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Likelier
Primary study Pew Research Center (Minkin & Horowitz 2023)

Parenting in America Today: A Survey Report (2023)

Cited in 2 Likelier entries (0 risks, 2 decisions).

Original source ↗

Used in 4 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

  1. [1] Free-range vs helicopter Decision · action side
    Statistic
    More than four-in-ten parents (45%) say they tend to be overprotective, compared with 20% who say they tend to give too much freedom
    “"More than four-in-ten parents (45%) say they tend to be overprotective, compared with 20% who say they tend to give too much freedom. About half of mothers (51%) say they are the type of parent who tends to be overprotective, compared with 38% of fathers."”
    Calculation notes 
    Pew Research Center nationally representative survey of 3,757 US parents with children under 18, collected Sept 20–Oct 2, 2022. Among all parents, 45% self-describe as tending to be overprotective. We use this as the action-side proxy: parents who recognise their own tendency toward over-supervision — a weaker claim than retrospective regret but the closest available population-level measure. The same instrument, same sample, and same question set also yields the inaction-side figure (20% give too much freedom), making it the cleanest mirror comparison available in the literature.

    Source date: 2023-01-24 · Accessed: 2026-05-02

  2. [2] Free-range vs helicopter Decision · inaction side
    Statistic
    20% of parents say they tend to give their children too much freedom, vs 45% who say they tend to be overprotective
    “"More than four-in-ten parents (45%) say they tend to be overprotective, compared with 20% who say they tend to give too much freedom. About half of mothers (51%) say they are the type of parent who tends to be overprotective, compared with 38% of fathers."”
    Calculation notes 
    Same Pew 2023 nationally representative survey of 3,757 US parents. Among all parents, 20% self-describe as tending to give too much freedom — the mirror counterpart of the action-side 45% from the identical question. The shared instrument and sample eliminate cross-survey framing bias that would otherwise undermine comparison. We use 20% as the inaction-side proxy: parents who recognise their own tendency toward under-supervision — again a weaker claim than direct regret but the cleanest available measure.

    Source date: 2023-01-24 · Accessed: 2026-05-02

  3. [3] Rescue vs let struggle Decision · action side
    Statistic
    35% of US parents say they tend to give in too quickly; 30% stick to their guns too much; 30% don't push their children hard enough; 25% push too hard
    “"Somewhat larger shares say they tend to give in too quickly (35%) rather than stick to their guns too much (30%), praise their children too much (26%) rather than criticize them too much (20%), and not push their children hard enough (30%) rather than push them too hard (25%)."”
    Calculation notes 
    Pew Research Center nationally representative survey of 3,757 US parents with children under 18, collected September 20–October 2, 2022. The 35% who say they give in too quickly is used as the action-side proxy: parents who recognise their own tendency to capitulate when a child pushes back — a behavioural analogue to stepping in before the child has wrestled with a problem. This is a self-identification proxy, not a retrospective regret measure; flagged as "(proxy)". The comparison figure of 30% who say they "stick to their guns too much" confirms the question has a balanced response scale.

    Source date: 2023-01-24 · Accessed: 2026-05-04

  4. [4] Rescue vs let struggle Decision · inaction side
    Statistic
    30% of US parents say they don't push their children hard enough, vs 25% who say they push too hard
    “"Somewhat larger shares say they tend to give in too quickly (35%) rather than stick to their guns too much (30%), praise their children too much (26%) rather than criticize them too much (20%), and not push their children hard enough (30%) rather than push them too hard (25%)."”
    Calculation notes 
    Same Pew Research Center survey of 3,757 US parents (September–October 2022). The 30% who say they "don't push their children hard enough" is the inaction-side proxy: parents who recognise their own tendency to under- challenge their child. This is the mirror construct to the action side's giving-in-too-quickly: rather than stepping in at the moment of struggle, these parents fail to create challenging situations in the first place. The shared instrument and identical sample make the cross-group comparison internally consistent. Flagged as "(proxy)" because self-identification of a parenting tendency is a weaker claim than retrospective regret.

    Source date: 2023-01-24 · Accessed: 2026-05-04