reference Bell, Bell and Harper1977). Furthermore, parents of offspring with mental disorders may experience more pressure and have increased anxiety (Liu et al., Reference Liu, Lambert and Lambert2007), which could indirectly impact overparenting behaviors (Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz and Montgomery2013). Jiao (Reference Jiao2022) has demonstrated that emerging adult offspring’s mental distress could prospectively predict overparenting, highlighting the associations between overparenting and offspring mental disorders that could be bidirectional.
Potential moderators of the association between overparenting and offspring outcomes
Although overparenting may be associated with more mental health issues in offspring from a theoretical perspective, individual differences in parents and offspring might help explain why the findings of the association between overparenting and offspring mental disorders are not consistent, which could provide insights for psychotherapy and improve long-term treatment effects for children, adolescents, or emerging adults from different backgrounds. A number of potential important moderators are discussed below.
Offspring age
Overparenting has become common across different ages of offspring (Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, Bauer and Taylor Murphy2012). It also has been highlighted that parental behaviors associated with internalizing problems need to be considered within specific phases of offspring development (Yap et al., Reference Yap, Pilkington, Ryan and Jorm2014). However, studies regarding the negative effects of overparenting mainly focused on emerging adulthood (Perez et al., Reference Perez, Nicholson, Dahlen and Leuty2020; Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Liss, Miles-McLean, Geary, Erchull and Tashner2014), and few studies about overparenting were conducted on children or adolescents (Leung, Reference Leung2020). Therefore, whether the offspring age may moderate the associations between overparenting and offspring mental disorders remains an open question. Given that the need for autonomy becomes increasingly salient while adolescents age into emerging adulthood and transition from a parent–offspring relationship to an adult–adult relationship (Love, Reference Love2016), it is hypothesized that the magnitude of association between overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms would increase with age.
Parental and offspring gender
First, parental gender might moderate the associations between overparenting and offspring outcomes. Previous studies have shown that maternal parenting may have a greater impact on the offspring’s adjustment than paternal parenting, as mothers are often the main caregiver (Nelson et al., Reference Nelson, Padilla-Walker, Christensen, Evans and Carroll2011; Patock-Peckham & Morgan-Lopez, Reference Patock-Peckham and Morgan-Lopez2009). Studies also have found that mothers tend to have higher levels of overparenting than fathers (Fingerman et al., Reference Fingerman, Cheng, Wesselmann, Zarit, Furstenberg and Birditt2012; Scharf et al., Reference Scharf, Rousseau and Bsoul2017). However, whether maternal overparenting and paternal overparenting have different effects on offspring mental health is unclear. For instance, overparenting fathers have been found to have adult offspring with worse outcomes in areas such as college adjustment, school burnout, interpersonal sensitivity, and mindset compared to overparenting mothers (Klein & Pierce, Reference Klein and Pierce2009; Love et al., Reference Love, May, Cui and Fincham2020; Rousseau & Scharf, Reference Rousseau and Scharf2015; Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Yost, Power, Saldanha and Sendrick2019b). Nevertheless, some studies found that both maternal and paternal overparenting were positively associated with depression symptoms among emerging adults (Cui et al., Reference Cui, Darling, Coccia, Fincham and May2019; Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Erchull, Sendrick, Yost, Power and Saldanha2019a). Alternaltively, other studies suggested that paternal overparenting might be protective to some extent, which was associated with better life satisfaction and less depression (Leung, Reference Leung2020; Zienty & Nordling, Reference Zienty and Nordling2018). Therefore, exploring parental gender as a moderator may clarify the direction and strength of the associations between overparenting and offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms.
Second, offspring gender might also be a moderator. Although female offspring are thought to be more sensitive to relational stimuli (such as parenting behaviors) based on gender role expectations (Bem, Reference Bem1974), the empirical evidence regarding this suggestion is mixed. Although some studies suggested that offspring sex may not directly affect overparenting (Burke et al., Reference Burke, Segrin and Farris2018; Gagnon & Garst, Reference Gagnon and Garst2019), Rousseau and Scharf (Reference Rousseau and Scharf2015) found that mothers’ overparenting was associated with positive outcomes among young male adults. Furthermore, Kouros et al. (Reference Kouros, Pruitt, Ekas, Kiriaki and Sunderland2017) found that higher levels of overparenting were related to lower well-being among female college students, suggesting that overparenting may be a stronger predictor of depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms for females as compared to males. Taken together, the negative outcomes of overparenting appear to skew towards female offspring.
Furthermore, given that mother–son, mother–daughter, father–son, and father–daughter dyads have been thought to represent distinct relationships (Russell & Saebel, Reference Russell and Saebel1997), it is possible that the magnitude of the associations between overparenting and offspring outcomes might vary depending on different parent-offspring dyads. Alternatively, based on gender congruence theory (Ruble et al., Reference Ruble, Martin, Berenbaum, Eisenberg, Damon and Lerner2006), parents may have greater influences on same-gender offspring. If so, the effect sizes may be greater in same-gender parent–offspring dyads. Overall, exploring the interaction effects between parental and offspring gender on the associations between overparenting and offspring outcomes is necessary.
Culture and race
Parenting may differ among cultural and racial groups (Bornstein, Reference Bornstein2012). Previous studies that examined the effects of overparenting on offspring in different countries also yield mixed evidence. For instance, Wang et al. (Reference Wang, Lai, Yang, Yang and Guo2021) suggested that overparenting may be more common and destructive to Chinese college students’ mental health because parents in the collectivistic culture tend to have higher academic expectations and excessive attention to their offspring, leading to more emotional and social problems in offspring. In contrast, a cross-cultural study showed that overparenting was associated with basic needs frustration and lower psychological well-being for both American and Chinese students (Hong, Reference Hong2021). Relatedly, Mousavi et al. (Reference Mousavi, Low and Hashim2016) suggested that Caucasian adolescents may be more negatively affected by parenting that limits autonomy than adolescents from other racial backgrounds, whereas Cook (Reference Cook2020) did not find racial differences in the association of overparenting with emerging adults’ adjustment. Given these findings, it is important to explore whether culture and race may moderate the associations between overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms.
Socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic status (SES) may moderate the link between overparenting and offspring mental problems. For example, parenting within a low SES family environment has been shown to be related to lower levels of support (Repetti et al., Reference Repetti, Taylor and Seeman2002) and increased risks of depression in offspring (Lemstra et al., Reference Lemstra, Neudorf, D’Arcy, Kunst, Warren and Bennett2008). In contrast, Romm et al. (Reference Romm, Barry and Alvis2020) found that parental controlling behaviors may predict more offspring’s risk behaviors within high SES families because of parental pressure for achievement. Although it remains to be answered whether the relation between overparenting and internalizing problems would be stronger in a low SES family or a high SES family, this study will add to the literature by examining whether the magnitude of the association between overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms may vary by SES.
Methodological moderators
The informant might be an important methodological moderator when assessing overparenting behaviors and offspring outcomes. Most studies employed either offspring-report measures or parent-report measures. Considering that different informants may have different views regarding parenting behaviors (Lanz et al., Reference Lanz, Scabini, Vermulst and Gerris2001) and a meta-analysis has shown that parents perceived parenting more positively than their offspring (Hou et al., 2019), report informants might affect the association between overparenting and offspring outcome. Another important methodological moderator could be study design, including cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, as previous meta-analyses have shown that effect sizes tend to be slightly larger for cross-sectional studies than for longitudinal studies (Li et al., Reference Li, Willems, Stok, Deković, Bartels and Finkenauer2019). Additionally, longitudinal studies include designs that overparenting was measured first and offspring outcomes were measured later as well as designs that offspring outcomes were measured first and overparenting was measured later. By including the two types of longitudinal study designs, we can examine not only the influence of overparenting on offpsirng mental disorders but also the influence of offspring mental health on overparenting.
Rationale for the current study
Previous meta-analytic studies have demonstrated that parenting behaviors (e.g., parental rejection, control, and parental autonomy support) play a significant role in children’s and adolescents’ psychological well-being (McLeod et al., Reference McLeod, Weisz and Wood2007; Vasquez et al., Reference Vasquez, Patall, Fong, Corrigan and Pine2016; Yap & Jorm, Reference Yap and Jorm2015; Yap et al., Reference Yap, Pilkington, Ryan and Jorm2014). However, none of the existing meta-analyses focus on and summarize the effects of overparenting on offspring outcomes. Although Cui et al.’s (Reference Cui, Hong and Jiao2022) systematic review showed that overparenting was related to psychological maladjustment (e.g., more depressive and anxiety symptoms) and another systematic review conducted by Vigdal and Brønnick (Reference Vigdal and Brønnick2022) also provided a rich source of information regarding the relationship between helicopter parenting and anxiety and depression symptoms, a meta-analysis is necessary to confirm the relationship, given mixed findings about the association between overparenting and depression or anxiety (e.g., Cui et al., Reference Cui, Janhonen-Abruquah, Darling, Carlos Chavez and Palojoki2019; Darlow et al., Reference Darlow, Norvilitis and Schuetze2017; Howard et al., Reference Howard, Alexander and Dunn2022; Trbovich et al., Reference Trbovich, Preszler, Emami, Cohen, Eagle, Collins and Kontos2021). Therefore, the first goal of the current article was to answer the question of whether overparenting is related to offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms and to understand which factors might explain the variation in effect sizes via meta-analysis..
Vigdal and Brønnick’s (Reference Vigdal and Brønnick2022) systematic review also included overprotective parenting behaviors as helicopter parenting. Overprotective parenting has been defined as intrusive micro-management of children’s activities and unnecessary strong affection when children are not in need of comforting (Padilla-Walker & Nelson, Reference Padilla-Walker and Nelson2012). Despite the similarities between the two concepts, it remains to be tested whether helicopter parenting/overparenting is an extension of overprotective parenting in childhood (Howard et al., Reference Howard, Alexander and Dunn2022). In addition, there has been a meta-analysis examining the relationship between parental overprotection and offspring’s internalizing problems, only including studies that used the overprotection scale of the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (EMBU, “Memories of My Parents’ Upbringing”) questionnaire (de Roo et al., Reference de Roo, Veenstra and Kretschmer2022), which is different from the scales used by the majority of the overparenting/helicopter parenting studies (i.e., Bradley-Geist & Olson-Buchanan, Reference Bradley-Geist and Olson-Buchanan2014; LeMoyne & Buchanan, Reference LeMoyne and Buchanan2011; Luebbe et al., Reference Luebbe, Mancini, Kiel, Spangler, Semlak and Fussner2018; Odenweller et al., Reference Odenweller, Booth-Butterfield and Weber2014; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, Reference Padilla-Walker and Nelson2012; Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Liss, Miles-McLean, Geary, Erchull and Tashner2014; Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, Bauer and Taylor Murphy2012). Considering the discrepancies between overprotection and overparenting regarding concept and measurement, the current study focused exclusively on studies that used the concept of overparenting or helicopter parenting to examine the relationship between overparenting and offspring mental health in more depth.
Method
Search procedures and selection of studies
Articles were identified for potential inclusion using the PsycINFO, Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), APA PsycArticles, Medline, and PubMed databases from the earliest published (2011) to July 2022. A partial grey literature search was also performed on ProQuest Dissertations & Theses and Google Scholar. The Google Scholar search was limited to the first 100 most relevant articles. The search was conducted using the following search keywords in all databases: (overparenting OR “helicopter parenting”) AND (depressi* OR affect* OR mood OR anxiety OR internalising OR internalizing OR phobia OR phobic OR panic OR “post-traumatic stress disorder” OR “acute stress disorder”), which were adapted from Yap and Jorm’s (Reference Yap and Jorm2015) meta-analysis. Articles identified were included in the current study if they: (i) measured parental overparenting, (ii) measured depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms of offspring, and (iii) were published in English-speaking journals. Studies were excluded if: (a) they did not measure overparenting or offspring internalizing problems, (b) they were published in non-English languages, and (c) effect sizes were not available.
A systematic search of the articles was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) (see Figure 1). The online search returned 245 records, from which 163 articles remained after the exclusion of duplicates. The two authors independently analyzed the 163 abstracts to check for the eligibility criteria. Thirty records were excluded because neither one of the two authors selected their abstracts. Then, 133 records were sought for retrieval, and 127 full-text articles were available to assess eligibility. Following this stage, each author independently coded approximately half of the randomly selected articles. Of 127 articles, 75 were excluded, and 52 studies met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. In these studies, a total of 20,357 offspring with mean age ranging from 12.63 to 25.56 years participated.
Figure 1. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) flowchart showing the process of study selection for inclusion in the meta-analysis.
Inter-rater agreement
Of the 52 eligible studies, 50% were selected randomly to be double-coded by the two authors. To calculate the inter-rater reliability, intraclass correlation (ICC) was used for continuous variables, and Cohen’s kappa was used for categorical variables. ICCs ranged from .99 to 1.00, and kappas ranged from .87 to 1.00, which showed excellent agreement. Moreover, differences in coding between the two independent coders were resolved by further discussion.
Coding of the studies
Overparenting was assessed using common measures for helicopter parenting and overparenting behaviors (e.g., Helicopter Parenting Scale, Helicopter Parenting Questionnaire, and Over-Parenting Scale), except for one that used several items from the EMBU questionnaire, which also captured the extent to which the offspring felt their parents were involving and controlling in their lives. Offspring depression included measures of depressive symptoms (e.g., Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale). Offspring anxiety included measures of anxiety symptoms, social anxiety, and panic (e.g., Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms). Offspring internalizing symptoms included measures of stress, emotional dysregulation, worry, suicidal ideation, and psychological distress (e.g., Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and Penn State Worry Questionnaire). All informants were either the parent or the offspring who completed questionnaires.
To allow moderation analysis, the following variables were coded for each study. Continuous variables included sample size, race (percent of minority), culture score (individualism index was used to represent the level of individualism of the culture according to Hofstede’s (Reference Hofstede2011) score system (www.hofstede-insights.com)), offspring age at the time overparenting and offspring outcomes were measured, and offspring gender (percent of female in sample). Categorical variables included offspring age group of outcome measure (children, adolescents, or emerging adults),Footnote 2 parental gender (mother, father, or both parents with no exact percentage of mother/father), culture (individualism or collectivism), SES (low, middle/high, or diverse), informant of the overparenting and outcome measure (offspring-report or parent-report), informant consistency (consistent or inconsistent),Footnote 3 publication status (published or unpublished), and study design. Specifically, the study design includes cross-sectional, longitudinal parent effect (overparenting was measured first with offspring outcome measured later), or longitudinal offspring effect (offspring outcome was measured first with overparenting measured later).
Data analyses
All analyses were performed in the metafor and meta package (Balduzzi et al., Reference Balduzzi, Rücker and Schwarzer2019; Viechtbauer, Reference Viechtbauer2010) in R version 4.0.3. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were obtained for included studies to investigate the effect size of the relationship between overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms. Fisher’s r-to-z transformation was used later to transform correlational effect size to a Z score so that the sampling distribution becomes normally distributed, and the Z score was transformed back to Pearson’s r as the result for interpretation purposes (Borenstien et al., Reference Borenstien, Hedges, Higgins and Rothstein2009).
Notably, standardized regression coefficients (β) were also used as effect sizes, as it has been suggested that β and r are extremely highly correlated and β can be substituted directly for r, regardless of the covariates in the regression equation (Borenstien et al., Reference Borenstien, Hedges, Higgins and Rothstein2009; Peterson & Brown, Reference Peterson and Brown2005). Nevertheless, to explore how β might influence the results, sensitivity analyses excluding studies that used β to estimate effect sizes were performed.
When multiple effect sizes were reported within a publication, common strategies to deal with this issue include extracting only one effect size or averaging effect sizes (Lipsey & Wilson, Reference Lipsey and Wilson2001). However, a three-level meta-analysis can make it possible to include all effect sizes within the same study by taking into account the dependency of effect sizes, leading to greater statistical power (Van den Noortgate et al., Reference Van den Noortgate, López-López, Marín-Martínez and Sánchez-Meca2013). Therefore, a three-level model was performed to account for the sampling variance of effect sizes at level 1, the variance within studies at level 2, and the variance between studies at level 3. In addition, Q and variance component statistics were conducted to assess heterogeneity. A significant Q statistic and the sampling variance less than 75% suggest that moderators should be explored (Hunter & Schmidt, Reference Hunter and Schmidt2004).
Risk of bias
Previous research has shown that significant studies are more likely to be published, which might cause overestimated overall effect sizes (Rosenthal, Reference Rosenthal1979). Although the current study has included partial grey literature, which might help reduce publication bias (Paez, Reference Paez2017), the current meta-analysis furthermore used the funnel plot and Egger test to examine publication bias. An asymmetrical funnel plot and a significant Egger’s test indicate possible publication bias (Begg, Reference Begg1994; Egger et al., Reference Egger, Smith, Schneider and Minder1997).
To maximize the sample size in the current meta-analysis, a stringent assessment of the quality of primary studies was not performed to exclude studies from the meta-analysis. However, publication status was coded to consider possible biases resulting from studies of lower methodological quality, which could be one of the criteria to assess the quality of the studies included (Hohn et al., Reference Hohn, Slaney and Tafreshi2019). Via post hoc moderation analysis, the differences between published (published studies in peer-reviewed journals) and unpublished studies (grey literature including thesis, posters, and other formats) were examined to explore whether primary study quality may have an impact on the magnitude and directionality of effect sizes.
Results
Descriptive statistics
The current study included 52 articles. Thirty-eight studies reported 133 associations between overparenting and depression (N = 16,139), and the average age of offspring when depression was measured ranged from 12.63 to 25.56 years (M = 19.94; SD = 2.21). Thirty studies reported 101 associations between overparenting and anxiety (N = 13,277), and the average age of offspring at anxiety assessment ranged from 12.63 to 25.56 years (M = 19.57; SD = 2.55). Twenty-one studies reported 58 associations examining internalizing symptoms (N = 9145), and the average age of offspring when internalizing symptoms were measured ranged from 15.33 to 25.00 (M = 19.76; SD = 2.24).
Most studies were cross-sectional (92.3%), conducted in the US (67.3%), and used the terminology “helicopter parenting” (78.8%). The offspring gender was, on average, 66.7% female. Additionally, 48.1% of included studies focused on overparenting in general parents without differentiating between mothers and fathers, 32.7% focused on both mothers and fathers, 13.4% solely focused on mothers, and 5.8% examined maternal, paternal, and parental overparenting separately. The details of demographic characteristics of the studies can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of studies identified in the review
Note. C = cross-sectional; L = longitudinal. N/A = not available. CHPS = Consolidated Helicopter Parenting Scale (Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Yost, Power, Saldanha and Sendrick2019b); COS = Chinese Overparenting Scale (Leung & Shek, Reference Leung and Shek2018); EMBU = Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (one’s memories of upbringing) (Perris et al., Reference Perris, Jacobsson, Lindström, von Knorring and Perris1980); HPI = Helicopter Parenting Instrument (Odenweller et al., Reference Odenweller, Booth-Butterfield and Weber2014); HPM = Helicopter Parenting Measure (Luebbe et al., Reference Luebbe, Mancini, Kiel, Spangler, Semlak and Fussner2018); HPBQ = Helicopter Parenting Behaviors Questionnaire (Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Liss, Miles-McLean, Geary, Erchull and Tashner2014); HPQ = Helicopter Parenting Questionnaire (Pautler, Reference Pautler2017); L-HPS = Helicopter Parenting Scale (LeMoyne & Buchanan, Reference LeMoyne and Buchanan2011); OPEAS = Overparenting of Emerging Adults Scale (Sherman, Reference Sherman2015); OPS = Over-Parenting Scale (Bradley-Geist & Olson-Buchanan, Reference Bradley-Geist and Olson-Buchanan2014); OS = Overparenting Scale (Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, Bauer and Taylor Murphy2012); PAR = Parental Anxious Rearing (Kins et al., Reference Kins, Soenens and Beyers2013); PHPAS = Perceived Helicopter Parenting Attitude Scale (Yılmaz, Reference Yılmaz2019); PRQ = Parental Relationship Questionnaire (Kenny, Reference Kenny1987); PBI = Parental Bonding Instrument (Parker et al., Reference Parker, Tupling and Brown1979); P-HPS = Helicopter Parenting Scale (Padilla-Walker & Nelson, Reference Padilla-Walker and Nelson2012).
a These three articles are different studies. However, according to the same demographic characteristics and effect sizes, there were probably repeated American/Finnish samples among three studies. The repeated samples were removed from the current meta-analysis to avoid duplication.
Although there were sufficient data, variability existed for the examination of moderators. Specifically, all 52 studies reported country (culture), offspring gender, offspring age, informant of measures, and research design. However, regarding SES, 46.2% of studies did not report SES in the sample, 25.0% had a sample of diverse SES, 26.9% had a sample of middle/high SES, and no study reported low SES. Additionally, only 67.3% of studies provided the percentage of minorities. Concerning age groups of offspring, the majority of studies (88.5%) included samples of emerging adults, 11.5% of studies were conducted with adolescent samples, and no study sampled children.
Meta-analysis of overparenting and depression
The overall effect size for the association between overparenting and offspring depression was significant and positive (r = .15, 95% CI [.12, .19], p < .001). Therefore, a higher level of overparenting was associated with more depression symptoms in offspring. The sensitivity analysis excluding five studies that used β revealed a slightly higher effect size (r = .16, 95% CI [.13, .19], p < .001), showing that using β as an effect size may not alter the results. Examination of the funnel plot (see Figure S1 in supplemental materials) and the Egger test (p = .013) showed evidence of publication bias, suggesting that the estimated effect size might be larger than the true effect size. The Q statistic was significant (Q = 648.12, p < .001). Moreover, the variance at the sampling, within-study, and between-study levels was 18.17%, 31.97%, and 49.87%, respectively, indicating that exploring potential moderators was necessary.
The moderator analysis results can be seen in supplemental Table S1. No significant moderation effects of culture (either continuous or categorical), SES, offspring age, offspring age group, offspring gender, informant consistency, and study design were found. No significant interaction effects were found between parental gender and offspring gender. These findings suggested that the relations between overparenting and depression might be largely equal between individualistic and collectivistic cultures and equal between middle/high and diverse SES groups. The relations may also not vary depending on the offspring’s age and offspring gender. Additionally, studies that used the same report informant for overparenting and offspring depression may have similar effect sizes with studies that used different report informants. Cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies also tended to have similar effect sizes. Moreover, the effect sizes might be equal among different parent–offspring dyads.
The moderation test of race was significant, and the association between overparenting and depression tended to be stronger among samples containing more minority offspring (b = .003, 95% CI [.001, 006]). Parental gender was also a significant moderator. It was found that the effect sizes for the associations between maternal overparenting and depression (k = 70, r = .15, 95% CI [.11, .20]), paternal overparenting and depression (k = 29, r = .11, 95% CI [.02, .20]), and parental overparenting and depression (k = 34, r = .19, 95% CI [.07, .30]) were all significant (p < .001). A follow-up comparison further suggested that the relationship for parental overparenting was significantly larger than that for paternal (t = 2.17, p = .032). However, no significant differences were found between the relationships for maternal overparenting and paternal overparenting, and between maternal overparenting and parental overparenting. Regarding methodological moderators, results showed that effect sizes differed according to whether the offspring (k = 110, r = .18, 95% CI [.14, .21]) or the parent (k = 23, r = .01, 95% CI [−.10, .11]) reported overparenting, indicating that the association between overparenting and offspring depression was stronger when offspring reported overparenting. Regarding the informant of depression measure, the effect sizes also differed based on whether the offspring (k = 129, r = .16, 95% CI [.12, .20]) or the parent reported (k = 4, r = −.12, 95% CI [−.24, .01]). This finding indicated that higher levels of overparenting might be related to more offspring depression symptoms if the offspring reported depression. In contrast, higher levels of overparenting might be associated with fewer offspring depression symptoms if the parent reported depression. Regarding publication status, no significant moderation effect was found, showing the effect sizes between overparenting and offspring depression may be equal for published and unpublished studies.
Meta-analysis of overparenting and anxiety
The overall effect size for the association between overparenting and offspring anxiety was significant (r = .14, 95% CI [.11, .17], p < .001), suggesting a higher level of overparenting was associated with more anxiety symptoms. The sensitivity analysis excluding five studies that used β revealed basically the same effect size (r = .14, 95% CI [.10, .17], p < .001), showing that using β as an effect size hardly altered the results. Examination of the funnel plot (see Figure S2 in supplemental materials) and the Egger test (p = .020) showed possible publication bias. The Q statistic was significant (Q = 391.87, p < .001). Moreover, the variance at the sampling, within-study, and between-study levels was 19.58%, 42.57%, and 37.84%, respectively, indicating that the exploration of potential moderators was necessary.
The moderator analysis results can be seen in supplemental Table S2. Similar to the moderation analysis results for depression, no significant moderation effects of culture (either continuous or categorical), SES, offspring age, offspring age group, offspring gender, informant consistency, and study design were found. No significant interaction effects were found between parental gender and offspring gender. These findings suggested that the relations between overparenting and anxiety might be largely equal across cultures, SES groups, the age of offspring, offspring gender, informant consistency, study designs, and parent–offspring dyads. The moderation test of race was significant, and the association between overparenting and anxiety tended to be stronger among samples containing more minority offspring (b = .003, 95% CI [.001, 005]). Parental gender was also a significant moderator. It was found that the effect sizes for the associations between maternal overparenting and anxiety (k = 48, r = .16, 95% CI [.12, .21]), paternal overparenting and anxiety (k = 27, r = .10, 95% CI [.01, .18]), and parental overparenting and anxiety (k = 26, r = .14, 95% CI [.03, .25]) were all significant (p < .001). A follow-up comparison further suggested that the relationship for maternal overparenting was significantly larger than that for paternal (t = −3.22, p = .002). However, no significant differences were found between the relationships for maternal overparenting and parental overparenting, and between paternal overparenting and parental overparenting. Regarding methodological moderators, results showed that effect sizes differed according to whether the offspring (k = 79, r = .16, 95% CI [.13, .20]) or the parent (k = 22, r = .01, 95% CI [−.08, .11) reported overparenting, indicating that the association between overparenting and offspring anxiety was stronger when the offspring reported overparenting. For the informant of anxiety measure, the effect sizes also differed based on whether the offspring (k = 97, r = .15, 95% CI [.11, .18]) or the parent reported (k = 4, r = −.13, 95% CI [−.25, −.02]). This finding indicated that higher levels of overparenting might be related to more offspring anxiety symptoms if the offspring reported anxiety. In contrast, higher levels of overparenting might be associated with fewer offspring anxiety symptoms if the parent reported anxiety. Regarding publication status, a significant moderation effect was found, showing that the effect sizes were larger for unpublished studies (k = 43, r = .19, 95% CI [.09, .28]) than published studies (k = 58, r = .11, 95% CI [.08, .15]), indicating lower quality studies might potentially exaggerate effect size evaluation between overparenting and offspring anxiety.
Meta-analysis of overparenting and internalizing symptoms
The overall effect size for the association between overparenting and offspring internalizing symptoms was significant (r = .19, 95% CI [.14, .24], p < .001), indicating that a higher level of overparenting was associated with more internalizing symptoms. The sensitivity analysis excluding six studies that used β revealed a slightly smaller effect size (r = .18, 95% CI [.13, .23], p < .001), showing that using β as an effect size may not alter the results. Examination of the funnel plot (see Figure S3 in supplemental materials) and the Egger test (p < .001) showed possible publication bias. The Q statistic was significant (Q = 185.68, p < .001). Moreover, the variance at the sampling, within-study, and between-study levels was 21.63%, 12.13%, and 66.24%, respectively, indicating that the exploration of potential moderators was necessary.
The final moderator analysis results can be seen in supplemental Table S3. No significant moderation effects of culture (either continuous or categorical), SES, offspring age, offspring age group, offspring gender, informant consistency, and informant of overparenting measure were found. No significant interaction effects were found between parental gender and offspring gender. These findings suggested that the relations between overparenting and internalizing symptoms might be largely equal across cultures, SES groups, the age of offspring, offspring gender, informant consistency, overparenting informants, and parent–offspring dyads. The moderation test of race was significant, and the association between overparenting and internalizing symptoms tended to be stronger among samples containing more minority offspring (b = .004, 95% CI [.002, 006]). Parental gender was also a significant moderator. It was found that the effect sizes for the associations between maternal overparenting and internalizing symptoms (k = 33, r = .17, 95% CI [.11, .23]), paternal overparenting and internalizing symptoms (k = 9, r = .14, 95% CI [.02, .25]), and parental overparenting and internalizing symptoms (k = 16, r = .23, 95% CI [.10, .35]) were all significant (p < .001). A follow-up comparison further suggested that the relationship for parental overparenting was significantly larger than that for paternal (t = −2.03, p = .047). However, no significant differences were found between the relationships for maternal overparenting and paternal overparenting, and between maternal overparenting and parental overparenting. Regarding publication status, no significant moderation effect was found, showing the effect sizes between overparenting and offspring internalizing symptoms may be equal for published and unpublished studies. The moderation effects of the study design and informant of internalizing symptoms measure cannot be tested in the current meta-analysis, because no study used a longitudinal study design, and no study had a parent reporter informant for internalizing symptoms.
Discussion
The results of the meta-analysis showed that although the effect size is relatively small, higher levels of overparenting are significantly associated with more offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms. In particular, for depression and anxiety outcomes, the relations may be moderated by parental gender, race, and informants of overparenting and depression/anxiety measures. For internalizing outcomes, the associations may be moderated by parental gender and race. Although conclusions about causality between overparenting and offspring mental health problems are not possible from the data analyzed, these findings provide convincing evidence that overparenting behaviors may predict offspring psychological challenges, and offspring mental difficulties may also predict overparenting behaviors.
According to the meta-analysis, the relations between overparenting and depression and internalizing symptoms tend to be stronger when overparenting was measured for both parents (or not specific to a certain caregiver) than when overparenting was measured only for fathers. It might be expected that the effects of maternal and paternal overparenting on depression and internalizing symptoms are additive, as parents may have similar parenting behaviors due to assortative mating (Beck & González-Sancho, Reference Beck and González-Sancho2009). It is also possible that as mothers are generally more involved with offspring (Patock-Peckham & Morgan-Lopez, Reference Patock-Peckham and Morgan-Lopez2009), offspring may recall more maternal parenting behaviors when asked to recall parental overparenting. This possibility also helps explain that the relation between overparenting and anxiety tends to be stronger when overparenting was measured for mothers than when overparenting was measured for fathers, suggesting that maternal overparenting has a greater impact on offspring anxiety than paternal overparenting, which is consistent with previous results showing there were more negative effects of maternal than paternal overparenting (Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Erchull, Sendrick, Yost, Power and Saldanha2019a). As fathers are often less involved in their offspring’s lives than mothers, paternal overparenting behaviors may be perceived as an expression of commitment and concern for their offspring (Lewis & Lamb, Reference Lewis and Lamb2003).
Although culture (individualism vs. collectivism) did not significantly moderate the relation between overparenting and offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms, race was a significant moderator. This result is in line with a previous meta-analysis showing the associations of parenting styles with internalizing problems may vary between racial groups in Western countries (Pinquart & Kauser, Reference Pinquart and Kauser2018), suggesting that even in the same country, culture may still play a crucial role in shaping parenting strategies (Bornstein & Cheah, Reference Bornstein, Cheah, Rubin and Chung2006). In addition, the racial difference showed that compared to Caucasian offspring, the associations of overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms were stronger for offspring identified as other races. First, it is important to acknowledge that offspring with internalizing symptoms may provoke more overparenting behaviors. Although overparenting parents may provide more assistance in seeking mental health treatment for their offspring, higher levels of stigma about mental illness among racial and ethnic minority groups may negatively affect mental health utilization (Alvidrez et al., Reference Alvidrez, Snowden and Kaiser2008; Turner et al., Reference Turner, Jensen-Doss and Heffer2015), leading to stronger relations between overparenting and offspring internalizing problems for racial minorities. Furthermore, research has found that large minority groups such as African and Asian Americans were high in collectivism compared to European Americans (Coon & Kemmelmeier, Reference Coon and Kemmelmeier2001). Given that a high degree of interdependence is more valued in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures (Slote, Reference Slote1992), racial minority offspring with a history of mental health issues may elicit more overparenting behaviors in families with higher levels of collectivism. For example, offspring in racial minority families suffering from emotional problems may be more dependent on parental support, resulting in higher levels of parental involvement that could be considered overparenting. Instead of cultural influences, another possible explanation is that the disadvantaged position of racial minorities may exacerbate the negative effects of overparenting, which is consistent with previous findings that the effects of risk factors on offspring’s adjustment may be worsened by ineffective parenting (Ruberry et al., Reference Ruberry, Klein, Kiff, Thompson and Lengua2018). Indeed, greater exposure to risk factors such as relatively lower SES and experiencing more discrimination has been found among racial minority people (de Vroome & Hooghe, Reference de Vroome and Hooghe2015). Therefore, overparenting may be more detrimental for racial minority offspring who have already been disproportionately exposed to stressful life conditions than Caucasian offspring. In order to further explore the underlying mechanisms between overparenting and offspring outcomes, longitudinal designs with racially diverse samples are highly recommended for future studies.
The associations between overparenting and depression and anxiety were found to be moderated by methodological factors. Consistent with prior research (Burke et al., Reference Burke, Segrin and Farris2018; Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Givertz, Swaitkowski and Montgomery2015), the associations were stronger when overparenting was based on the offspring report compared to the parent report. Moreover, it might seem counterintuitive that higher levels of overparenting might be associated with fewer depression and anxiety symptoms when offspring outcomes were merely based on the parent report. However, there might be discrepancies between the offspring’s and parents’ perception of offspring depression and anxiety. Another possible explanation is that because overparenting behaviors were driven by parental benevolent intentions (Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, Bauer and Taylor Murphy2012), parents tend to perceive their overparenting behaviors as beneficial to offspring development. Furthermore, these discrepancies in effect sizes between offspring report and parent report might not be due to potential common method bias, as no moderation effects of informant consistency were found, suggesting that even taking shared method variance into account, offspring report and parent report could have significantly different influences on the association between overparenting and offspring outcome. Collectively, the findings emphasize that measurements taken from offspring as well as parents could provide a multidirectional perspective (Kömürcü-Akik & Alsancak-Akbulut, Reference Kömürcü-Akik and Alsancak-Akbulut2021; Segrin et al., Reference Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, Bauer and Taylor Murphy2012) and suggest a need for more studies including both offspring and parent informants.
SES did not significantly influence the magnitude of the association between overparenting and offspring depression, suggesting that the influence of overparenting might be largely equal across different social strata. Nevertheless, it should be acknowledged that no studies included in the current meta-analysis had a low SES sample. The lack of low SES samples might limit the ability of meta-analysis to detect a significant moderating effect of SES. Additionally, the measure of SES utilized in the current meta-analysis was only based on income or parental educational attainment. Studies may include more factors to assess SES, such as occupational prestige, access to quality childcare, and household chaos (Duncan & Magnuson, Reference Duncan and Magnuson2012; Pan et al., Reference Pan, Yang, Li, Liu and Liu2018; Shaw & Shelleby, Reference Shaw and Shelleby2014). Collecting more information regarding SES may be necessary for future research. Overall, the direct effects or the moderating role of SES on associations between overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms are still unclear.
Contrary to the hypothesis, the offspring’s age did not moderate the associations between overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms. However, it is important to note that significantly more literature exists on emerging adulthood. Furthermore, no study in the current review has explored the relationship between overparenting and internalizing problems in childhood, although overparenting has been shown to be associated with negative outcomes for children. For instance, Schmidinger (Reference Schmidinger2020) found that children with parents engaging in overparenting had significantly more externalizing behaviors. Therefore, one possible explanation for not detecting age differences in associations between overparenting and internalizing problems is the restriction in the range of offspring age groups, given that no study included in the current paper had a sample of children and most study samples were skewed towards emerging adults. More importantly, parental perception of the offspring’s need for autonomy has been found to be negatively associated with overparenting behaviors (Jiao, Reference Jiao2018). Accordingly, parents may shift overparenting practices based on their perceptions of their offspring’s needs, which could be closely related to the offspring’s developmental stage (i.e., childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood). Hence, it remains to be determined whether overparenting may be linked to depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms differently in different offspring developmental stages.
Offspring gender was not found to significantly moderate associations between overparenting and offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms, which aligns with the previous meta-analysis of Yap et al. (Reference Yap, Pilkington, Ryan and Jorm2014). Schiffrin et al. (Reference Schiffrin, Erchull, Sendrick, Yost, Power and Saldanha2019a) also found that male and female emerging adults did not differ in the level of overparenting they experienced. Altogether, the influence of overparenting is likely to be equivalent across offspring gender. Relatedly, offspring gender was not found to interact with parental gender, albeit evidence has suggested that overparenting might relate to better adjustment for young adults in the mother–son dyad than in other parent–offspring dyads (Rousseau & Scharf, Reference Rousseau and Scharf2015). However, it is important to note that the current study explored the role of offspring gender using the proportions of female offspring in the sample, as studies rarely had an offspring sample of the same gender or reported the associations between overparenting and offspring outcomes separately for distinct parent–offspring dyads. Using offspring gender as a categorical variable may bring greater power in meta-analysis to detect the moderating effects of offspring gender and interaction effects between parental and offspring gender.
The study design was expected to be a significant moderator, but the results reveal that the effect sizes are largely equal across cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Importantly, for longitudinal studies, the current study not only considers the design that overparenting was measured first and offspring outcomes were measured later but also the design that offspring outcomes were measured first with overparenting measured later. The results indicate that overparenting may influence offspring depression and anxiety symptoms. However, it is equally possible that offspring depression and anxiety symptoms may elicit more overparenting behaviors (i.e., excessive assistance), which are consistent with previous results showing that emerging adult offspring’s mental distress could predict overparenting (Jiao, Reference Jiao2022). Overall, despite the current study not permitting conclusions about causality that could only be tested in experiments, the findings support that there might be a bidirectional relationship between overparenting and offspring depression and anxiety symptoms. Although based on SDT theory, offspring outcomes mainly result from parental effects (Schiffrin et al., Reference Schiffrin, Liss, Miles-McLean, Geary, Erchull and Tashner2014), offspring’s psychopathological difficulties could also result from the dynamic interplay between individual and environmental factors according to the developmental psychopathology framework (Cicchetti, Reference Cicchetti2016). For instance, anxiety symptoms in childhood may predict higher levels of overparenting in adolescence, which in turn may predict more anxiety in emerging adulthood. Nevertheless, caution should be used when interpreting moderation results for study design as very few studies utilized longitudinal design. More multi-wave longitudinal studies are needed to further support the dynamic interaction between overparenting behaviors and offspring mental health problems.
Limitations
The findings of this study should be interpreted in light of some limitations. First, the studies included in the current meta-analysis only focused on emerging adults and adolescents, and the results may not be generalized to young children. Second, studies rarely reported the associations separately for sons and daughters; therefore, the current meta-analysis could not test offspring gender as a categorical moderator. Third, within the studies included in the current meta-analyses, information regarding the racial composition of the sample was missed for some studies (33% not reported), and when reported, the studies were mostly conducted in North America. Therefore, the moderating effects of race may not be generalized to other countries. Fourth, no studies in the meta-analysis focused on low SES samples, and the conclusions cannot be generalized to low SES families. Additionally, most studies did not report the SES level of the sample, which may result in a less powerful analysis of the SES moderator. Fifth, although a number of moderators have been examined in the current study, the choice of potential moderators was limited. For example, emerging adults living at home with parents and having fewer siblings were found to experience higher levels of overparenting (Bradley-Geist & Olson-Buchanan, Reference Bradley-Geist and Olson-Buchanan2014). It also would be beneficial to consider whether the effects of such demographic moderators may vary among different age groups of offspring. Last but not least, some biases might affect the interpretation of the meta-analysis results. Although the current study included both published and unpublished articles to reduce publication bias, the funnel plot and significant Egger’s test indicate possible biases, suggesting that the estimated effect sizes might be larger than the true effect sizes. Moreover, unpublished studies were found to have a stronger relationship between overparenting and offspring anxiety than published studies, suggesting the quality of studies might potentially bias the findings. Additionally, the current meta-analysis may be susceptible to bias such as confirmation or hindsight bias, as the current study was not pre-registered before commencing the review. More comprehensive quality assessment (i.e., sampling and research procedures) and pre-registration are highly recommended for future meta-analysis to ensure valid estimates of the true effect.
Directions for future research
Even though overparenting has been shown to be associated with offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms, there remain numerous opportunities for future research in this relatively nascent area. To begin, the research conducted in non-English-speaking countries mostly used translated versions of existing overparenting tools developed by Western researchers (e.g., Hong, Reference Hong2021; Lee & Kang, Reference Lee and Kang2018; Wang et al., Reference Wang, Lai, Yang, Yang and Guo2021). These existing measures mainly contingent on individualistic cultures may not detect the cultural differences between East and West. Such differences in conceptions and measures are important for future cross-cultural research. Using an indigenous measurement tool may be more applicable to the local communities and may enable a more precise estimation of relations between overparenting and offspring outcomes in different cultural backgrounds. Second, it is important to assess and report overparenting across different SES groups. Future studies are also recommended to adopt multiple factors (e.g., income, educational attainment, and self-perceived SES) to help assess SES levels (Tan et al., Reference Tan, Kraus, Carpenter and Adler2020). Third, the current exploration of interaction effects between parental and offspring gender was limited. In the future, it will be important to measure and report the associations between overparenting and offspring outcomes separately for distinct parent–offspring dyads. Fourth, in the current review, more than ten published questionnaire measures of overparenting have been identified. Howard et al., (2020) also have questioned that the oversupply of overparenting measures in this new field may give rise to the jingle fallacy, an erroneous assumption that two measures tap the same construct because they have the same names. Therefore, a consensus operational definition of overparenting measures and further examinations of measurement validity is needed.
Lastly, the degree of negative effects of overparenting on offspring’s well-being may depend on the offspring’s traits. For instance, offspring with a high need for autonomy may suffer more from overparenting. Recent research has shown that specific types of parenting likely interact with adolescents’ personality traits (Mabbe et al., Reference Mabbe, Soenens, Vansteenkiste and Van Leeuwen2016), indicating that offspring characteristics could be important moderators between overparenting and offspring outcomes. Notably, research has suggested that there might be interactive effects between genes and parenting on depression and anxiety (Chubar et al., Reference Chubar, Van Leeuwen, Bijttebier, Van Assche, Bosmans, Van den Noortgate, van Winkel, Goossens and Claes2020; Keijser et al., Reference Keijser, Åslund, Nilsson and Olofsdotter2021). Incorporating genetic methods in future studies is necessary to explore whether overparenting may play a more important role among a subgroup of offspring genetically vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms.
Clinical implications
Greater awareness of the association between overparenting and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms may inform clinical practices. For instance, a previous meta-analysis found that child and adolescent depression psychotherapy effects were not significant at follow-up periods of one year or longer (Weisz et al., Reference Weisz, McCarty and Valeri2006). One possible reason is that overparenting behaviors may not be detected as negative parenting behaviors but are perceived as high levels of parental involvement, thus increasing or maintaining the offspring’s depression or anxiety symptoms in the long term. The results may also inform clinicians working with families that the discrepancies between offspring’s and parents’ perceptions of overparenting and internalizing mental disorders may impact treatment effects. Furthermore, mental health interventions for children, adolescents, or emerging adults may need to take both parent and offspring effects into consideration. Previous research also has found that parents high in overparenting tend to exhibit more accommodation behaviors (a type of overprotecting behavior to alleviate offspring’s distress) in offspring with mental health symptoms (Casillas et al., Reference Casillas, Elkins, Walther, Schanding and Short2021). As a result, there could be a transactional or bidirectional effect between overparenting and offspring depression/anxiety; overparenting may adversely affect the offspring’s well-being, but the offspring’s depression/anxiety symptoms may elicit more overparenting behaviors, thereby creating an interactive cycle. Future prevention and treatment of depression or anxiety for children, adolescents, or emerging adults are therefore suggested to include overparenting measures and consider possible maintaining or exacerbating effects of overparenting on offspring depression or anxiety symptoms.
Conclusion
The evidence of the meta-analysis has now provided a preliminary answer to the question, “Is overparenting related to offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms?” (the effect sizes are small but significant). Moderation analyses demonstrated that parental gender, race, and report informants might affect the magnitude or even the direction of the associations. However, several limitations of the present study and gaps in the literature should be noted that may affect the findings in which the nonsignificant moderation effects may be partially due to limited data available for some variables. Future research is encouraged to explore more cultural, SES, gender, and individual differences in the associations via longitudinal designs. Overall, this study advances the understanding of overparenting and the role of overparenting in offspring depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms, providing important implications for clinical practices that overparenting could be a possible target for future psychological prevention and interventions for mental disorders.
Supplementary material
Supplementary material. The supplementary material for this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457942300055X
Acknowledgments
Funding Statement: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. The coding manual, data, analysis code, and other research materials will be shared upon request to the corresponding author. This study’s design and its analysis were not pre-registered. We thank Dr Robert Enright (University of Wisconsin-Madison) for his thoughtful comments on the manuscript.
