Depression and Parentification among Adults as Related to Parental Workaholism and Alcoholism

Abstract

Investigators examined relationships among levels of depression and parentification in undergraduate university students. Instrument scores were used to identify participants as (a) adult children with alcoholic parents, (b) adult children with workaholic parents, (c) adult children with at least one parent who was both alcoholic and workaholic, and (d) a comparison group composed of adult children who met none of the other group criteria. Children of workaholics scored significantly higher on measures of depression and parentification, and they reported parents worked more hours than did parents of children of alcoholics and the comparison group. Children of alcoholics scored significantly higher than the comparison group on the measure of parentification. Children with parents who met both descriptions scored significantly higher than children of alcoholics and the comparison group on the three dimensions described and on combined number of hours both parents worked.

Addiction to Work: A Critical Review of the Workaholism Construct and Recommendations for Assessment

“…These values are acquired through a combination of operant conditioning and vicarious learning mechanisms. Indirect support for the early adoption of these values was found in a study that examined the children of workaholics (Carroll & Robinson, 2000). The authors found that these children adopted their parents' workaholic values and behaviors and involved a higher degree of responsibility compared to children of non-workaholic parents.…”

“…Furthermore, an increasing number of studies report chemical and behavioral addictions share similar course, history, and neurobiological correlates (Grant, Potenza, Weinstein, & Gorelick, 2010;Griffi ths, 2005;Orford, 2001). In relation to the similarity in history of drug and behavioral addictions, Carroll and Robinson (2000) found that undergraduate students who were children of alcoholics or workaholics were more likely to adopt such behaviors from their parents earlier in their lives compared to the other students, and they reported their parents' workaholism or alcoholism as the reason for them to do so. Perhaps the most compelling evidence comes from neurological studies, as these support the hypothesis that (a) reward circuits in the brain are involved in substanceand non-substance-based addictions, (b) both share similar genetic vulnerability and clinical features, and (c) that they develop following a similar pattern (i.e., initial arousal before the act, pleasure/high relief linked to the act, and lowered arousal afterward with guilt, withdrawal, and potential tolerance) (Grant et al, 2010;Villella et al, 2011).…”

“…In fact, De Carlo et al (2014) found that workaholism mediated the relationship between regulatory focus (i.e., motivational dispositions) and burnout. Workaholism has also been associated with depression (Carroll & Robinson, 2000), poorer physical health (Ng et al, 2007), career and 1. Workaholism is a term used to describe individuals' addiction to work and has been associated with highly detrimental consequences for individuals' health, including depression, burnout, poor health, life dissatisfaction, and family/ relationship problems.…”

Parental Problem Drinking, Marital Aggression, and Child Emotional Insecurity: A Longitudinal Investigation

“…However, in the case of escalated confl ict, children may not be willing to avoid involvement because of the greater danger it poses to family and child well-being (hence increased caretaking). Parent-child role reversal ("parentifi cation") has also been observed in COAs and children exposed to severe family dysfunction (Carroll and Robinson, 2000;Earley and Cushway, 2002;Godsall et al, 2004).…”

Workaholism and Mental Health Among Polish Academic Workers

“…Robinson and Post stated that workaholism was positively correlated with family dysfunction [17]. Workaholism could lead to marital conflicts, divorces and negative psychological consequences for children [18]. Workaholics' families had dysfunctional patterns similar to alcoholic families: denial, high expectations of perfection and enabling [13].…”