Growing Up Too Soon: The Impact of Parentification on Resilience in Adulthood

Abstract

During childhood, individuals may be exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (Herzog & Schmahl, 2018) which can disrupt the quality of their physical and mental health throughout their entire life (Borchet et al., 2018; Cosco et al., 2018). While many individuals may be exposed to a variety of ACEs, perceptions of unfairness can influence how beneficial or detrimental the situation is to their well-being (Lee & Kawachi, 2019). One type of ACE is parentification, a situation in which a disruption in a family unit causes a parent-child role-reversal and a child is expected to perform tasks that they are often not physically or emotionally mature enough to perform (Boszormenyi-Nagy & Spark, 1973; Hooper, 2012; Hooper et al., 2014; Jurkovic, 1997). Two subtypes of parentification exist: Instrumental, where a child provides physical help to their parent(s) and Expressive, where a child provides emotional help to their parent(s) (Boszormenyi-Nagy & Spark, 1973; Jurkovic, 1997). Exposure to parentification generally inhibits the potential of individuals but in some cases, it can lead to resilience, an area of research that has not been explored extensively (Dariotis et al., 2023). The objective of this study was to determine if past and current exposure to parentification increased levels of well-being and resilience in adulthood within both military and civilian populations. There was no direct relationship between parentification and resilience. Instead, this relationship was mediated by perceived unfairness. This highlights that while difficult, challenges in early life can be overcome by shifting one’s mindset and acknowledging that even through adversity, there is an opportunity to become more resilient.