Family Context, Adolescent Attributes, Forms, and Proximal Processes of Adultification Among Low-Income Single-Parent Singaporean Households

Thesis: Adultified adolescents are prematurely exposed to adult knowledge and take on adult-like roles and responsibilities – instrumental (e.g., managing household tasks and caring for siblings) or emotional (e.g., providing comfort or reassurance to parents) – within their families (Burton, 2007; Dariotis et al., 2023). Prior research suggests that adultification often happens in the context of economic disadvantage (Stanić & Ajduković, 2025). Relatedly, extant studies have examined adultification in the aftermath of a divorce, separation, and death of a partner. Against this background, adultification is likely intensified for adolescents in a low-income and single-parent household. However, research has not examined the interaction between economic disadvantage and single parenthood vis-à-vis adolescent adultification (Leung et al., 2023; McMahon & Luthar, 2007). Additionally, we take an adolescent-centered approach, use dyadic data, and intentionally include single fathers in our study.

Methods: Guided by Burton’s (2007) conceptual model of childhood adultification and economic disadvantage, family systems theory (Bowen, 1978; Kerr & Bowen, 1988), and Bronfenbrenner & Morris’s (2006) process-person-context-time research model, this study examined the proximal processes linking the family context and adolescent attributes to forms of adultification among low-income and single-parent households. There are three research questions:

RQ1: What are the circumstances in the family context of and adolescent attributes of these households which can lead to, and, potentially, intensify adultification?

RQ2: What are the forms of an adolescent’s adultification experience and how might single parenthood potentially intensify adultification?

RQ3: What are the most frequent and significant proximal processes associated with economic disadvantage and single parenthood which may affect the extent of adultification?

Data were drawn from a larger study involving low-income single-parent Singaporean households. In-depth interviews were conducted with 40 parent-adolescent dyads (n=79) between August 2020 and December 2022. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed. Consistent with constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006), data collection and analysis proceeded concurrently using a constant comparison approach. Parent and adolescent interviews from the same dyad were coded sequentially. Initial, focused, and theoretical coding were used, with process codes capturing actions and experiences related to adultification.

Preliminary results: Findings indicated that single parenthood, within the context of economic disadvantage, increased the likelihood and intensity of adolescent adultification. Within the family context, which interacts with the adolescent attributes of birth order and gender, single parenthood further affects family needs, family capital, and family culture (RQ1). Within each form of adolescent adultification (i.e., precocious knowledge, mentored adultification, peerification or spousification, and parentification), single parenthood also intensifies the conditions for adultification. Single parenthood further increases adolescents’ likelihood of experiencing higher levels of adultification (RQ2). However, adolescent experiences of adultification are moderated by some frequent and significant proximal processes between the family context (including parents) and adolescent attributes (RQ3).

Implications: These findings underscore the importance of situating adolescent adultification within the intersecting contexts of family structure and economic disadvantage. They also point to the need for family-centered policies and interventions that strengthen household supports, reduce excessive caregiving and emotional burdens on adolescents, and recognize families’ adaptive responses to structural hardship.