Emotional childhood parentification and mental disorders in adulthood

BACKGROUND: Emotional parentification is considered harmful to a child's development. METHOD: A total of about 975 patients were examined at a Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and in the practices of general practitioners with regard to childhood adversities. RESULTS: Emotional parentification is a risk factor for 2 symptom groups: the patients with depression and the patients with somatoform pain. While the occurrence of depression is mainly predicted by maternal emotional parentification, paternal influences are also relevant in regard to the development of somatoform pain. CONCLUSION: Emotional parentification is an important risk factor for the occurrence of psychological and somatoform complaints in adulthood. This is especially apparent in combination with further risk factors, such as low reported values for love, sexual abuse, or being raised without a father.