College Parents' Excessive Control Over Their Students' University Life
In a 2024 report on Forbes.com, three ways that parents can have unique impacts on college students were discussed. However, a recent body of research suggests that overly controlling parenting can have negative long-term effects on college students' personal development, social relationships, and academic success.
Over controlling parents tend to be highly active and micromanage their students, a phenomenon that emerged as the baby boomer generation had more money and time to spend on their children than previous generations. This style of parenting, often referred to as helicopter parenting, can limit a student's autonomy and undermine their motivation and self-confidence.
The term "snowplow parenting" was coined in a 2023 report on Parents.com to describe a tendency of some parents to remove all stressors or challenges that their children might experience. This approach, while well-intentioned, can impair a student's academic goal pursuit and interfere with social relationships by promoting perfectionism and mistrust.
Research findings highlight the negative impact of overly controlling parenting on college students. For instance, parental behavioral control over students’ academic and career goals negatively correlates with college students’ intrinsic motivation and competence beliefs. Higher levels of perceived parental control predict lower motivation to pursue goals for interest or enjoyment, which undermines academic achievement and self-efficacy in higher education settings.
Excessive parental control also contributes to perfectionism traits associated with mistrust, criticism, and interpersonal conflicts. This can increase loneliness and damage students’ ability to form and maintain healthy social relationships. Such perfectionism is linked to adverse mental health outcomes like anxiety and depression, which further complicate social engagement.
Moreover, although not directly about parenting, studies of related child–teacher relationship dynamics indicate that poor relational environments early in life correlate with lower social competence and behavioral adjustment, which can translate into difficulties later in life, including college years. Overly controlling parenting may foster similar relational strains affecting adjustment.
On the other hand, supportive parents can help students reduce stress and burnout. They can foster autonomy and competence, which are more beneficial for positive development during college. Students need rules while in college, and some students need more rules than others. However, it's important to strike a balance to allow students the freedom to grow and develop independently.
It's usually obvious when a student is burdened with rules that are excessive and don't match the general experience of being in college. Rules often represent boundaries to children, and over controlling rules to college students often represent an over reliance of boundaries during a time of independence. Students who experience over controlling parenting may attempt to put rules and expectations on peers, which usually has limited influence on peers and can result in these students being rejected by others.
In sum, overly controlling parenting restricts college students' autonomy, undermines motivation and self-confidence, and impairs social and academic competencies essential for successful personal and academic development. Alternative parenting approaches that support autonomy and competence are more beneficial for positive development during college.
[1] [Journal of Brain Sciences, 2025] [2] [Study of related child–teacher relationship dynamics] [3] [Parents.com, 2023] [4] [Forbes.com, 2024]
- Family dynamics can be significantly influenced when controlling parents excessively manage their students' lives, hindering the students' mental health, personal development, and academic success, as well as their ability to form healthy relationships.
- Balanced parental approaches that promote autonomy and competence in students, considering education-and-self-development, family-dynamics, and relationships, are more conducive to positive development during college, ensuring a lifestyle that supports students' independence and survivability in higher education settings.
