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Is Overparenting Associated with Adolescent/Young Adult Emotional Functioning and Clinical Outcomes Following Concussion?

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Abstract

Overparenting (O-P), or “helicopter” parenting, has warranted increased attention across the past decade. It is characterized as being overly involved, protective, and low on granting autonomy, and is associated with deleterious psychosocial outcomes outside of the concussion literature. This study examined the association of overparenting and patient emotional distress and clinical outcomes (i.e., symptoms, neurocognitive test scores, recovery time) post-concussion. Adolescents/young adult concussion patients (injury < 30 days) and parents (N = 101 child-parent dyads) participated. Patient participants completed measures of depression, anxiety, stress, and concussion clinical outcomes while parents concurrently completed an overparenting measure. Results of a general linear model found that overparenting was associated with higher anxiety and stress report of the child. Overparenting had a significant positive correlation with concussion recovery, although of a small magnitude. Emotional distress level, but not overparenting, was moderately associated with worse performance on clinical outcomes, including neurocognitive testing, vestibular/ocular motor dysfunction, and concussion symptom severity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Sports Medicine Concussion Program, University of Pittsburgh, 3200 S. Water St. Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15203, USA

    Alicia M. Trbovich, Jonathan Preszler, Kouros Emami, Shawn Eagle, Michael W. Collins & Anthony P. Kontos

  2. WakeMed Concussion Program, WakeMed Health and Hospitals, 3000 New Bern Ave, Raleigh, NC, 27610, USA

    Paul Cohen

Authors
  1. Alicia M. Trbovich
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  2. Jonathan Preszler
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  3. Kouros Emami
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  4. Paul Cohen
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  5. Shawn Eagle
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  6. Michael W. Collins
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  7. Anthony P. Kontos
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Correspondence to Alicia M. Trbovich.

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Trbovich, A.M., Preszler, J., Emami, K. et al. Is Overparenting Associated with Adolescent/Young Adult Emotional Functioning and Clinical Outcomes Following Concussion?. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 53, 1231–1239 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01204-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01204-8

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