Welcome.
This website is devoted to the measurement and empirical study of parentification.
Due to the numerous family contexts that can give rise to the abdication of adult- and parent-like roles to children and adolescents, the empirical study of parentification is critical. In over a million U.S. households in 2000, young adults lived in households where parentification took place. Furthermore over 40,000 children between ages 15 and 17 maintained a household completely on their own—that is, without any parental or adult presence. Because of parentification’s ubiquity and the potentially pernicious outcomes, it is important that researchers continue to examine this complex, multi-dimensional, construct so that ecologically valid, culturally-tailored preventions and interventions can be developed and tested.
From here you can read an overview of the construct parentification, peruse our collection of publications relevant to the parentification process, learn about the context in which parentification traditionally takes place, and better understand the cultural factors that may inform differential outcomes of parentification. Additionally, researchers and clinicians can learn about the Parentification Inventory, a newly developed instrument, which captures the extent to which one has been parentified in his or her family-of-origin. We hope you find this site an invaluable resource and welcome any feedback you may have.