Overparenting and Perfectionistic Concerns Predict Academic Entitlement in Young Adults

Abstract

Objectives: The current study examined the relationships among overparenting, personality, and academic attitudes to better understand the factors related to students’ academic entitlement and academic dishonesty. Methods: Three hundred and forty-three undergraduate students, from a mostly White and female sample, completed questionnaires online to measure the extent to which students felt that other people expected perfect performance from them (i.e., socially prescribed perfectionism), the extent to which parents used overparenting practices, a broad personality measure, and their attitudes about academic dishonesty and entitlement. Results: The relationship between overparenting and academic entitlement as mediated through socially prescribed perfectionism was statistically significant. This mediated relationship was moderated by neuroticism with a stronger positive relationship between overparenting and academic entitlement for individuals with higher levels of neuroticism. Only gender was significantly related to academic dishonesty. Conclusions: Students with overbearing parents and anxious personality traits are at increased risk of alienating professors with entitled attitudes and behaviors. Our results may help higher education administrators and professors to more fully understand the dynamics underlying students’ academic entitlement.