Parental Overprotection During Childhood

Internalizing difficulties has a profound effect on society in human suffering, treatment, and work-related costs. Parental overprotection has been identified as a possible risk factor for children’s development of internalizing difficulties. Studies examining parental overprotection, children’s internalizing symptoms, and the child’s gender have shown inconsistent results that may be due to problems with methodology. The current study addressed previous methodological concerns by examining associations between parenting and internalizing symptoms for children with a prospective longitudinal design, utilizing multiple methods of gathering data (e.g., self-report questionnaires and a psychiatric interview), incorporating multiple informants (mother, father, and child), and examining how the parent’s and the child’s gender impacts the development of internalizing difficulties in young adults.This study examined the cross sectional and longitudinal associations between parental overprotection and internalizing symptoms for youth when they were school-aged and young adults. It was hypothesized that children’s internalizing symptoms during the middle childhood would be associated with concurrent maternal and paternal overprotection. Additionally, maternal and paternal overprotection during middle childhood would predict internalizing symptoms for young adults. Exploratory analyses examined the interaction of parental overprotection, internalizing symptoms, and gender; changes in continuity of internalizing symptoms for low and high levels of parental overprotection; and differences in parental overprotection for young adults with and without a diagnosis of a mood and/or anxiety disorder.Secondary analyses were conducted from a longitudinal project investigating the social-emotional functioning of children with a chronic illness and comparison peers. Parents and children (N = 282) completed questionnaires and an interview assessing parenting and internalizing difficulties. Data were collected when children were school age (8-15) and young adults (age 18-21).Contrary to hypotheses, analyses revealed a modest correspondence between parental overprotection and internalizing symptoms at Time 1 and Time 2. Exploratory analyses indicated that paternal overprotection was influential for girls, but not boys from multiple measures of psychological functioning. Mixed model analyses indicated no change in continuity of symptoms over time for low parental protection. Logistic regression models were not significant for parental overprotection predicting future psychiatric diagnoses. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.