...
By Daniella Gray
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Parents who stay overly involved in their adult children’s lives may unintentionally hold back their career success, scientists have warned.
Researchers at North Carolina State University found that young adults whose parents maintained a high level of involvement—advising them frequently, sharing many activities or closely guiding their decisions—tended to work in occupations with lower “prestige” compared to peers whose parents took a step back.
“It is well-established that parental investment during their children’s childhood and adolescence has positive outcomes,” said paper author and sociologist professor Anna Manzoni.
Read More on Family & Parenting
“However, our study points to a shift in parental role as young people mature into early adulthood. Specifically, our findings suggest that parents who are heavily involved with their children—spending lots of time advising them, sharing many activities, etc.—actually hinder the child’s ability to launch.”
...
The researchers' study focused on two key concepts: “family social capital” and “occupational prestige.” Family social capital refers to the support, information and norms parents provide through everyday interactions, while occupational prestige measures a job’s social standing, based on average education and income.
Tom Leppard, co-author and postdoctoral researcher in NC State’s Data Science and AI Academy, explained: “We know that parents play an important role in shaping their children’s occupational outcomes, but we wanted to study specifically the effects of family social capital on early occupational attainment of young adults.”
The researchers analyzed data from the nationally representative Transition to Adulthood Supplement survey, which tracked U.S. adults aged 18 to 28 every other year for up to a decade. The dataset included responses from 2,680 individuals across nearly 8,000 surveys.
The main finding was that adolescents with lower levels of family social capital tend to have higher occupational prestige, whereas those with very strong family social ties often experience lower occupational prestige.
"In other words, too much parental involvement was associated with a negative impact on the occupational attainment of emerging adults," Leppard added.
These findings took the research team by surprise. “We checked our measures time and time again to make sure the results were correct," Manzoni said. "There is so much scholarship demonstrating how family social capital positively impacts everything from school performance to healthy behaviors; our findings at first seemed contradictory.”
“But what the findings suggest is that, during the transition to adulthood, there can be too much of a good thing,” Manzoni continued. “This is an age in which young people need to make the transition to independence. And failure to do so is associated with professional constraints early in their careers.”
The study offered clear guidance for parents: as children move into early adulthood, stepping back from intensive guidance and adopting a more supportive, hands-off approach can help foster autonomy and career development.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about parenting? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Leppard, T. R., & Manzoni, A. (2025). Bonding ties that get ahead?: Family social capital and early occupational attainment. Journal of Youth Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2025.2603380
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines