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An empirical study of parentification

and personality
a b
Rebecca A. Jones & Marolyn Wells
a
Practicum Training Coordinator at the Georgia School of
Professional Psychology, 990 Hammond Drive, 11th Floor ,
Atlanta, GA 30328
b
Training Director / Counseling Psychologist at Georgia State
University
Published online: 13 Jun 2007.

To cite this article: Rebecca A. Jones & Marolyn Wells (1996) An empirical study of
parentification and personality, The American Journal of Family Therapy, 24:2, 145-152, DOI:
10.1080/01926189608251027

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01926189608251027

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 AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF
PARENTIFICATION AND PERSONALITY

REBECCA A . JONES and M A R O L Y N W E L L S

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This article examines the hypotheses that parentification can predict

three sets of personality characteris tics: masochistic or self-defeating,
overt narcissistic, and compulsive. Separate regression analyses were
r u n for males and females, with parentifcation used to predict these
personality characteris tics, as measured on the MCMI-11. Results indi-
cated that for both genders, parentifcation was a significant predictor
of masochistic and narcissistic personality, but not compulsive charac-
teristics. The results lend preliminary support to the authors’ theory
that parentification can manifest in two different, but related, forms
depending upon the type of familial inducement.

Parentification, the expectation that a child will assume a caretaking

role for the parent(s) (Boszormenyi-Nagy& Spark, 1973),presumably rep-
resents a relational template that is internalized by the child and crystal-
lized into his or her personality. Parentification has been described in
terms of a “family ledger” of “accounts due” that accrues over several
generations. Specifically, adult family members whose own needs were
not met in childhood may compensate by focusing on one of their children.
This child, in order to balance the family account, is then enlisted to estab-
lish family justice by giving the parents all that they were due from their
own families. In this way, the receptive child begins to mold his or her
identity around fulfilling the needs of the adults (Boszormenyi-Nagy and
Spark, 1973).
Parentified children take care of their parents in concrete, physical ways
by comforting them emotionally, and also by shaping their own personali-
ties to meet the expectations of the parents, thereby increasing the parents’
self-esteem. Karpel (1976) has described such children as developing an
Rebecca A. Jones, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor and Practicum Training Coordinator at
the Georgia School of Professional Psychology, 990 Hammond Drive, 11th Floor, Atlanta,
GA 30328. Marolyn Wells, Ph.D., is Training Director / Counseling Psychologist at Georgia
State University.
The American Journalof Family Therapy, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1996 0Brunner/Mazel,Inc.
145
 146 The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1996

“uncanny” sensitivity to the feelings and needs of their parents, some-

times to the point where the child may exaggerate the parents‘ needs in
order to maintain a sense of self. Thus the parentification process may
undermine the development of the child’s “true self” (Boszormenyi-
Nagy & Spark, 1973; Karpel, 1976) and induce characterological adapta-
tions.
This article attempts to expound on this process of parentified self-
development as manifested in adults by examining the relationship be-
tween parentification and predicted characterological adaptations. Spe-
cifically, the authors propose that parentification is related to the
development of both self-defeating and overt narcissistic personality char-
acteristics with compulsive features.
West and Keller (1991), following the work of Bowlby (1977), were the
first to theorize that arentification in childhood may lead to an adult
K
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relationship pattern c aracterized by compulsive caregiving, which they

equated with self-defeating personality disorder (as defined by the DSM-
111-R). West and Keller proposed that ”compulsive care-giving is a mode
of adaptation that in childhood offered the best possibility for achieving
proximity to the parent’’ (p. 426). In addition, they hypothesized that ”the
structure of the person’s interaction with the parent is carried forward
into adulthood and serves as a template for negotiating current relation-
ships” (p. 426).
It is our belief that West and Keller described one aspect of a more
complex parentification phenomenon, which can additionally assume a
narcissistic form. We propose that parentification affects the development
of narcissistic and self-defeating characteristics through a similar underly-
ing process, in which a family system induces the child to develop a sense
of self that revolves around parental needs. We hypothesize, however, that
parental needs differ in the parentification process that induces primarily
masochistic or self-defeating characteristics from those in the process that
induces as primarily narcissistic characteristics in a child.
For example, parents may induce masochistic parentification by need-
ing the child directly to take care of the parents’ emotional or physical
needs (e.g., by being a good listener and suppressing autonomous striv-
ings, by being “mother’s little helper” or the ”little man of the family”).
In contrast, parents may induce narcissistic parentification by needing the
child to become the parent’s idealized self-projection (e.g., by realizing
the parent’s dream of becoming a great musician, a genius professor, a
successful entrepreneur). Of course, in some families both parentification
processes affect a child, and, as a result, parentified individuals can pre-
sent with characteristics of both masochistic (self-defeating) and narcissis-
tic personality styles.
Finally, we speculate that compulsive personality features are typically
present in both the masochistic and narcissistic parentification formuIa-
tions. Compulsive features often manifest the parentified individual’s
strivings for perfection, shame over mistakes, and basic insecurity that
propels various ritualized strivings for control through “compulsive care-
taking” (West & Keller, 1991).
 Parentification and Personality 147

Hypotheses

1) For each gender, parentification is a significant predictor of self-de-

feating characteristics on the MCMI-11.
2) For each gender, parentification is a significant predictor of narcissistic
personality characteristics on the MCMI-11.
3) For each gender, parentification is a significant predictor of compulsive
personality characteristics on the MCMI-11.

METHOD

Procedure

Fall quarter 1993 through spring quarter 1994, introductory psychology

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students at a large southeastern urban university volunteered for a three-

hour test-taking session for extra course credit. One of three "blind" exam-
iners read standard instructions and administered 13 paper-and-pencil
measures to groups of 4-10 students. To alleviate fatigue effects, 10-minute
breaks were planned on the hour. The 13 assessments were serially varied
for each subject so as to mitigate order effects. No identifying information
was collected, in order to guarantee confidentiality and guard against
response bias. All responses were electronically scanned. Analyses were
conducted using the SPSS-X statistical package.

Sample

Of the 360 student subjects examined in this study, 67% were female;
52% were Caucasian, 32% were African-American, and 17% represented
other minorities (including 11%Asians). Mean age for this sample was
21, ranging from 17 to 48.Finally, 86% were single, 11%were married,
and 2% were divorced.

Instruments

Parentification Questionnuire (PQ, Sessions & Jurkovic, 1986). This 42-

item paper-and-pencil instrument measures the subjective experience of
caretaking responsibility between child and parents in the family of origin.
The scale has a reported Spearman-Brown split-half reliability of .85 and
a coefficient alpha of .83 (Wolkin, 1984).Test-retest reliability of .86 over a
two-week period was found with a group of undergraduates (Burt, 1992).
Research has also documented convergent validity for the P a indicat-
ing that scores on the instrument are related to predicted variables such
as lack of differentiation from the family of origin, choice of a caretaking
profession, features of depression, and ambivalence about dependency
needs (Burt, 1986; Goglia, 1982; Sessions, 1986; Wolkin, 1984).In addition,
higher scores have been found for children of alcoholics than for a control
group (Goglia et al., 1992).
 148 The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1996

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-I1 (MCMI-11, Millon, 1987).This 175-

item paper-and-pencil inventory is used to assess self-reported subscrip-
tion to 16 basic-to-severe personality styles. Studies (Millon, 1987) have
shown that the MCMI-I1 is a reliable and valid personality inventory for
clinical populations. In nonclinical populations, even if none of the person-
ality scale scores rise above 75, the clinician can still interpret personality
style (Darwin Dorr, personal communication, June 18, 1993).

RESULTS

For the analyses reported below, the alpha level of significance was set
a priori at .008 in order to account for the bonferroni factor (i.e., in total, six
separate hypotheses were tested) and to reduce the probability of spurious
findings. The results of the first two regression analyses-regressing par-
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entification (independent variable) on self-defeating personality character-

istics (dependent variable) for each gender-are presented in Table 1.
Table 2 presents the results of the independent regression analyses for
males and females, with parentification as the independent variable and
narcissistic personality characteristics as the dependent variable. Table 3
presents the results of the independent regression analyses for males and
females in which parentification was used to predict compulsive personal-
ity characteristics.
The results of the six regression analyses presented in Tables 1-3 indi-
cate that for both males and females, parentification is a significant pre-
dictor of narcissistic and self-defeating (or masochistic) characteristics,
while for both genders parentification is not a significant predictor of
compulsive personality characteristics. For females, parentification pre-
dicted masochism [F (1, 231) = 25.99, p < .0001] and overt narcissism [F
(1, 231) = 14.85; p = .0002] but not compulsion [F (1, 231) = .085; p =
.771]. More specifically, for females, parentification accounted for 10% of
the variance in masochism, 6% of the variance in overt narcissism, and
0% of the variance in compulsion.
Similarly, for males, parentification predicted masochism [F (1, 122) =
14.69, p < .0001] and overt narcissism [F (1, 123) = 13.97, p = .0003] but
not compulsion [ F (1,123) = .888; p = .3478]. More specifically, for males,
parentification accounted for 11%of the variance in masochism, 10% of
the variance in overt narcissism, and 0% of the variance in compulsion.

DISCUSSION

The regression analyses provide strong empirical support for two of the
three main hypotheses for both males and females. The consistency of
results across gender was unexpected. The authors had speculated that
parentification may have differed for males and females given their differ-
ential socialization in this country. However, the test results indicated that
parentification was able to predict self-defeating and narcissistic personal-
ity characteristics but not compulsive characteristics.
 Parentification and Personality 149

TABLE 1
Regression Analyses with Parentification as a Pedictor of
Self-Defeating Personality Characteristics for Each Gender
M A L E S (N=124)
Multiple R .327
R Square .lo7
Adjusted R Square .lo0
Standard Error 25.809
Analysis of Variance
DF ss MS
Regression 1 9786.287 9785.287
Residual 122 81256.833 666.121

F = 14.691 Signif F = .0002

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- - - - - - - -Variables in the Equation- - - - - - - -- - - - -

Variable B SE B Beta T Sig
Parentification 1.425 .371 .327 3. a33 f0002
(Constant) 36.525 7.231 5.051 .oooo

F E M A L E S (N = 233)
Multiple R - 3 18
R Square .lo1
Adjusted R Square -097
Standard Error 23.489
Analysis of Variance
DF ss MS
Regression 1 14345.289 14345.209
Residual 231 127452.547 551.742
F = 25.999 Signif F = . O O O O
- - - - - - - -Variables in the Equation- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Variable B SE B Beta T S ig
Parentification 1.22 .239 .3ia 5.099 .oooo
(Constant) 33.613 5.170 6.501 .oooo

These findings support West and Keller’s (1991) prediction that adults
who served as caretakers to their own parents would manifest a caretak-
ing, self-defeating style in their adult relationships as well. In addition, it
appears that the act of giving up one’s own strivings in the service of
the parents’ needs contributes to false self-development, or narcissistic
personality characteristics. These results support our proposal that differ-
ent parental expectations can cause parentification to assume either the
narcissistic or the self-defeating form of caretaking of the parents. For
example, the child who is shaped to become Mommy’s Little Helper dif-
fers characterologically from the child who is induced to live out Mom-
my’s Dream. The first child may develop a self-defeating character style,
 150 The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1996

TABLE 2
Regression Analyses with Parentification as a Predictor of
Narcissistic Personality Characteristics for Each Gender
M A L E S (N=124)
Multiple R . 3 19
R Square .lo2
Adjusted R Square .094
Standard Error 20.869
Analysis of Variance
DF ss MS
Regression 1 6086.795 6086.795
Residual 123 53572.532 435.549
F = 13.974 Signif F = . 0 0 0 3
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- - - - - - - -Variables in the Equation- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Var iable B SE B Beta T Sig
Parentification 1.124 .300 .3 19 3.738 .0003
(Constant) 51.673 5.844 8.842 .oooo

F E M A L E S (N=233)
Multiple R .245
R Square .060
Adjusted R Square .056
Standard Error 21.178
Analysis of Variance
DF ss MS
Regression 1 6662.121 6662 -121
Residual 231 103613 -406 448.542
F = 14.852 Signif F = .0002
- - - - - - - -Variables in the Equation- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Variable B SE B Beta T S ig
Parentification .832 .215 -245 3.854 .0002
(Constant) 54.951 4.661 11.788 .oooo

while the second child is more likely to develop a narcissistic character

style. Future research is warranted to differentiate the specific parentifica-
tion processes that contribute to each of these character formations.
One major limitation of the current study is the use of an individual
level, self-report questionnaire to measure the family level process of par-
entification. It is important to note that this is a measure of the subject’s
own perceived role assignment in the family. Observation of the parenti-
fication process through different types of family research, in particular
observations of whole family systems, may shed further light on how
children’s behavior is shaped into masochistic and / or narcissistic styles.
In addition, in the future, similar research with comparison groups of
 Parentification and Personality 151

TABLE 3
Regression Analyses with Parentification as a Predictor of
Compulsive Personality Characteristics for Each Gender
~

M A L E S (N=124)
Multiple R .084
R Square .007
Adjusted R Square -.OOO
Standard Error 17.290
Analysis of Variance
DF ss MS
Regression 1 265.533 265.533
Re s i dua 1 123 36770.674 298.948
F = .a88 Signif F = -3478
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- - - _ _ - --Variables in the Equation- - - - - - - - - - - --

Variable B SE B Beta T Sig
Parentification -234 .249 .084 .942 .347
(Constant) 52.673 4. a41 10.809 .oooo

F E M A L E S (N=233)
Multiple R .019
R Square .ooo
Adjusted R Square .003
Standard Error 20.652
Analysis of Variance
DF ss MS
Regression 1 36.362 36.362
Re s i dua 1 231 98523.645 426.509
F = .085 Signif F = .7706
- - - - - - - -Variables in the Equation- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Variable B SE B Beta T S ig
Parentification -.061 .210 -.019 -. 292 .7706
(Constant) 60.734 4.545 13 -361 .oooo

clinical subjects would indicate the extent to which parentification is a

clinically relevant phenomenon.
It is unclear why compulsive personality traits were not found to be
related to parentification. One explanation might be that the compulsive
features of parentification are simply not strong enough to be registered
on the instruments employed in this study. Another explanation could be
that the instruments used are not sensitive enough to register the compel-
ling aspects of parentification. Although many parentified adults in our
clinical experience articulate or manifest feeling "compelled" to give up
self in order to take care of parents or parent substitutes, in this popula-
tion, parentified children clearly did not subscribe sufficiently to the items
 152 The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1996

on the MCMI-I1 Compulsive Personality scale to warrant a significant

statistical relationship.
The results of this stud have implications for clinical work, both for
i:
families with parentified c ildren and for adults who were parentified as
children. First, the results lend further support to structural and strategic
family therapists’ focus on the establishment of clear generational bound-
aries in families in order to interrupt or prevent symptom development
in children (Haley, 1980; Minuchin et al., 1978). Parentification can repre-
sent an extreme boundary violation, a complete reversal of subsystem
functions. Thus, a first step in the treatment of a parentified family must
be at the family level-putting the arents back in char e of caretaking
cp
and limit-setting functions. This stu y suggests that in a dition to family
therapy, however, children who have adopted a masochistic or narcissistic
B
style of parentification in the family may need individual therapy to coun-
teract the negative im act on their character development. Similarly, se-
P
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a
verel parentified adu ts, in addition to their need for individual therapy
to a dress masochistic or narcissistic tendencies, may benefit at some
point from family therapy in order to interrupt the multigenerational
transmission of an ”account past due.”

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