Project description
Why parents nowadays are doing too much for their children
Today’s parents are more overprotective than in the past. To uncover the reasons for this, the EU-funded SAFE-SORRY project will explore the societal, economic and cultural causes of overprotective parenting. It will test whether overprotection is rooted in parents’ context-related representations, such as their perceptions of societal expectations about how parents ought to raise children. The project will also explore whether specific characteristics of their cultural context shape these representations. Using a multi-method approach (longitudinal, experimental, observational and cross-cultural research), SAFE-SORRY will focus on the fundamental importance of considering the complexities related to the socioeconomic and cultural contexts in which parent–child interactions take place.
Objective
Popular and scientific accounts describe how the phenomenon of overprotective parenting (also labeled “helicopter parenting” or “overparenting”) is on the rise. This evolution is highly problematic, as it puts future generations of adolescents and parents at risk for mental health problems, including anxiety and depression. Although past research offered some insights into the causes of overprotection, thereby identifying a number of parent-related and child-related determinants, there is no systematic research on the societal, economic, and cultural causes of overprotective parenting.
By bringing together theories from multiple disciplines (including developmental psychology, social psychology, sociology, economics, and gender studies), the aim of this project is to test whether overprotection is rooted in parents’ context-related representations, such as their perceptions of societal expectations about how parents ought to raise children. Second, I will examine whether specific characteristic of their cultural context shape these representations and intensify their tendency to engage in overprotective parenting. Third, I aim to identify parental risk and resilience factors, which explain why some parents are either vulnerable or immune to these socio-cultural pressures. To address these research goals, I will adopt a multi-method approach, relying on longitudinal, experimental, observational and cross-cultural research.
The present project has the potential to generate a paradigm shift in the study of overprotective parenting, and in the field of developmental psychology more generally, by highlighting the fundamental importance of considering the complexities related to the socio-economic and cultural context in which parent-child interactions take place. Further, findings may be highly informative for policy-makers and practitioners, and, accordingly, may help to better equip parents for facing the challenges of parenthood in a complex and changing social world.
Fields of science
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Funding Scheme
ERC-STG - Starting GrantHost institution
1050 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgium