In this master's thesis, the author explores the connection between experiencing parentification during childhood and the propensity for codependency in adulthood. The theoretical part summarizes an overview of the existing literature of different authors in the field of parentification and codependency. It adresses their intertwining through the prism of RDT. What follows is the empirical part in the form of a quantitative research in which participated 430 participants. 304 of them solved the whole questionnaire. Based on the results of the enitre questionnaire, the participants who took care of their parents as children showed a greater propensity for codependency as well as in individual sub-areas of codependency: intimacy, control, responsibility and involvement with problematic people. The second finding shows that participants who reported about the benefits of the parentification experience showed a lower propensity for codependency on the whole questionnaire results as well as in individual sub-areas of codependency: intimacy, control, responsibility and involvement with problematic people. The third finding shows a statistically significant difference between men and women in terms of codependency, but only when it comes to involvment in relationships with problematic people. The female participants in this study showed a slightly higher propensity to engage in this kind of relationships than male participants.
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