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Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach
BACKGROUND: Adult children of parents with mental illness experience a myriad of complex emotions as they attempt to make meaning of the lived experiences of their parents. A crucial time for adult children is emerging adulthood, a time when they move away from their family of origin and establish t...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7329432/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32611368 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00432-2 |
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author | Patrick, Pamela Marie Reupert, Andrea E. McLean, Louise A. |
author_facet | Patrick, Pamela Marie Reupert, Andrea E. McLean, Louise A. |
author_sort | Patrick, Pamela Marie |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Adult children of parents with mental illness experience a myriad of complex emotions as they attempt to make meaning of the lived experiences of their parents. A crucial time for adult children is emerging adulthood, a time when they move away from their family of origin and establish their own identity and independence. Despite existing research that provides a static description of adult children’s lived experiences, the literature lacks an explanatory theory about the dynamic, relational processes that occur as adult children progress from one life stage to the next. METHODS: The current study aimed to develop an explanatory theory of the relational trajectory that adult children might experience as they course through adulthood and parenthood over time. Semistructured interviews using grounded theory analysis were conducted with 10 adult children aged between 27 and 51 years old. RESULTS: Three key phases within the Relational Trajectory Model (RTM) were identified: (i) confusion, (ii) contemplation, and (iii) reconciliation. By reflecting on their own parenting role, adult children were able to reach an evolved parental identity, with the majority of participants also making relationship reparations with their parents with mental illness. Parallels are drawn to theories of identity and intergenerational family systems to further explain and substantiate the processes encompassed within the RTM. CONCLUSION: Generating an explanatory theory serves as a potential guide for mental health professionals working with families with parental mental illness, by drawing attention to the intricacies of familial relationships and interpersonal ties. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7329432 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-73294322020-07-02 Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach Patrick, Pamela Marie Reupert, Andrea E. McLean, Louise A. BMC Psychol Research Article BACKGROUND: Adult children of parents with mental illness experience a myriad of complex emotions as they attempt to make meaning of the lived experiences of their parents. A crucial time for adult children is emerging adulthood, a time when they move away from their family of origin and establish their own identity and independence. Despite existing research that provides a static description of adult children’s lived experiences, the literature lacks an explanatory theory about the dynamic, relational processes that occur as adult children progress from one life stage to the next. METHODS: The current study aimed to develop an explanatory theory of the relational trajectory that adult children might experience as they course through adulthood and parenthood over time. Semistructured interviews using grounded theory analysis were conducted with 10 adult children aged between 27 and 51 years old. RESULTS: Three key phases within the Relational Trajectory Model (RTM) were identified: (i) confusion, (ii) contemplation, and (iii) reconciliation. By reflecting on their own parenting role, adult children were able to reach an evolved parental identity, with the majority of participants also making relationship reparations with their parents with mental illness. Parallels are drawn to theories of identity and intergenerational family systems to further explain and substantiate the processes encompassed within the RTM. CONCLUSION: Generating an explanatory theory serves as a potential guide for mental health professionals working with families with parental mental illness, by drawing attention to the intricacies of familial relationships and interpersonal ties. BioMed Central 2020-07-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7329432/ /pubmed/32611368 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00432-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Patrick, Pamela Marie Reupert, Andrea E. McLean, Louise A. Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach |
title | Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach |
title_full | Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach |
title_fullStr | Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach |
title_full_unstemmed | Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach |
title_short | Relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach |
title_sort | relational trajectories in families with parental mental illness: a grounded theory approach |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7329432/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32611368 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00432-2 |
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