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Exploring effects of childhood parentification on adult‐depressive symptoms in Korean college students
Author(s) -
Cho AhRa,
Lee SoYean
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22737
Subject(s) - psychology , depressive symptoms , situational ethics , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , young adult , psychiatry , cognition , social psychology
Objective This study explored parentification dimensions, the age of onset, duration, and family circumstances to better understand the characteristics of parentification and its impact on depressive symptoms among Korean college students. Method A sample of South Korean college students ( N = 316, aged 18–29 years, 66.1% female) rated their childhood parentification experiences and current depressive symptoms. Results Overall, there were few significant differences in parentification dimensions and depressive symptoms regarding family circumstances that contributed to parentification. Longer duration and earlier onset of parentification were significantly associated with higher depressive symptom scores in adulthood. However, only perceived unfairness was associated with depressive symptoms after controlling for the age of onset, duration, and other parentification dimensions. Conclusions These findings suggest the importance of examining situational contexts of parentification to better capture the effects of childhood parentification on depressive symptoms in adulthood.