Can Relationships Between Adult Children and Their Parents Sometimes Be "Toxic"?

In their review of Poisonous Parenting: Toxic Relationships Between Parents and Their Adult Children, J. Douglas Pettinelli, Katie M. Heiden Rootes, and Christine Schneider note that clinicians often encounter adult children who are suffering from "toxic relationships" with their parents who, according to the book, can be classified as either pageant, dismissive, or contemptuous parents. The reviewers point out, however, that the parent–child relationship is not one-dimensional or linear, and more attention to family diversity issues is warranted due to the "unique impacts of gender, culture, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and religion on multigenerational family dynamics."

Is the term "toxic relationships" or the parent typologies described in the book useful for research and/or clinical practice? If yes, how? If no, why not?

What are some examples of the unique impacts of culture, gender, religion, etc. on family dynamics? How might clinicians effectively use this information to help improve these troubled relationships?

Read the Review

Too Much Pathology, Not Enough Repair
By J. Douglas Pettinelli, Katie M. Heiden Rootes, and Christine Schneider
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2011 Vol 56(48)