A structural equation model of the etiology and developmental consequences of parent-child role confusion

This longitudinal investigation tested a theoretically-specified model of the etiology and developmental consequences of parent-child role confusion, wherein there is a deterioration of generational boundaries such that the parent looks to their child to meet the parent's own needs for comfort or support. Employing a diverse sample of 250 female caregiver-child dyads (50% female and 46% Latinx children), this study tested a fully-latent structural equation model to evaluate serial mediation from parents' reported history of their own maltreatment to children's psychopathology in late childhood via role confusion during the preschool years and children's negative representations of the parent in middle childhood. As hypothesized, the severity of parents' own history of child maltreatment was associated with higher role confusion in their relationship with their preschooler, and this role confusion contributed to children's negative representations of the parent during middle childhood, which, in turn, were associated with higher levels of child psychopathology. This study informs developmental science and clinical practice by elucidating modifiable mechanisms by which a parent's prior experience of child maltreatment may impact their child's adaptation in the next generation. Interventions that support the stability of vertical parent-child boundaries may buffer children from negative intergenerational child maltreatment effects.