Investigation of mediator effects of perfectionism and locus of control, moderator effects of differentiation of self and having a single parent on the relationship between parentification and psychological symptoms

Parentification is defined as an instrumental and emotional role reversal between parent and child. Individuals' personality traits, psychological well-being and relationship patterns can be negatively affected by parentification. In this respect, it is important to examine parentification in terms of various factors. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the mediator effect of perfectionism and locus of control, and the moderator effect of growing up with a single parent and differentiation of self on the relationship between parentification and psychological symptoms. The sample of the study consisted of 432 individuals between the ages of 18-25, 95 of whom grew up in single-parent families and 337 of whom grew up in two-parent families. Demographic Information Form, Brief Symptom Inventory, Parentification Inventory, Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Locus of Control Scale and Differentiation of Self Inventory were used to collect data. The correlation analyses in the study show that there is a positive relationship between parentification and psychological symptoms, and a negative relationship between perceived benefits of parentification and psychological symptoms. As a result of mediation and moderation analyses, it was found that perfectionism and locus of control mediated the relationship between parentification and psychological symptoms, whereas the moderator effects of differentiation of self and having a single parent were not found. With the results obtained in the study, it can be said that parentification predicts psychological symptoms through individuals developing more perfectionist attitudes and thinking that the consequences of events are related to sources other than themselves. The lack of a moderation effect of differentiation of self and having a single parent is thought to be related to cultural characteristics. Keywords parentification, psychological symptoms, perfectionism, locus of control, differentiation of self, having a single parent