Maternal history of parentification, maternal warm responsiveness, and children's externalizing behavior.

Abstract

Destructive parentification occurs when children are expected to provide instrumental or emotional caregiving within the family system that overtaxes their developmental capacity. According to parentification theory, destructive parentification in family of origin poses a risk to child development in subsequent generations; however, there is a paucity of empirical research examining the impact of a maternal history of destructive parentification on parenting quality and child outcomes in subsequent generations. The present study examined the potential risk of maternal history of parentification on child adjustment by hypothesizing that a maternal history of parentification in family of origin would have a negative impact on quality of maternal warm responsiveness at 18 months of age which would, in turn, be associated with increased children’s externalizing symptoms at 36 months. Results indicated that there was a significant indirect effect of maternal history of destructive parentification in family of origin on child externalizing behavior in the next generation through maternal warm responsiveness, supporting the hypothesized model. This finding suggests that facilitating the development of maternal contingent responsiveness among mothers with a history of destructive parentification may promote more adaptive child development in the next generation.

Intergenerational Risk of Parentification and Infantilization to Externalizing Moderated by Child Temperament

“…Whereas previous studies have identified mediators of the association between maternal history of parentification and offspring externalizing (e.g., Nuttall et al, 2012), contexts that moderate this association have not yet been examined. The present study sought to identify which children in the second generation are most at risk to maladaptation in the context of risk posed by maternal history of filial responsibility.…”

“…When children's temperament is not respected and accommodated by parenting, children are at risk for emotional adjustment difficulties (Chess & Thomas, 1991;Thomas & Chess, 1977). Given the increased needs of children with difficult temperament and the rearing environment characterized by poor warmth and responsiveness provided by mothers with a history of parentification (Nuttall et al, 2012(Nuttall et al, , 2015, there may be an elevated risk for poor parent-child goodness of fit. As such, children with difficult temperament may be especially susceptible to increased externalizing symptomatology in the context of the risk posed by maternal filial responsibility history.…”

“…As such, research often focuses solely on emotional parentification or the combined effects of instrumental parentification and emotional parentification. For example, in the literature on the intergenerational risk posed by parentification, Nuttall et al (2012) examined parentification operationalized as both emotional and instrumental responsibilities as posing risk to offspring externalizing. Therefore, there remains a need to examine the specific consequences of instrumental parentification while controlling for emotional parentification to isolate the intergenerational risk posed by instrumental parentification.…”

“…Maternal parentification history has been associated with risk to parenting cognitions and behavior. Prior studies have reported associations between maternal parentification history and poorer knowledge of infant development (Nuttall, Valentino, Wang, Lefever, & Borkowski, 2015), higher levels of emotional distress in response to infant distress (Jacobvitz, Morgan, Kretchmar, & Morgan, 1991), and less warmth and contingent responsiveness with infants (Nuttall et al, 2015;Nuttall, Valentino, & Borkowski, 2012). Maternal responsiveness to children's changing needs is important for children's cooperation and acceptance of parental commands (e.g., Schaffer & Crook, 1980); therefore, poor maternal responsiveness predicts the emergence of child externalizing behaviors, problem behaviors such as aggression and defiance (Wakschlag & Hans, 1999).…”

“…Maternal responsiveness to children's changing needs is important for children's cooperation and acceptance of parental commands (e.g., Schaffer & Crook, 1980); therefore, poor maternal responsiveness predicts the emergence of child externalizing behaviors, problem behaviors such as aggression and defiance (Wakschlag & Hans, 1999). Indeed, a maternal history of parentification and poor responsiveness have been shown to contribute to the emergence of child externalizing behaviors in toddlerhood (Nuttall et al, 2012).…”