Abstract
Parentification is a process where children or adolescents assume adult roles before they are emotionally or developmentally ready, which, in turn, disrupts the development of healthy, secure attachment in childhood. Using 1,001 men and women from South Korea and the United States with equal division between males and females and multiple group comparison technique in structural equation modeling, this paper examined the relationship between parentification during childhood and depression during adulthood. It explores the cross-sectional long-term effects of parentification into adulthood, using a retrospective survey technique. This study also confirmed previous research findings that attachment, physical health and family-of-origin dysfunction, parental addiction in particular, significantly predict depression. This study is one of the few studies, using clinical data, that allows a direct comparison between different sample groups in two different countries and by gender.
Degree
MS
College and Department
Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Family Life; Marriage and Family Therapy
Rights
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Giles, Sunnie, "The Effects of Parentification, Attachment, Family-of-Origin Dysfunction and Health on Depression: A Comparative Study between Gender and the Ethnic Groups of South Koreans and Caucasian Americans" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 3410.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3410
Date Submitted
2012-03-09
Document Type
Thesis
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd5059
Keywords
parentification, depression, Korea, Korean, gender, attachment, health, illness, dysfunction, addiction, ethnic groups, adolescence, adolescent, Asian, male, female, parentify, Caucasian, children, childhood, family, contextual therapy, SEM, multiple group comparison
Language
English