Paradoxical Parenting Practices and Australian Higher Education

While there is now a large literature on ‘intensive parenting’ practices, the majority of studies have focused on young children, rather than those in their early adulthood. This article draws on interviews with 30 Australian parents to explore parenting practices as they pertain to higher education. It argues that although parents tended to stress the importance of children achieving independence during their degree programmes, in other ways, their parenting practices were notably ‘intensive’ in nature. The research is significant in documenting both the extension of intensive parenting beyond the years of childhood and the associated dependencies that appear to continue to characterise family relationships in early adulthood. It also suggests that, politically, it may be harder to demonstrate the degree that responsibilities (particularly those that are financial in nature) have shifted from the state to families if parental contributions are masked by the discourse of ‘independence’.