The pressure to be the perfect parent can be overwhelming, but social media and perceived world threats are causing some to be overprotective parents, and it is having a negative impact on our youth.
New Griffith University research, funded by the Australian Research Council, surveyed 909 Australian parents of a child aged between 16-19 years of age to investigate the pressures on parents and overprotective parenting.
The survey investigated world threats, and whether comparisons with other parents on social media could increase parents' anxiety and overprotective parenting.
Overprotective parenting is a form of intrusive or controlling parenting that involved restricting adolescent decision-making and problem-solving opportunities, overinvolvement in children's decisions and self-direction, and interfering with appropriate privacy and autonomy.
Lead author Dr Kathy Ryan from Griffith's School of Applied Psychology said social media and fear about the future shaped parenting behaviours.
"Upward comparisons on social media were one of the strongest predictors of overprotective parenting and parental anxiety," Dr Ryan said.
"World threats were also a concern as some parents can perceive the world to be increasingly unstable, risky or threatening, and are therefore more likely to become overprotective of their teenage children.
"Concerns about economic uncertainty, housing affordability, climate change, and broader global instability appear to influence how parents interact with their children.
"These factors can increase parents' anxiety.
"When parents experience heightened anxiety, they may try to manage risk by becoming more involved in their children's decisions and activities."
Although these factors impacted mothers' parenting, the study found they were especially important for understanding fathers' anxiety and overprotection.
Co-author Professor Melanie Zimmer-Gembeck said parents wanted the best for their children, particularly during the current economic climate and turbulent world issues.
"They feel pressure that there is a right or best way to parent and this information comes from society via social media and other parents," she said.
"This perfection can be linked to family management tasks as well as the child progressing in the way society expects.
"Parents compared themselves to others on social media and added more pressure to themselves.
"Our findings indicate even parents of adolescents feel pressure and judgement from society to be the 'perfect' parent and have their child succeed.
"However, this pressure can, in turn, make some parents become more anxious and overprotective.
"We need to find ways to help parents address the issue of social comparison and emphasise more realistic messaging for parents of adolescents so they can be more confident in their parenting practices and support their teenagers as they become young adults."
The paper 'Overprotective parenting: Examining pressures to be perfect, social media comparisons, world instability and parent anxiety' has been published in Family Relations.
