First-year university students raised by overly protective or controlling parents are more likely to experience heightened anxiety during the transition to campus life, according to new research from McGill University and the University of California, Los Angeles.
The study surveyed 240 first-year McGill undergraduates during the first six weeks of the fall semester. Participants completed standardized questionnaires measuring parenting styles, current anxiety symptoms, and stressors encountered in early university life, such as housing challenges, personal loss, or health threats.
Researchers then examined how these variables interacted. The findings revealed that students from highly protective households showed a stronger connection between exposure to stressful events and increased feelings of anxiety.
“Students whose parents are very protective experience a stronger link between stressful events and anxiety,” said lead author Lidia Panier, a PhD student in McGill’s Department of Psychology and member of the Translational Research in Affect and Cognition (TRAC) Lab, directed by senior author Professor Anna Weinberg.
The researchers emphasized that their model does not prove overprotective parenting directly causes anxiety. However, Panier noted the results align with prior studies showing that excessive parental control is associated with insecure attachment and weaker emotional regulation, both factors linked to anxiety vulnerability.
Panier suggested that while overprotection may hinder young people’s ability to cope with stress, it might also reflect parents’ responses to children who already display anxious tendencies. “A bi-directional dynamic where child behaviours influence parenting, which then affects child development, is also well-supported in the literature,” she explained.
The team hopes future research will clarify these links and identify ways to better support young adults navigating major transitions. Panier added that supportive peer relationships at university could play an important role in building resilience, even for those raised in overprotective environments.
