Helicopter parenting and psychological well-being: impact on adolescents' nutrition attitudes

Background This study aimed to examine the effect of helicopter parental attitude and psychological well-being level on Attitude towards nutrition in adolescent students. Methods This study was designed with the relational-cross-sectional-descriptive model and was conducted with 652 adolescent students studying in a province in eastern Turkey between 16.05 and 10.07 2024. Data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and G*Power 3.1 statistical package programs. Results Based on the results of Model 1, the Psychological Well-Being level explained 3.5% of the total variance in Attitude Towards Nutrition level (R-2=0.035, F(1,650) = 23.878, p = 0.001) and it was determined that the increase in Psychological Well-Being level significantly increased the attitude towards nutrition (t = 4.886, p < 0.001). In Model 2, Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Helicopter Parental Attitude-Mother variables together explained 12.2% of the total variance (R-2=0.122, F(2,649) = 44.912, p = 0.001), it was found that an increase in both variables led to a significant increase in nutrition attitude (Psychological Well-Being: t = 5.601, p < 0.001; Mother Attitude: t = 7.978, p < 0.001). In the results of Model 3, Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Helicopter Parental Attitude-Mother/Father variables explained 12.6% of the total variance (R-2=0.126, F(3,648) = 31.266, p = 0.001), Psychological Well-Being (t = 5.864, p < 0.001) and Mother Attitude (t = 5.416, p < 0.001) significantly affected the nutritional attitude, while the effect of Father Attitude was not significant (t = 1.900, p = 0.058). Conclusions In this study, it was found that Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Helicopter Parental Attitude (especially mother attitude) levels had significant effects on individuals' Attitudes Towards Nutrition. In addition, the strong effect of the mother's attitude on eating habits was noted, but it was determined that the father's attitude did not have a significant effect on this relationship.