Relationship among childhood parentification, splitting, and dissociation: Preliminary findings

On the basis of self-reports from 124 undergraduate students, empirical support was found for the hypothesis that childhood parentification (i.e., the reversal of child and parent roles) is significantly related to defensive splitting ton the Gerson Splitting Scale [M. J. Gerson, 1984] in adulthood even when the effects of dissociation (measured by Dissociative Experiences Scale [E. M. Bernstein & F. W. Putnam, 1986] are already accounted for. In contrast, childhood parentification was not found to be significantly related to the use of cognitive dissociation when the effects of splitting were accounted for. This finding is particularly important because splitting and dissociation are often related and sometimes confused with one another in the psychology literature. The authors relate these results to earlier findings that parentification is associated with both masochistic and narcissistic personality styles in adults and that individuals who have been parentified have diminished capacities for object relations under conditions of separation and disappointment in others.