The Impact of Parentification on Depression Moderated by Self-Care: A Multiple Group Analysis by Gender for South Korea and the U.S.

• Main Author: Giles, Sunnie
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2014
• Subjects: depression; parentification; self-care; Korea; Korean; moderation; cross-cultural; individualistic; collectivistic; Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4188; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5187&context=etd

Parentification, the process of role reversal between parent and child, has long-term deleterious consequences. Using 500 men and 501 women, ranging from 18 years to 55 years old, residing in Korea and the U.S., this study examined the relationship of parentification experienced during childhood and depression in adulthood. The moderating impact of gender and self-care was examined in both the Korean and U.S. samples. Multiple-group analysis showed that the relationship between parentification and depression was statistically significant in all groups (U.S., Korean, male, and female), and self-care was negatively linked to depression. However, self-care did not moderate the relationship between parentification and depression in any of the groups. Further analysis using mixture modeling revealed that there were two distinct classes. The majority class, comprising 94.4% of the sample, contained the individuals who practiced more self-care and were more depressed than those in the other class and showed a significant moderation effect of self-care in the association between parentification and depression in the expected direction. However, the minority class, comprising 5.6% of the sample, contained the individuals who practiced less self-care and were less depressed than those in the majority class and showed a signification moderation effect of self-care in the opposite direction with much greater effect sizes enough to negate the moderation effect from the majority class. In other words, self-care appeared to worsen the relationship between parentification and depression for those in the minority class. Implications for therapy are discussed.