Abstract: Triangulation is a central construct in family systems theory, theorized first by Bowen (1966) as a common feature of dysfunctional families adversely affecting child well-being. Triangulation refers parent-child relationship processes in which children are passively or actively involved in conflicts within the parental dyad and which, in the immediate situation, lessen the tension and anxiety between adults, thereby stabilizing the family. Typically, it can be divided into three patterns: cross-generational coalitions, scapegoating, and parentification. The cross-generational coalition refers to the children alliance with one parent and against the other one when a conflict occurs between parents; scapegoating normally involves the child who is pushed out and distance as a way of parents revolving or avoiding the conflict, such as focusing together on a difficult child away from their own issues; parentification refers to an earlier commitment to considerate parents’ or other families’ need, and take care of family responsibilities and roles. Empirical evidence indicates that greater adolescent exposure to triangulation is associated with less mature ego development, poorer peer relationships and parent-adolescent relationships, as well as increased internalizing and externalizing problems. However, there exists divergence in the viewpoint of possibility and types of girls or boys being more likely to be involved in parental conflicts. As to the possibility, some scholars claim that girls are more inclined to be caught because they are relationship-oriented and take more care for the interpersonal relationships, but others point out that the boys could be more vulnerable to be involved in parental conflict because of parents usually placing higher expectation for boys to take family responsibility and exposing boys to more conflict than girls, and the boys having much more difficulties in controlling and coping with the stress. As to the types of children being caught by parental conflicts, some studies found that girls were more likely to be caught by parental conflict as a coalition partner with a parent, and however the boys were more likely triangulated as a scapegoating, but others’ findings indicated that boys were more likely than girls to be victims of scapegoating though no gender difference in the cross-generational coalition emerged. There were also studies failed to discover any gender difference in parent-adolescents triangulation. The present study systematically and for the first time reviewed previous reports about gender differences in the triangulation, and found that the causes of the inconsistence of the results may be as follows: demographic variables, which are consisted of participants’ grade, the differences in the number, birth order and gender make-up of children in the family, family structure; the research method such as the method of survey and the specific indicators of triangulation; the change of the participants’ attitudes towards gender role. Future research should focus on localization study, detail the demographic variables, use multiple methods of survey and indicators of parent-child triangulation, improve the analysis method, and adopt a longitudinal design at the same time collecting the data about participants’ interrelationship orientation and attitudes towards gender role to further clarify the gender differences in parent-child triangulation.

Key words: parent-child triangulation, gender differences, scapegoat, parentification, coalition

摘要： 亲子三角关系指父母发生冲突时，子女主动或被动卷入其中而形成的不平衡的“父亲—子女—母亲”三角关系，通常包括代罪羔羊、亲职化和跨代联盟三大类型，与儿童青少年的内外化行为问题等密切关联。在有关亲子三角关系的发生特点及其影响是否具有性别一致性的问题上，既有研究结论尚存在分歧。这可能与人口学变量的差异和性别角色观念的变迁等因素有关。国内大陆在该领域的研究近乎为零。未来需通过开展本土研究，细化人口学变量和综合运用多种测量方法与指标，采用追踪设计等厘清该问题。

关键词: 亲子三角关系, 性别差异, 代罪羔羊, 亲职化, 跨代联盟