parentification

It's hard to avoid the impression that there's a lot of parentification going on.

Predictors of growth and distress following parentification among college students.

However, not all results of parentification may be negative.

Parentification may involve the child attempting to meet parental needs that are age inappropriate.

The almost inevitable byproduct of parentification is losing one's own childhood.

Every teacher in town knows a child hiding his emotions to protect a troubled parent; psychologists call it "parentification."

Collection of studies focused on the measurement, processes, and outcomes associated with Parentification:

Characterizing the magnitude of the relation between parentification and psychopathology: A meta-analysis.

Burdened Children: Theory, research, and treatment of parentification.

Parentification is the process of role reversal whereby a child is obliged to act as parent to their own parent.

Emotional parentification occurs when a child or adolescent must take on the role of a confidant or mediator for (or between) parents and/or family members.

The theme of parentification has also been explored in the Twilight series, with particular (but not exclusive) reference to the character of Bella Swan.

Hooper, L. M. Expanding the discussion regarding parentification and its varied outcomes: Implications for mental health research and practice.

Another example of parentification in modern media is the relationship between John and Dean Winchester in the widely popular CW television series, Supernatural.

Two distinct modes of parentification have been identified technically: instrumental parentification and emotional parentification.

Narcissistic parentification occurs when a child is forced to take on the parent's idealised projection, something which encourages a compulsive perfectionism in the child at the expense of their natural development.

Instrumental parentification involves the child completing physical tasks for the family, such as looking after a sick relative, paying bills, or providing assistance to younger siblings that would normally be provided by a parent.

Crosscultural studies also point to the widespread nature of the practice of parentification, and indicate that normal as well as pathological aspects of parentification need to be taken into account.

Some studies have hypothesized that when a child is the subject of parentification, it might sometimes result in them, later in life, having greater psychological resilience, more individuation, a clearer sense of self, and more secure attachment styles during adulthood.

Transference is often manifested as an erotic attraction towards a therapist, but can be seen in many other forms such as rage, hatred, mistrust, parentification, extreme dependence, or even placing the therapist in a god-like or guru status.

The term has also appeared in connection with parental alienation syndrome, in situations where by role reversal (parentification) the child, like a "living antidepressant" fills the alienating parent's emotional void': the result is that the parent clings to the child like a person who is drowning.

In destructive parentification, the child in question takes on excessive responsibility in the family, without their caretaking being acknowledged and supported by others: by adopting the role of parental care-giver, the child loses his real place in the family unit and is left lonely and unsure.

Thus where there is a disabled child in the family to be cared for, "older siblings, especially girls, are at the greatest risk of parentification"; where a father-figure is missing, it may be the eldest son who is forced to take on his father's responsibilities, without ever obtaining the autonomy that normally accompanies such adult roles.

All such aspects of disturbed and inverted parenting patterns have been drawn under the umbrella of the wider phenomenon of parentification - with the result (critics suggest) that on occasion "ironically the concept of parentification has...been as over-burdened as the child it often describes".