Construction of a parentification questionnaire for youth

Abstract

Background: Parentification is defined as a pattern of family interactions in which a child or an adolescent provides excessive care to the parents instead of receiving it from them. The phenomenon is linked to family difficulties, personality disorders or abuse of psychoactive substances, yet in some circumstances, it may be a factor contributing to an increase in mental resilience and one's independence. Participants and Procedure: The aim of the study was to prepare a parentification questionnaire for adolescents, adapted to Polish cultural conditions. The study involved 641 teenagers. Results: On the basis of confirmatory factor analysis, two versions of the tool were created: for adolescents without siblings (4 basic subscales) and for adolescents with siblings (4 basic and 2 additional subscales). Conclusions: The questionnaire draws attention to the multidimensional character of the phenomenon of parentification, focusing on the type of roles and tasks performed by a teenager (i.e. emotional and instrumental parentification), the level of a sense of injustice and satisfaction with the role played in the family system. Additionally, the test allows us to focus on the recipient of the care provided by the child (parents or siblings) while maintaining a structure that allows for conducting research with both only children and persons with siblings and facilitates comparison between them.