'Helicopter' parents -- those who hover over their children -- may not have as negative of an effect on their children as originally thought, according to a recent report released by the National Survey of Student Engagement.
In fact, according to Todd Chamberlain, assistant director for survey operations, NSSE researchers discovered positive effects of "helicopter parenting" in regards to the lives of many college students.
"Helicopter parents," Chamberlain said, is a term that has received much, often negative media attention in recent years; however, he said the results of the survey indicate a benefit relating to parents who "show intense involvement with the lives of their students."
According to Chamberlain, the NSSE gave an 85-question survey to 313,000 randomly-selected first- and fourth-year students at 610 four-year higher education institutions. Students were asked questions about how often they talked with parents, teachers, siblings and friends about their current academic performance.
Chamberlain added that the participants were then asked to rate the overall benefit of such discussions. Ultimately, Chamberlain said the survey found that children of so-called "helicopter parents" expressed higher levels of satisfaction with university life than those with less-involved parents.
According to the report, "students who have the most frequent contact with their parents -- including a family member who has intervened to solve a problem for them at their school -- are at least as engaged and often more engaged in many educationally purposeful activities. The offspring of these so-called 'helicopter parents' also report gaining more from their college experience."
Despite the higher levels of satisfaction and engagement in extracurricular activities, Chamberlain said that the sons and daughters of these heavily-involved parents often achieved lower grades in the classroom than their peers with less-involved parents.
The NSSE has developed a working hypothesis to help explain this apparent discrepancy.
"Parents are more involved with the lives of students because of knowledge of past history with difficulty in school," Chamberlain explained. In other words, parents may have intervened in the lives of their children, turning into "helicopter parents," because of their child's difficulties in the past.
Pat Lampkin, University vice president and chief student affairs officer, said many people tend to give parents -- especially heavily-involved parents -- a bad rap. The term "helicopter parents" in and of itself has a negative connotation, Lampkin said.
Lampkin also noted, however, that in her experience, not all parental involvement has negative consequences.
"With parents, they are only involved because they care," Lampkin said.
Lampkin said she strives for open communication between students and parents to make sure that what parents might want is what their students want.
Lampkin noted that most "negative" cases involve those parents who "are doing the work their son or daughter should be doing." Scenarios such as these often result in students not learning "the system" they need to, Lampkin said.
Lampkin said the best situation is one where parents function as "partners" to their students, allowing their students to succeed while helping guide and direct them.
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