Parental Illness and Adolescents’ Psychological Adjustment and Educational Outcomes

Chen, C.Y.C. (Cliff (Yung-Chi))
Queens College of the City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, 11367, Flushing, NY, USA

 

Submission type

Oral only

Scheduled

Room 118, 10-07-2019, 13:30 - 15:00

Keywords

parental illness, parentification, psychological adjustment, academic performance, adolescent

Summary

Approximately 10% of children worldwide grow up in households where a parent has been diagnosed with chronic illness (Sieh, Visser-Meily, & Meijer, 2013), and some emerging studies have suggested that children of chronically ill parents are at risk for adjustment difficulties.  In addition to typical developmental tasks, children of chronically ill parents are confronted with an environment that is potentially stressful (Sieh, Visser-Meily, Oort, & Meijer, 2012) as they may have to cope with the threat of the loss of a parent, decreased parental availability, increased household responsibilities including caring for ill parents, changing schedules and routines, and the possible depletion of social and financial resources (e.g., Korneluk & Lee, 1998).  This quantitative research study investigated the effects of parental illness on adolescent children’s psychological and educational outcomes, using a sample of 145 parent-child pairs.  The results revealed that paternal physical illness and maternal mental illness were predictors of youth psychological distress.  Higher levels of emotional parentification were associated with higher levels of psychological distress.  Maternal mental illness was related to youth academic performance, and the relationship was mediated by parental educational aspirations toward their children.  Interventions for the families and children living with parents with chronic illness will be addressed in this presentation. 

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