From Childhood Burdens to Relationship Strains: Exploring Partner Parentification and Couple Burnout

Parentification is the process in which children assume caregiving roles typically designated for parents. Prior research suggests that adults with a history of childhood parentification tend to find themselves in relationships where they continue their caregiving roles, leading to emotional exhaustion and couple burnout. This study examines the associations among childhood parentification, partner parentification, and couple burnout, and investigates the mediating role of partner parentification in the relationship between childhood parentification and couple burnout. A multi-method research design, with a quantitative sample comprising 283 married individuals aged 18-65 who had been married for at least 6 months, was used. The quantitative measures were the Partner Parentification scale, Parentified Child Scale-Adult Version (PCS-A), and Couple Burnout Measure-Short Form (CBMS). Within the scope of the quantitative study, the path analyses revealed that partner parentification partially mediated the association between childhood parentification and couple burnout. Qualitative data were collected to assess partner parentification experiences, and the deductive content analysis results revealed aspects similar to those of childhood parentification. The findings suggest that childhood parentification shares similar aspects with partner parentification, and individuals who were parentified by their parents were eager to be parentified by their spouses, experiencing couple burnout in their relationships.