Adaptation of the Parentification Questionnaire for the Brazilian Context

Abstract

Parentification involves a role reversal phenomenon between family subsystems, including role distortions and hierarchy inversion. The purpose of this study was to adapt and search for validity evidence of the Parentification Questionnaire for the Brazilian context. After translation procedures, the authors applied the instrument in 868 adults of four geographic regions of Brazil, of which 55.4 percent were women. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed the solution of three parentification factors (i.e., emotional parenting, instrumental parenting and perceived unfairness) as adequate, with satisfactory internal consistency rates, following the construct theory. As expected, the authors also found relations with other variables; for example, people who presented parentification indicators in their speeches displayed higher levels in the three factors of the construct; while women displayed higher levels of parentification than men. The Brazilian version of the instrument showed satisfactory validity evidence and appropriate reliability indicators.