Helicopter Parenting, Attitudes Towards Sexual Relationships and Self-Esteem Among Young Adults

Helicopter parenting, characterized by excessive involvement and control of parents in their child’s life, has raised concerns about its developmental impacts. This study investigated how helicopter parenting, characterized by excessive parental involvement and control affects young adults' self-esteem and attitudes toward sexual relationships. Data were collected from 230 participants aged 18-25 using the Helicopter Parenting Instrument, Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results revealed a significant negative relationship between helicopter parenting and self-esteem, with regression analysis showing that helicopter parenting predicted lower self-esteem. This suggests that overparenting may undermine young adults' psychological well-being by hindering autonomy development. However, no significant relationships were found between helicopter parenting and sexual attitudes or between self-esteem and sexual attitudes, indicating that sexual values likely develop independently from both parental control and self-evaluation processes. These findings challenge assumptions about parental influence on sexual development during emerging adulthood and suggest that sexual education might be more effective when focused on peer contexts and media literacy rather than parental communication. The study highlights the need for balanced parenting approaches that support autonomy while maintaining healthy parent-child relationships to promote optimal psychological development in young adults.