McMahon Thomas J, Luthar Suniya S
Department of Psychiatry and Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2007 Apr;77(2):267-81. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.77.2.267.
Parentification of children has not been the focus of much empirical research. Consequently, this study was designed to explore the defining characteristics and potential consequences of caretaking burden in a sample of 356 children living in urban poverty. In a series of multivariate analyses, characteristics of the children, vocational-educational status of their mothers, and family structure correlated with caretaking burden more consistently than psychiatric, substance use, or personality problems in the mothers. Moreover, responsibility to care for mother, more so than responsibility for household chores or the care of siblings, consistently correlated with the psychosocial adjustment of the children. However, even the highest levels of caretaking burden were not consistently associated with clinically significant compromise of psychosocial adjustment.
儿童的家长化现象尚未成为众多实证研究的焦点。因此，本研究旨在探讨356名生活在城市贫困中的儿童样本中照顾负担的定义特征及潜在后果。在一系列多变量分析中，与母亲的精神问题、物质使用问题或人格问题相比，儿童的特征、其母亲的职业教育状况以及家庭结构与照顾负担的相关性更为一致。此外，照顾母亲的责任，比做家务或照顾兄弟姐妹的责任，与儿童的心理社会适应始终存在相关性。然而，即使是最高水平的照顾负担也并不总是与心理社会适应的临床显著损害相关。
