The Role of Parentification and Family Climate in Adaptation Among Immigrant Adolescents in Israel

Abstract

Parentification has been defined as the familial interactional pattern in which children and adolescents are assigned or assume roles and responsibilities normally the province of adults. Two studies were conducted to examine the role that parentification takes in the context of immigration with regard to its impact on adolescent adaptation. In study 1, a comparison between 70 adolescent immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel with 70 nonimmigrant Israeli adolescents showed higher levels of spousal role taking among the immigrant adolescents. In the case of the immigrants, spousal role taking was seen to involve positive relationships with both parents (as opposed to with only one for the nonimmigrants) and to be associated with better coping with stressful events. In study 2, the association between the incidence of parentification and family climates was explored among 123 adolescent immigrants from the FSU in Israel. Of the three climates found, the optimal cohesive independence-oriented family climate showed a higher incidence of parentification (parental role taking, spousal role taking, parental role for siblings, and nonspecific adult role taking) as opposed to within the unstructured-conflict-oriented and controloriented family climates. These results seem to strengthen the position that optimal adolescent development following immigration involves a combination of enhanced familial relatedness and assumption of responsibility within a climate that allows age-appropriate autonomy. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, 16(2), 321-350

“This Is My Responsibility”: Parental Experience of Former Soviet Union Immigrant Parents in Israel

“…The aggressive and humiliating reactions described above are not characteristic of parent-child relationships accepted in the FSU (Walsh, Shulman, Bar-On, & Tsur, 2006). Moreover, they contradict the participants' own perceptions of parenting as presented above.…”

“…However, there are researchers who claim that the effectiveness of a parenting style depends on the cultural context in which the family lives, and in some cultures children may enjoy optimal developmental outcomes due to other, non-authoritative parenting styles (Dwairy, 2004;Garcia & Garcia, 2009). The participants' tendency to form a parenting style that ranges between authoritative and authoritarian is compatible with their cultural background, and their perception that normative parenting in the FSU entails full parental authority (Slonim-Nevo et al, 1999;Walsh et al, 2006). Yet the encounter between this parenting style and the child-rearing practices prevalent in Israel confronts the participants with complex challenges and the need to revise their way of thinking about parenting.…”

“…The conflict is expressed in changing intergenerational boundaries, undermining of parental authority, and the parents' fears of losing the child to the new culture and of change in general (Baptiste, 1993;Walsh et. al., 2006).…”

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

“…As already noted, parentification also has been observed in immigrant families (Oznobishin and Kurman 2009;Walsh et al 2006), and may also be an indication that immigrant parents may not be able to completely fulfill their parental role. For immigrant parents, the reasons for this incapacitation may be that they lack the socio-cultural skills for dealing with acculturation-related demands.…”

Desviación social entre adolescentes inmigrantes procedentes de la antigua Unión Soviética en Israel: Datos y factores de riesgo.

“…In the case of FSU immigrant adolescents in Israel, such role reversal did not necessarily have a negative effect on their adjustment. Studies showed that FSU immigrant adolescent indeed assume more dominant roles and parental responsibilities than their non-immigrant Israeli peers (Oznobishin & Kurman, 2009;Walsh et al, 2006). However, the effects of this behavior on these youths' adjustment were mediated by other family factors: family support, which was found as the most important factor related to better adjustment (Oznobishin & Kurman, 2009) and family climate of cohesion and independence orientation, which rendered parentification into an empowering experience for immigrant adolescents (Walsh et al, 2006).…”