Comparison of the Effects of Children's Parentification on Their Internalized Problems Between Multicultural and Monocultural Families: The Mediating Effects of Internalized Shame and Self-Differentiation

Abstract

Objectives The objective of this study is to identify, compare, and analyze children's parentification between multicultural families and monocultural families, It also aims to examine internalized shame and the structural relationship between self-differentiation and internalized problems and to provide useful basic data to education and counseling sites. Methods Data from a total of 725 people, including 367 children from multicultural families and 358 children from monocultural families were included in the final analysis. SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 22.0 were used to statistically process t-verification, correlations, and perform a structural equation model (SEM) analysis. Results First, the negative effect of children's parentification in multicultural families on internalized problems was found to be statistically significant, while the effect of children's parentification in monocultural families on internalized problems was not significant. Second, it was found that the problems of children from multicultural families were partially mediated, and those of children from monocultural families were fully mediated, by internalized shame in relation to parentification and internalized problems, Third, it was found that the problems of children from multicultural families were partially mediated, and those of children from monocultural families were fully mediated, by self-differentiation in relation to parentification and internalized problems. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that there is a need to consider the cultural differences of children when managing children’s parentification in the counseling sphere, and they also show that an approach to alleviate the shame of parentalized children and improve their level of self-differentiation may be effective in solving internalized problems. Keywords: multicultural families, children, internalized problems, parentification, internalized shame, self-differentiation