Helicopter Parenting and Chinese University Students’ Adjustment: The Mediation of Autonomy and Moderation of the Sense of Entitlement

This study examined the relationships between helicopter parenting and emerging adults’ adjustment indices (school engagement, peer attachment, and stress), as well as the potential mediating role of autonomy and the moderating role of the sense of entitlement in the relationships. Participants included 392 Chinese university students aged 18–23 (M = 18.83) who completed six questionnaires that assessed helicopter parenting, school engagement, peer attachment, stress, autonomy, and the sense of entitlement, respectively. The results showed that (1) helicopter parenting significantly negatively predicted students’ school engagement and peer attachment but positively predicted their stress; (2) autonomy mediated the relationships between helicopter parenting and students’ adjustment indices; (3) students’ sense of entitlement significantly positively moderated the negative effect of helicopter parenting on their autonomy. These results suggest that helicopter parenting can affect emerging adults’ adjustment directly and indirectly by diminishing their autonomy in collectivist cultures. The sense of entitlement appears to dampen the detrimental consequences of helicopter parenting on the autonomy of emerging adults.