Childhood Adultification in Economically Disadvantaged Families: A Conceptual Model*

TLDR

Childhood adultification refers to youth prematurely exposed to adult knowledge and roles within family networks. The study develops a conceptual model of childhood adultification and economic disadvantage, outlining the developmental assets and liabilities children accrue. The model is illustrated through exemplar cases and defines four successive levels—precocious knowledge, mentored‑adultification, peerification/spousification, and parentification—derived from the ethnographic data. The authors recommend that schools, health care, and social service practitioners address the identified adultification levels when supporting low‑income families and children.

Abstract

Abstract: This article presents an emergent conceptual model of childhood adultification and economic disadvantage derived from 5 longitudinal ethnographies of children and adolescents growing up in low‐income families. Childhood adultification involves contextual, social, and developmental processes in which youth are prematurely, and often inappropriately, exposed to adult knowledge and assume extensive adult roles and responsibilities within their family networks. Exemplar cases from the ethnographies are integrated in the discussion to illustrate components of the model. Four successive levels of adultification are described: precocious knowledge, mentored‐adultification, peerification/spousification, and parentification. The developmental assets and liabilities children incur also are discussed. Recommendations for school, health care, and social service practitioners working with low‐income families and children are provided.