Citation

Sang J, Cederbaum JA, Hurlburt MS. Fam. Process 2013; 53(2): 252-266.

Affiliation

School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Family Process Institute, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/famp.12038

PMID

24749937

Abstract

Guided by structural family systems theory, this study explored the relationship between parentification and adolescent daughters' sexual risk engagement and substance use. We also explored how adolescent reports of parental monitoring moderated the relationship between parentification and adolescent risk. Data were from a cross-sectional, cross-generational study of 176 mother-daughter dyads from low-income, inner-city, ethnic minority families. In this sample, which included a subset of mothers with HIV, parental physical symptoms were associated with slightly higher levels of parentification. Parentification was associated with adolescent daughters' intention to have sex (but not substance use) in a direction opposite to prediction. Higher parentification was associated with lower intention to have sex. Parental monitoring did not moderate relationships between parentification and adolescent risk. These findings highlight that despite the negative influence hypothesized in structural family systems theory, parentification was not associated with risk engagement of high-risk adolescent daughters in ethnic minority families with low income.

Language: en