Growing Up Too Soon? Parentification Among Immigrant and Native Adolescents in Germany

Abstract

Parentification (adolescents' adoption of adult family roles by providing instrumental or emotional support for their parents) is assumed to be higher in immigrant than native families. An often discussed reason for parentification is the adolescent-parent acculturation gap in immigrant families whereby immigrant adolescents acculturate faster and outperform their parents socio-culturally. The aim of this multi-informant, multi-group study was to investigate levels, predictors, and psychosocial outcomes of instrumental and emotional parentification. The sample comprised 197 native (adolescents: mean age 14.7 years, 52% female) and 185 ethnic German immigrant (adolescents: mean age 15.7 years, 60% female) mother-adolescent dyads. Results revealed higher levels of emotional and instrumental parentification among immigrant adolescents. Parents' partnership dissatisfaction predicted instrumental and emotional parentification only in the native German sample. Among immigrants, language brokering related to instrumental and emotional parentification, and a larger mother-adolescent acculturation gap was associated with higher levels of emotional parentification. The positive psychosocial outcome, self-efficacy, was predicted by instrumental parentification in both adolescent groups. Exhaustion, the negative outcome, however, was related to higher levels of instrumental and lower levels of emotional parentification only in the immigrant group. The results of this study highlight that family systems can change due to migration to another country, with adolescents becoming more responsible for family matters than is normative for their age. However, only some of these premature responsibilities carry a risk of maladaptation, with others seeming to provide opportunities for positive developmental growth.

Characteristics of Childhood Parentification and Its Effects on the Individual

“…Kültür aracılığı, ebeveynin yeni kültüre uyumuna yardımcı olmayı içerirken, dil aracılığı çevirmenlik rolünü ifade etmektedir (Ponizovsky, Kurman ve Roer-Strier, 2012). Duygusal ebeveynleşme, ebeveynlerin yeni kültüre uyum sağlamakta zorlanmaları durumunda daha fazla ortaya çıkmaktadır (Titzmann, 2012). Göçmen ergenlerin ailede daha fazla eş rolü üstlendiği, bunun yarattığı olumsuz etkilerin ise aile üyeleri arasındaki yakınlığın ve özerlik desteğinin güçlü olması durumunda azaldığı bildirilmektedir (Oznobishin ve …”

The Closeness of Young Adults’ Relationships with Their Parents

“…;Baykara-Krumme et al 2011, 261). This is also supported by the fact that children of immigrants typically have better knowledge of the local language and a more extensive network of contacts with natives than their parents do and therefore frequently act as "language brokers," adopting adult roles in the family and thus gaining status and voice in the family setting (Titzmann and Silbereisen 2011, 123;Titzmann 2012). There is thus reason to suspect that the special challenges confronting immigrants in their host country contribute to forging closer family ties.…”

Two Sides of a Story: Mothers’ and Adolescents’ Agreement on Child Disclosure in Immigrant and Native Families

“…Children's disclosure is not a typical outcome in acculturation research, but it can be assumed to be affected by immigration because research has shown that the parent-child relationship can change with the transition to a new country (Oznobishin and Kurman 2009;Portes 1997;Titzmann 2012). …”

“…A second argument relates to additional differences between mothers and adolescents due to different paces of adaptation (Cheung et al 2011). Usually, adolescents adapt more rapidly than their parents to a new cultural environment, which results in an acculturative gap (Birman 2006;Telzer 2011) and in children taking over family responsibilities, such as translating documents for their parents (language brokering) (Morales and Hanson 2005;Weisskirch 2005), or assuming adult roles (parentification) (Titzmann 2012). This differential adaptation is assumed to bear the risk of intergenerational alienation (Fillmore 2000) or acculturative family distancing (Hwang 2006;Hwang et al 2010).…”

“…One assumption in the research on such family processes is that adolescents and parents drift away from one another because the adolescents adjust more easily to the new society (Cheung et al 2011;Birman 2006;Telzer 2011) and start to assume familial roles usually reserved for adults (Titzmann 2012;Morales and Hanson 2005); this results in parents and adolescents becoming estranged.…”