Helicopter parenting has become an increasing concern among practitioners, college administrators, and professors. Further, some research has indicated that this form of parenting may have a deleterious effect on emerging adult college students' mental health. This study examines the factor structure of the Helicopter Parenting Behaviors measure, a recent scale developed to examine intrusive and supportive parenting behaviors, by using confirmatory factor analysis. We utilized a self-determination theoretical framework to replicate and expand current research regarding the impact of helicopter parenting and autonomy supportive parenting on emerging adult mental and physical well-being. Further, we examined selfefficacy as a mechanism for helicopter parenting and autonomy supportive parenting to impact well-being, using structural equation modeling with a sample of 461 emerging adult college students from a large southeastern, United States university. The two-factor structure of the Helicopter Parenting Behaviors measure was confirmed, indicating helicopter parenting and autonomy supportive parenting are two unique, but related, constructs. Both autonomy supportive parenting and helicopter parenting were found to have indirect effects on anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, and physical health through self-efficacy. Results also indicated autonomy supportive parenting was directly related to life satisfaction and physical health when accounting for self-efficacy, whereas helicopter parenting was not directly related to well-being. This study adds to the extant literature by its' application of a family-level lens to the self-determination theory, its' advancement of parenting behaviors measurement, and its' exploration of the continued influence of parenting during emerging adulthood.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

In addition to facing stressors that are typical of life course development (e.g., marital struggles, balancing work/family demands), military families face additional stress attributed to their military context (e.g., deployments, relocations). Using a systems framework and stress process perspective, this study examined military couples' relational health, as a gauge for how couples collectively cope and address challenges as a united front and how their relational health influences crucial health behaviors (sleeping and eating) through the promotion or erosion of psychological resources (N = 236 couples). This study evaluated a latent variable structural equation dyadic model whereby each partner's perspective of their family's relational health was hypothesized to influence their own eating and sleeping behaviors (actor effects), as well as the eating and sleeping behaviors of their spouse (partner effects). The role of psychological resources (high self-efficacy, few depressive symptoms, and minimal anxiety) as a mechanism linking family functioning to health behaviors was also examined. Overall, the findings supported the hypothesized model, particularly for actor (intraindividual) effects. Discussion is provided pertinent to service providers and researchers, including the importance of improving, or maintaining, family relational health, as a means for encouraging positive health behaviors among active duty military members and their spouses.

No abstract