Re-Specifying Adolescent Non-Normative Role Behavior Experiences with Military Deployment

Keisha Bailey, Purdue University

Abstract

The ideal that youth carry out roles and responsibilities in their families appears age old. There are some family socio-cultural contexts that are said to destabilize the patterns of interactions that govern a family system, engendering an inappropriate overlap in sub-systems creating opportunities for youth to perform caregiving activities traditionally meant for other members of the family unit (Minuchin, 1974). Youths’ caregiving activities in these contexts are called nonnormative role behaviors and are generally depicted as neglectful, or maladaptive (Macfie, Brumariu, & Lyons-Ruth, 2015). However, such broad generalizations raise important questions. For example, what defines each type of non-normative role behavior? Do different types of caregiving behaviors differentially influence caregiver wellbeing? Is it possible that the “inherent” negative associations of non-normative role behaviors may in part depend on what youth themselves perceive to be unfair caregiving experience? Using self-reports from 83 military connected youths, the results of the present study challenge convention, suggesting first that the best fitting model for youth’s non-normative caregiving behaviors includes three distinct behaviors: Parentification, Adultification, Role Reversal. Second, that while non-normative caregiving behaviors may be associated with youths’ socio-emotional well-being, how these behaviors are associated may depend on both the behavior and the outcome. Lastly, that Unfairness significantly moderates the association between youth’s non-normative caregiving behavior types and socio-emotional wellbeing. Implications and directions for future research on youths’ nonnormative caregiving experiences and types of non-normative caregiving behaviors are considered.

Degree

M.Sc.

Advisors

Wadsworth, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Clinical psychology|Cultural anthropology|Individual & family studies|Labor relations|Medicine|Psychology|Public health|Social psychology|Systems science

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