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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy pp 2133–2137Cite as

Parentified Child in Family Systems

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Synonyms

Parental Child; Parentification

Introduction

Parentification* in the family system is defined as a functional and/or emotional role reversal wherein the child sacrifices his or her own needs in order to accommodate and care for emotional or logistical needs of a parent (Chase 1999). An important aspect of the parent-child relationship is how both parties learn to respond to one another’s needs. On one side of the spectrum, responding to a parent’s needs can help a child develop compassion and reciprocity with others (Chase 1999); on the opposite end, if a parent depends too much on the child, forcing them to assume many of the parent’s responsibilities, the parentified child* may learn that his or her needs are less important than others (Chase 1999). When children take over parental responsibilities, they will often leave the childhood status functioning more as an adult.

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Parentification* has been described from different theoretical approaches,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Kristy L. Soloski, Brie Turns, Cydney Schleiden & Porter Macey

Authors
  1. Kristy L. Soloski
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  2. Brie Turns
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  3. Cydney Schleiden
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  4. Porter Macey
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristy L. Soloski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jay L. Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Anthony L. Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, Schaumburg, IL, USA

    Mudita Rastogi

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Soloski, K.L., Turns, B., Schleiden, C., Macey, P. (2019). Parentified Child in Family Systems. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_479

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