Examining the Relationships of Parentification, Individuation, and Health Among College Students in Taiwan Author:Hui-Shan Chen, Li-Chuan Wu
Research Article
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among parentification, individuation, and general health among college students in Taiwan. A total of 287 students from colleges in Taiwan participated in this study. Participant completed a questionnaire composed of “Parentification Scale”, “Individuation Scale”, and “General Health Scale”. The obtained data was analyzed by MANOVA, Pearson´s product-moment correlation, and canonical analysis. The main findings were as follows: (1) There was a significant gender difference on parentification, with men scoring significantly higher on “unfairness” than women. There was also a significant birth order difference on parentification, with oldest children scoring significantly higher than youngest children on “instrumental care-giving”. (2) Canonical analysis revealed one significant correlation between canonical variate of parentification and health. Less instrumental care-giving, more emotional care-giving and more unfair treatments were associated with worse health. (3) Parentification was significantly correlated with individuation. We found two significant correlations between canonical variates of parentification and individuation. The first one showed that more unfairness was associated with more functional independence, more attitudinal independence, more emotional independence, but less confliction of independence. In the second one, more emotional caring for the family was associated with lower individuation. Finally, based on the results of this study, we discussed suggestions for future research and implications for counseling and parent education.