Physical and psychological conditions of parental chronic illness, parentification and adolescent psychological adjustment

Abstract

Objective: We examined the differential predictive powers of physical and psychological impacts of parental physical illness, as well as both instrumental and emotional aspects of parentification, on adolescent distress.Design: Forty-seven parents with chronic physical illness and 132 adolescent children completed separate questionnaires that measured parental health conditions and adolescents’ parentification, peer attachment, and psychological distress.Main findings: Ill parents’ energy/fatigue level was not related to adolescent distress, but ill parents’ emotional well-being was directly associated with adolescent distress. Adolescents’ household responsibilities were not linked to their distress level; however, higher levels of emotional parentification appeared to affect their psychological adjustment. Higher quality of peer attachment was related to lower adolescent distress.Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of addressing and fostering physically ill parents’ psychosocial adjustment and emotional availability, restoring a sense of normalcy in family adaptation processes, and facilitating emotional support for adolescents, including positive parent-child relationship and peer attachment.