Cited by 88Child Abuse and TraumaFamily Support in IllnessChild Welfare and Adoption

An upbringing with substance-abusing parents: Experiences of parentification and dysfunctional communication

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Tedgård, Eva, Råstam, Maria, Wirtberg, Ingegerd·2019·Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

Abstract

AIM: To increase understanding of the consequences of growing up with substance-abusing parents, including how this can influence the experience of becoming a parent. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 parents who had participated in an Infant and Toddler Psychiatry Unit intervention programme and who had experienced substance-abusing parents in their family of origin. Directed qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Analysis of the interview material revealed both a high incidence of parentification and a conspiracy of silence concerning the substance abuse that helped generate symptoms of cognitive dissonance in the children. As parents they experience a high degree of inadequacy, incompetence and stress. CONCLUSION: A majority of the children who had grown up with substance-abusing parents responded by taking a parenting role for themselves, their siblings and their parents. These children, often well-behaved and seemingly competent, need to be identified and offered support as they risk developing significant psychological and emotional difficulties that can extend into adulthood. They form an extra sensitive group who may need special support up to and including the time when they become parents themselves. This finding underlines the importance of further research on parenting among those who have grown up with abusive parents.

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Crossref · 10.1177/1455072518814308

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  • Due to premature transitions into adulthood roles, parentified youth commonly experience compromised human capital in the form of incomplete educational attainment, limited to no time with peers to develop relationships and friendships, and early transition into parenthood partially the result of early or risky sexual behavior and substance use.

    “Due to premature transitions into adulthood roles, parentified youth commonly experience compromised human capital in the form of incomplete educational attainment due to school dropout or low attendance, limited to no time with peers to develop relationships and friendships, and early transition into parenthood partially the result of early or risky sexual behavior and substance use [29,32,38].”

    From Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [38]

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  • Whereas some youth perceive and respond to parentified experiences with positive perceptions and coping strategies, other parentified youth experience anger, loneliness, resentment, feelings of being overwhelmed, and substance use.

    “Whereas some youth perceive and respond to parentified experiences with positive perceptions and coping strategies, other parentified youth experience anger, loneliness, resentment, feelings of being overwhelmed, and substance use [32,33,38].”

    From Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [38]

    The Results (Theme 1; page unavailable) report that just over a third of interviewees began abusing substances in early adolescence. The Discussion (Emotional parentification; page unavailable) describes emptiness, despair and anxiety beneath apparently competent behaviour. The paper does not establish the claimed contrast with youth who perceive parentification positively and use positive coping strategies, or document the full list of anger, loneliness, resentment and feeling overwhelmed. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Parents' substance abuse translated into instrumental and emotional parentification of their children and had an intergenerational impact on parenting.

    “Tedgård and colleagues studied how parents’ substance abuse translated into instrumental and emotional parentification of their children and the intergenerational impact on parenting.”
  • These parentified youth had an attribution bias toward danger and threat that resulted in being overprotective and overbearing of their own children.

    “These parentified youth had an attribution bias toward danger and threat that resulted in being overprotective and overbearing of their own children”

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Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Boszormenyi-Nagy I. Spark G. M. (1973). Invisible loyalties: Reciprocity in intergenerational family therapy. Oxford, UK: Harper & Row.
  2. Dar T. (2013). Cognitive dissonance In Pashler H. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the mind (p. 153). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  3. George C. Solomon J. (2008). The caregiving system: A behavioral systems approach to parenting In Cassidy J. Shaver P. R. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed, pp. 833– 856). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
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Authors
Tedgård, E., Råstam, M., & Wirtberg, I.
Affiliations
Lund University (SE)
Corresponding author
Tedgård, Eva
Venue
Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
Published
2018-12-20
Volume
36
Issue
3
Pages
223-247
ISSN
  • 1455-0725 (ISSN-L)
  • 1458-6126
OpenAlex
W2906352092
Cited by
86
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4
FWCI
4.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Johan Olssons Familjestiftelse
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
Keywords
parentification, parental substance use, conspiracy of silence, cognitive dissonance, parental experiences, children of drug users, parenting competence

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