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Associations between Profiles of Helicopter Parenting and Decisional Procrastination among Chinese Adolescents

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Abstract

Adolescence is a critical period for the development of decision-making skills. Helicopter parenting may lead to adolescents’ decisional procrastination because it hinders the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs and impairs their self-systemic processes. Nevertheless, little is known about helicopter parenting and its influence on adolescent development in China. The current study aimed to examine the profiles of helicopter parenting among Chinese adolescent boys and girls, as well as their associations with adolescent decisional procrastination. Matched data on fathers (Mage = 44.86), mothers (Mage = 42.88), and children (Mage = 16.22, 59.9% female) from six hundred and ninety-nine families were included in this study. The results indicated four helicopter parenting profiles among Chinese adolescent boys and three among adolescent girls. Adolescent boys’ decisional procrastination was more closely associated with mothers’ helicopter parenting. In contrast, adolescent girls’ decisional procrastination was associated with both fathers’ and mothers’ helicopter parenting. These findings demonstrate helicopter parenting patterns in Chinese culture and their links to adolescent decisional procrastination, providing practical paths for family education improvement.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the parents and adolescents who participated in our study and the people who assisted in data collection.

Funding

This study was supported by a project funded by the Asian Research Center of Fudan University.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Wei Wu, Yinying Zhang & Yan Wang

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  1. Wei Wu
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Contributions

W.W. participated in the conceptualization, data analysis, interpretation, and writing; Y.Z. participated in the conceptualization and data collection; Y.W. participated in the conceptualization, ethical approval, data collection, interpretation, and writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Correspondence to Yan Wang.

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Wu, W., Zhang, Y. & Wang, Y. Associations between Profiles of Helicopter Parenting and Decisional Procrastination among Chinese Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 52, 1219–1234 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01764-z

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