parentified

[keannu]

"Parentified" couldn't be found in dictionaries, is it an author-specific term meaning "making someone become like parents"?

ex)...Extended family members may serve as surrogate paretns. Older siblings may become "parentified" as they see to fill a real or imagined void left by the parents.

[Raymott]

"Parentified" couldn't be found in dictionaries, is it an author-specific term meaning "making someone become like parents"?

ex)...Extended family members may serve as surrogate paretns. Older siblings may become "parentified" as they see to fill a real or imagined void left by the parents.

I've never heard this 'word'. The fact that it is in quotes means that the author is inventing it, or presenting it as uncertain, self-consciously.
Sometimes you'll see this type of thing expressed as "Older siblings may become "parentified", if you will." - ie. if you will accept this dubious word.

[riquecohen]

A parentified child is one who takes on an adult role in a family. It is a term commonly used by mental health professionals. The Parentified Child

[emsr2d2]

I imagine it's a fairly new or very specialist word as I could only find one mention of either parentify, parentified or parentification in one online dictionary and one medical dictionary.

[5jj]

It is a term commonly used by mental health professionals. The Parentified Child

Are you sure that it is commonly used? In the link you provided, the word appears in inverted commas as though the writers know not that it is not commonly used.

[emsr2d2]

Common enough to be in a 2003 medical dictionary apparently: parentification - definition of parentification in the Medical dictionary - by the Free Online Medical Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

I googled "definition of parentification" and there were a lot of hits, just very few from actual dictionaries.

[riquecohen]

Are you sure that it is commonly used? In the link you provided, the word appears in inverted commas as though the writers know not that it is not commonly used.

Yes, the adjective is commonly used (by mental health professionals.) There are many citations in the literature that do not use parentheses.

[Route21]

Not having come across the term previously, I assumed it referred to children who, in the absence of a parent, had taken on that role, in terms of caring for the remaining family.

On Googling "parentified", I found "Parentification" in Wiki (Parentification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) which relates it to something more than just assuming the role of a "missing" parent. It appears to mean a role reversal, where the child actually swaps roles with their parent!

You live and learn!

R21

[JohnParis]

Paul Abbott has written and produced a very poignant and successful television series entitled "Shameless", which deals with the process of parentification. The show was initially presented in the UK and has just finished its first season in the US.

A quick check of the literature by PubMed turned up this 1977 citation of an article where the term was (possibly, first?) used.
Family therapy after the divorce: developing a strategy.
Goldman J, Coane J.
Fam Process. 1977 Sep;16(3):357-62.


Parentification, however, is still not a MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) term.

John

[keannu]

Paul Abbott has written and produced a very poignant and successful television series entitled "Shameless", which deals with the process of parentification. The show was initially presented in the UK and has just finished its first season in the US.

A quick check of the literature by PubMed turned up this 1977 citation of an article where the term was (possibly, first?) used.
Family therapy after the divorce: developing a strategy.
Goldman J, Coane J.
Fam Process. 1977 Sep;16(3):357-62.


Parentification, however, is still not a MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) term.

John

Thanks for all of you for answering my question, and it seems it's partly because of the difference between AE and BE. Anyway, I will memorize and use it..